# Cryptorchid ?



## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

My @ 4 1/2 month old puppy is cryptorchid. I have a feeling that is why he was found in excellent condition running down the street in Newark at 3 months old..I bet an unscrupulous breeder tossed him out because he could not sell or breed him that way .

Anyway , he is ours now and he is awesome 

My question is , do I need to do anything about it? The shelter knows me well ,so they were fine with me taking him intact..they said to wait to neuter him ( which I like to wait to neuter anyway ..I did my other dog when he was over a year old) .

My question is , do I need to do anything about the un descended testicle? He is developing what I believe to be a bitch stripe from reading other posts here.

I'm not concerned with his coat color , unless it indicates he is having developmental issues due to the undescended testicle. 

Advice? We see the vet next week for hip x rays , and I can ask then , was just wondering if anyone here had experience with it. Thanks!


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## Mary Beth (Apr 17, 2010)

No experience and yes, these are certainly questions for your vet. Here is a link to an article Why should my cryptorchid pet be neutered? that will answer your questions in the meantime. But this doesn't mean your pup doesn't have the male hormones, so the stripe you are seeing, is just his marking. I do recall reading somewhere it is a donkey stripe.


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## Zeeva (Aug 10, 2010)

Smokey was a cryptorchid. We nutered him a couple months shy of a year. They do invasive surgery so you cannot go to a low cost clinic to get the neutering done. I think it was a little over $300. He still has a nasty scar from it because it was pretty far up and took a while to find.

Anyway, I've read that the testical can drop up till 2 years. Not sure if it's true. I don't think you've to do much if you wanna wait for it to descend you can. Health wise I'm not sure but I think there are some risks...

Glad you took him in. Some people only see the dollar worth in a puppy and that's sad :c

Much <3


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

Thank you 

I will ask the vets next week. I read that there is a higher risk or torsion and cancer on the undescended testicle  

Ideally I like to wait to neuter until at least 15 months. My female is spayed and my other 5 year old male is neutered. We have a very secure yard and the dogs are never alone anyway. So I have no reason to rush it 

Will update after I talk to the vet. I also think he had/has Pano. It is MUCH better in the 3 weeks since I have had him. He was on regular pedigree puppy in the shelter. I immediately got him onto LBP ..now he is on adult BB slowly switching to adult TOTW. It seems to be helping.

So , X ray and testicle talk at the vet next week


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Yes, there is higher risk of cancer if left in. However, for the most part, waiting until 15 months to neuter should not be a medical issue or risk. 


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

Great , thanks 

Will follow up with vet. I know they recommend neutering later , so I should get a good answer from them.

It has so far saved him from an early neuter if nothing else. They would have done it in the shelter before adopting him out :/


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## Muskeg (Jun 15, 2012)

My male husky was cryptorchid. He had testicular torsion at about 3 years old. My vet, who knows me and my dogs well, (he is a working dog and won't be bred) agreed to remove the retained testicle and leave the descended one. Sort of a Lance Armstrong deal, if you will.

I had been worried more about cancer in the retained testicle than torsion. Symptoms of torsion for him were, hunched back, reluctance to move, yelping discomfort if I touched his abdomen, and just very obvious signs of extreme pain. I'm very glad my vet was still open at the time and that the vet on duty was my regular veterinarian who was willing to do a "partial neuter". The surgery was pretty invasive- the testicle was up in the abdomen and took a bit of digging to find. Recovery was a week of rest followed by a couple weeks easy. Similar to a spay surgery. 

I'd recommend neutering at 18 months for a male GSD with retained testicle. If you are strongly interested in keeping him intact, and can ensure he won't breed (cryptorchidism is thought to be at least partly genetic), ask your vet if she/he is willing to look into a partial neuter. 

But do get that retained testicle out of there! It will very likely cause some sort of trouble down the line. I bargained and lost. Happily, I was within reach of vet care at the time, and was able to see the signs of torsion early.


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

Thanks for the info! I was planning to do a full euter when his growth plates close , which I hear varies. I'll ask the vet about a partial neuter by 18 months at the very least.

No , no plans to breed. He is always with me , my yard is very secure , and my other 2 are speutered


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## Clyde (Feb 13, 2011)

Oisin's Aoire said:


> My @ 4 1/2 month old puppy is cryptorchid. I have a feeling that is why he was found in excellent condition running down the street in Newark at 3 months old..I bet an unscrupulous breeder tossed him out because he could not sell or breed him that way .


Seems like an extreme assumption for why he was running loose

There are many reasons for a dog to get loose. I wouldn't instantly jump to such a base conclusion.


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## hchorney1 (Mar 5, 2012)

Shadow had to go through a very invasive surgery to locate the missing testicle, despite multiple scans and attempts to get it. The poor guy had several incisions and was pretty sore, but it's out. Ended up costing about $700.


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

Clyde said:


> Seems like an extreme assumption for why he was running loose
> 
> There are many reasons for a dog to get loose. I wouldn't instantly jump to such a base conclusion.





Clyde said:


> Seems like an extreme assumption for why he was running loose
> 
> There are many reasons for a dog to get loose. I wouldn't instantly jump to such a base conclusion.


Well I would , because it is the norm out of Newark NJ. I'm fairly involved with the shelter there for decades, and I live 5 minutes away . 

Having a monorchid dog is a REAL common reason for these ghetto fad breeders to chuck out pups , (exclusively protection breeds too, because of the "market" that is their clientele ) right along with rickets and other obvious joint issues. It ruins their reputation , and then people don't want their puppies. Pit Bulls , various Mastiffs types , very popular with the Crypts and Bloods here . AC there picks up these pups daily , multiple young dogs a day. 

German Shepherds are THE dog of choice for the business owners in Newark ( has always been that way, never went the Pit trend ) . When I say" business" I mean the loads of salvage yards , car garages , pawn stores , liquor warehouses. They get them from uneducated BYB breeders who advertise in the local paper. Been that way for decades , and they are usually crippled with HD by the time they are 7 ( and often turned out like garbage at that advanced age) which is why I was taking my new pup to get x rayed next week as I would do any intervention surgical or otherwise to spare him what is certainly in his bloodline. 

In the last 3 weeks out of that neighborhood ,there have been several 8 to 10 week old otherwise beautiful and perfect Cane Corsos picked up running loose with front leg deformities , they think they are from the same litter which would only make sense. Cane Corsos have exploded in popularity around here as the tough dog of choice for the drug dealers and gang bangers and this is what you will see now.That and Neos. What really is disturbing is you are starting to see the gang bangers breeding Kangals 

Purebred protection puppies that have some defect that would hurt the breeder's rep getting picked up by Animal Control is a 5 times daily occurrence in that neighborhood.They always send them out of the neighborhood to get adopted to avoid them being adopted for the wrong reasons. 

He was in excellent condition , clean , well fed , PB , 3 months old GSD with one testicle and a pronounced limp that came and went , all 4 legs . No microchip , no owners marking , no collar , no ads on craigslist or any of the other lost pet sites about him for a good 3 weeks for a 50 mile radius. 

He is textbook ghetto breeder discard for that neighborhood , unfortunately. Hence , my rather educated guess. Pardon if it offended.

Also , why my pondering how such a decent dog was strayed would even hit anyone's radar or bother someone is beyond me?? 

I'm sure everyone who rescues dogs wonders and has ideas about their dog's history. Sometimes after you get to know the dog you realize they  have a behavior problem that takes work and the previous owners either did not know how or not willing to deal with it.

Anyway , no hard feelings or anything , just wanted to clarify why I have the first hand experience to base an educated guess about my rescued dog.


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

Here is another example. She came in this week. This "breeder" walked this one right into the shelter and said " here , I can't sell her like this" and left . They don't push that aspect too hard because they are tired of seeing discarded less than perfect protection breed puppies that the breeders do not want their name attached to.. they pulled 2 out for the river yesterday in a knotted bag , more Cane's with leg deformities , about 10 weeks old ...they would rather the so called breeder dropped them in to the shelter than straying them or dropping them into the Passaic river like trash. 

She has been transferred out of Newark and is in South Jersey . I hope she gets a chance at a loving home too <3

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.552524691461205.1073741950.122122364501442&type=3


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## AerynAerie (Oct 1, 2012)

Ollie was cryptorchid as well. It didn't bother me at all since he's not a show dog. Sometime around 9 months he started acting funny. Not wanting to run, eating a lot less, laying around a lot. So took him to the vet and discovered his undescended testicle had become twisted and had to be removed. Keep an eye out for anything like that!


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## Oisin's Aoire (Jun 17, 2013)

will do! Thanks for the heads up


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

If he is about 5 months now, he could still drop the testicle. Most have them down at this age but it happens as late as 9 months, according to my breeder. WD's one yo-yo-ed up and down for a while before they finally settled.


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