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Comment by Alice on February 25, 2009 at 5:31pm

So just to update everyone, Finn will be 6 months old on Monday and his other testicle is still missing. I'm so torn between waiting and just getting it over with. I'd hate to put him through that kind of surgery and it makes me nervous since he has never had anesthesia, but he's starting to show signs of dominance, marking, "excitement" etc and if it is hormone induced then neutering should help. I read a few things people posted online saying that an undescended testicle can cause behavioral problems but I don't know if it is really due to the testicle being undescended or not. I spoke with the vet's office and they said they really prefer to wait until at least 8 months and the cost will be $370.00. That price is also based on a dog under 39 lbs and Finn weighs 29 lbs right now so who knows what he'll weigh in 2 months. We would have to wait until after March 19th anyway because we're getting married the 14th then going on our honeymoon so maybe by that time we will have made a decision.

Comment by Alice on January 29, 2009 at 1:35am

Thanks for sharing your experience. The vet is fine with the procedure and sounds like he has done it many times. He just prefers to wait to avoid causing more discomfort than necessary, but said he can do it whenever we 'd like. He said it can be in one of three places and if you can feel it in the abdomen or near the leg, that makes it easy, but if not, he'll just have to go in and look for. If it ends up being in the last place he checks then obviously it will take longer for him to heal. I planned on about $240 for the neutering so I guess $360 isn't that big of a jump. It could definitely be worse. :)

Comment by CorgiLove on January 29, 2009 at 1:24am

Philip didn't have either of his testicles. His breeder told me that generally if they are not there by 6 months, then they aren't going to come down, so I waited until he was 6 months, they still didn't drop, and in he went for the "find the treasures" surgery :)
He had absolutely no problems from the surgery, was back to his normal jumpy self the next morning, and didn't even need the cone. It was as if nothing ever happened.
His testis turned out to both be still int he abdomen, so his incision was done high on the tummy, at the same spot where females have theirs from the spay. The stitches were removed in 2 weeks, and in a couple of days the scar almost dissolved. Now he is almost a year old and you can't even tell where the incision was.
It's a common phenomenon, if your vet sounds freaked out about it, might be a good idea to look into another that is familiar with the procedure, I personally went to the one recommended by my breeder.
And as far as the cost goes, I paid $360 total. The neuter itself was $225, the pre-anesthetic panel was $70 (this is not required, but recommended for first anesthesia), the injectable pain killed before the surgery was $27 (also not required, but usually speeds up the healing process), and the rest was for the pain killers and antibiotics to take home for after the surgery.
Your little boy will be just fine, who knows, you might get lucky and his testis will drop before he is 6 months old :)

Comment by Alice on January 29, 2009 at 12:07am

I wouldn't want to neuter before 6 months anyway, so I guess if it's still missing at that time we'll just have to go ahead and do it. I just feel bad putting him through the extra pain and recovery time, and I worry about how much the procedure will cost.

Comment by Cindi on January 28, 2009 at 8:21pm

Dundee had a hidden testicle. The people who did the surgery did not do it correctly and he had a big infection by the time we rescued him. Most vets will spay/neuter at six months. If his testicle doesn't drop by then, it isn't going to drop. Best to do the surgery as a pup since he will recover much more quickly.

Comment by Amanda on January 28, 2009 at 8:01pm

Either everybody has a different definition of the term "dropped," or every dog is different (which I would put my money on). Dax's didn't drop until he was about 6 months old. Give him time.

Comment by Jessie on January 28, 2009 at 6:27pm

Actually I've come across this problem in my dog. Let me clarify I have two dogs, one being my AKC pembroke welsh corgi, Sam, and the other being my AKC Basset Hound, George. Sam is in perfect health and has not had any problems but Georgie wasn't so lucky. And when it comes down to it, -neither- descended which my vet told me was -very- irregular. One not descending isn't -that- terribly uncommon but both not descending is very uncommon. We found out the hard way. My hound was a rescue, I didn't even care that he was an AKC bred pup. He was 6 months old when we got him, he'll be two this june. Since he's considered a larger breed dog, the vet told me it could take up to 16 months for him to fully mature so there wasn't a huge rush to get him done. I didn't get Sam until George was a few months away from being a year. When it finally came the day to get George taken care of, that's when there was a startling discovery of his missing jewels. Being he was a rescue at 6 months of age, we had to try to hunt down the original owners to find out if he was already fixed. Not the case, so he had to go under extensive surgery.
Being the surgery was so physically invasive, George had a long recovery time, roughly 2-3 weeks. He was very stiff and sore, he didn't want to do anything. The bruising from the stitches made it look worse then it was. He had to wear a cone and had two medications he had to take twice a day. He just didn't act like himself until he got his pain medication. Even then he'd have an energy burst then be asleep. It simply broke my heart to see my hound like that. I don't wish that upon any dog. Especially since we got Sam, the corgi, fixed shortly after and he was back to himself the day after. Let me tell you what a pain it is to have a corgi who's supposed to be on supervised play that gets loose and runs around the house ten times. The vet simply calls Sam as a bubbly pup.
I would wait if there is a chance that it could descend on its own because the extensive surgery that is done to find his missing jewel is very invasive and the recovery time is quite a bit longer then the rountine fixing.
And the final bill for that surgery is a nice little shocker. Ouchie. Then again, they couldn't find either one of Georgie's jewels and said the surgery was quite extensive... would in turn made my wallet start crying. LoL Oh well. But it's okay because my boys are worth it and he's alot happier and healthier for it being done.
Good Luck, Finny. - George
Hope this helps, Alice!
Sam & Georgie's mama, Jessie