Hi i have a little boy chihuahua who is coming 6 mths i have kept him to go into the ring

well i know he had two normal testicals about a mth ago and yesterday when i was stacking him and getting him ready for a show coming up i found he has only one testical i have located the other one up abit i am really worried and have booked an appointment for tomorrow the earliest i could get!

i am thinking that he will have to be neutured now what do you think??

i am really upset as he is perfect to me in every other way but i guess now i can't bring him to the show now?!

give him a bit of time and stop poking lol. if they were down a month ago they should be fine. dont do anything hasty if you are showing him!

agree with suz!  Have the breed myself, and wouldn't have mentioned the C word this early - never!

It would be very unusual, I would think, if a testis once descended into the scrotum would return to the abdomen where it would need to be removed. If they are in the abdomen and do not descended through the narrow channel into the scrotum side of the pelvis then there is cause for worry because once it, the testis, has grown to it full adult size it is too big to descended and need to be removed.

In this case it is safely on the right side of the pelvic ring and I do not think it is likely to return from where it came, the only other thing that could happen is the 'cables' that connect it to other parts of the body are too short to allow the full decent into the scrotum. This can't be so in this dog as it has already reached the correct place and will do so again.

Only thing that could go wrong now as far as I can see is damage from too much prodding, leave it alone till he is at least 18 months then if it is still not at home have a vet look at the situation.

Agree stop feeling them, if they've both been down let nature take it's course  If not down after 12 months then I would have him done.

Thank you everyone i will leave it alone

i just was really worried when i felt it

I def wouldn't worry to much as of yet- My breeder (boston's) she had a male that didn't drop till he was almost 2yrs old- she thought was kinda late but he did drop them- I think he more less just kept pulling them up

Hello i brought him to the vet just to be sure
well the vet said he could feel it just like i had explained he said if it hasn't dropped by 12 mths he would advise having him castrated i said would could i wait until 18 mths he said that it was ok!!

Now here is my problem will i be allowed to show while he has only the one testical down or will i wait until they are both in the normal place??

Sorry for all the questions

saoirse

Saoirse, yes you can show, you may find the odd, very odd, judge who will penalise him but most will accept that he is a baby and there is plenty of time yet. Puppies that have the normal number of dangly bits will sometimes retract them when they are in the ring so you may well not be alone.

Thank you Nova my head has been all over the place today with his um bits

hopefully the judge wont be too bad its his first show in 3 wks

We've just been through this with our dog--who was entire and descended when we got him at 12 weeks, and somewhere between 20 and 30 weeks it all changed. My son jokes that I scared him giving him a bath...The first I knew of it was taking him to a champ show. I waited until he was 16 months old and then decided reluctantly to book him in. He has just had the retained testicle removed from the groin. An earlier thread I posted about this will tell you about the 'treatment' I got from the vets--basically they were not in favour and wanted me to have him castrated and really used heavy pressure to get me to change my mind. I understand from a vet friend that it could have been possible to do a procedure called orchiopexy--relocating the retained testicle in its correct position and holding it in place with a suture--but this was never offered. I do understand why, but I think vets are over-keen to neuter all pets and often aren't interested in any discussion about change oin temperament, coat, etc. Having said that, he is the same loving sweet character and that's all I want. We can give the show ring a miss and besides he prefers working anyway.

> a procedure called orchiopexy--relocating the retained testicle in its correct position and holding it in place with a suture--but this was never offered.

I can understand why as it is of no value to the dog what so ever.

Quite, I imagine it is of more interest to people who want to show their dogs

Hello thank you for replying

i am going to ask my vet about this

but i have another question would this be considered cosmetic surgery though????

I would have thought the KC would not give permission to show if this procedure was carried out as it would most probably be considered as cosmetic rather than for the dogs health and wellbeing.

Thats what i was thinking!!

Thank you

Hi saoirse

apart from the KC frowning on - and I'd wager completely banning - this procedure, I strongly suspect the RCVS would deter vets from performing it on the grounds that it has no physical benefit to the dog itself. 

Unscrupulous breeders or exhibitors could in effect dupe someone into using a male at stud that is carrying this inherited defect - it's things like that which lead to breeds having seriously compromised breeding issues and difficulty establishing which lines are carrying the fault or are genuinely clear of it.

Hopefully in the case of your dog it will descend again naturally :)  As others have mentioned it's not unknown for youngsters to retract the testes at shows only for them to appear again when less stressed or perhaps temperatures / weather conditions more to their liking LOL.

As for still showing him in the near future I'd say go for it up to open show level to give you both practice in the sights, sounds, scents and dog dense experience that can't be recreated at training classes.  Some judges may penalise him and others be more forgiving at such a young stage - after all he might not be the only male puppy in the same situation and even if he is could still be of better breed type and conformation than the competition!

For your breeder's benefit, regardless of the outcome, please let him/her know what's happening and the eventual outcome as they will need to be aware there is a potential problem for future assessment of breeding stock.

Good luck meantime,
Teri :)

Hi Saoirse, that would be my guess--more importantly it doesn't alter the fact that the dog is not fit to breed from, either, and I imagine for an unscrupulous breeder the dog would look 'right' to anyone else.

I should have read your reply first, Teri, well said!