June 03, 2024
What are your thoughts on keeping a dog with a retained testicle intact?
Full Question:
I've been exploring the benefits of keeping dogs intact and encountered a predicament with my 5-month-old blue heeler who has a retained testicle. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this specific issue.Local vet recommends neutering him, and I came across the Leerburg article Neutering Male Dogs: Should You or Shouldn't You, which supports neutering monorchid dogs. However Chris Zink cites a study only about 12.8% of dogs with retained testicles developed cancer in the retained testicle, typically around age seven. Neutering all these dogs would result in unnecessary surgery on about 87% of them. So she recommends keeping them intact with regular abdominal ultrasounds every two years to monitor for cancer and, if needed, remove only the affected testicle while preserving testosterone.
Cindy's Answer:
If I had a monorchid I think when the dog was mature I would have the retained testicle removed and leave the descended one. I've had two friends with dogs recently experience testicular torsion with a retained testicle and it almost cost their dogs their life. One of my friends did not even know the dog had a retained testicle, he was adopted from a shelter and was supposedly "neutered"
Both of my friends' dogs were between 8-10 years old and the surgery was hard on them and expensive. I might opt to do it when the dog was younger and more likely to easily bounce back from a surgical procedure. I guess abdominal ultrasounds would be a good idea too but I think if it was my dog I'd have the retained testicle removed in 2 or 3 years.
Both of my friends' dogs were between 8-10 years old and the surgery was hard on them and expensive. I might opt to do it when the dog was younger and more likely to easily bounce back from a surgical procedure. I guess abdominal ultrasounds would be a good idea too but I think if it was my dog I'd have the retained testicle removed in 2 or 3 years.
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