Can anyone help us?

We have a 15mth old male blue roan cocker spaniel who's a truely handsome dog. Unfortunately one of his testicles never dropped and after being told by a couple of people that this could increase the risk of cancer in later life we consulted our vet - a vet of very high local repute. He was a little ambiguous in his advice, saying that the position of the testicle may or may not increase the risk of testicular cancer and on a separate visit another vet at the practice said that it DID increase the risk...

Anyway - we decided to go ahead and have the castration and this has now been done.

Does anyone have any knowledge/experience of anything like this? The deed is done so I'm not looking for "you shouldn't have done that" replies that will just make us feel bad, more reassurance that we've done the right thing. Also, I've just read that the coat can change after neuturing females & castrating dogs - we weren't aware of this, what can we expect?

Many thanks
julian

Hi,

Is your dog handstripped or clipped? That makes a huge difference. After neutering/spaying the hormone levels drop which can leave the coat very woolly and almost impossible to hand strip.

If you have him professionally trimmed make sure you tell the groomer that he's been 'done' and they'll know the best way to trim her in the future.

Being 'done' doesn't always alter the coat but its something that all groomers will be experienced in so it won't be a huge problem.

There are lots of cocker owners on here (who know more than I do :D) and several groomers so they'll be able to offer advice as well.

Fiona
x x x

What will happen to his coat over time, is that he will grow a profuse wooly undercoat, loosing that typical snooth and silky top coat. The top coat usually becomes dryer, and more prone to tangle. The main problem is that the dog becomes very hard to groom, and the coat gets matted, and doesn't lie right.

There is a slightly greater risk of a retained teste becomning cancerous, but themain problem is that you wouldn't see that there was a problem like you would with an external one. Actually testicular cancer is not very common, (unlike mammary cancer in bitches), and a male dog is more likely to develop prostate problems. Your vet could have removed just the reatained testicle, and left the other, this would have helped with the negative coat changes.

Now that the deed is done, you will need to keep on top of his coat more, and have him clipped regularly so he doesn't look like a walking hedge.

Hope that helps.

Hi Brainless,

Jumping in here, is there anything you can give to a castrated dog to stop his coat being as dry?. I feel Toby's coat's a little dry looking although other folk don't seem to think so.
Thanks
Dot

An oil supplement such as Evening Primrose oil can be most beneficial.

Ask the vet to remove only the retained testies and leave the decended one where it is. That way your boy will still have the advantage of the hormones that will help keep his coat and him in top condition. Jackie

Too late for that I'm afraid Jackie...thanks for all the replies guys - coat issues aside, have we done the right thing?

julian

Thanks Barbara. I'll try that. I assume just a small dose would do.
Dot

It doesn't always happen Barbara - usually, but not always.

Fiona
x x x

I have a Boston terrier that retained one and has a rectal prolapse. Well I had a purse string done on him and had him fixed at 5 months. I do not see any change in his behiour to my intack male. I think its better to have the testy removed (I had both) then to find out the testy caused problems later on and it could of been prevented. All my dogs/bitches are fixed except my one male and my pup.
ttfn :)

I've never known a blue roan Cocker whose coat doesn't change after neutering :-) If the coat is of the fine, silky variety with not too much feathering, coat changes will be very gradual & could take many months, even a year or so to be noticeable. If the coat is quite thick before the op, then the changes will be more noticeable, though again, it will be a few months before you notice anything different. Changes will be even more noticeable with a coat that has always been clipped regularly since clipping generally makes the coat grow back thicker anyway. Most groomers won't need to be told that a Cocker has been neutered - I can always tell anyway :-) Generally, I will try to handstrip a neutered Cocker for as long as I can, then once it becomes too difficult, clipping is the only option. It helps to keep a neutered dog's coat in condition if you groom thoroughly at least every week & use a good conditioner when you bath the dog. Evening primrose oil or starflower oil are also good supplements for a dry coat (many neutered Cockers do get dry coats). You may also find that eventually you need to reduce the amount you feed a neutered Cocker or change to a "light" diet - many do develop gargantuan appetites after neutering although that need not result in a fat, flabby dog if a careful eye is kept on diet & exercise :-)