hi. i have a 8 month old staffie whose testicles are no where to be seen. i thought by now he should have them. anybody got any ideas. thanks.

Assuming your Staffie is male then I would have thought that they should be there by now, it is not un-known for them to show up later than this but very rare. Best speak to the vet as it is thought not good to leave them where they are.

hi there i had a male jack russell years ago who didnt have any tecticles at that age i took him to the vet,they said he had retained testicles,
when we went back 2 months later one had came down but other was still retained,he had an operation to remove the retained one and was left with one,which never caused a problem at all
good luck and i would get him checked by a vet cause retained ones can cause problems later on
mandy

A quick trip to the vets is probably in order, better safe than sorry!

Not sure how you stand showing him without all his tackle - or if the KC would accept a vets letter... maybe someone can help?

You can show a dog without testicles just as you can show a dog with any other fault, but must say I would think it not a good idea.

You will find that your vet will want to remove them as they may increase the chance of Cancer later on.

Forgive me for asking (I don't show dogs!) but are testicles something that the judges look at? I dread to think lol. Mine has his intact but my vet is keen to relieve him of them!!

CG

Yes, the judge will check, by hand, that the dog has 2 and they are normal because that is what the standard asks for.

Tell your vet that when he gives you his, he can have your dogs ;)

Ha ha ha Jackie! I did say to the vet - is there any valid reason to remove them? SHE said "if you're not breeding him, he doesn't need them". Ouch!! Truthful, my vet is fantastic but I disagreed with her on this one. Only if its medical will I whip them off!

CG

Did not realise your vet was a she, but I agree with you and think vets would be better telling people how to check their dogs bits rather than whipping them off, true some dogs will develope tumours but if you know what to look for and do look, then should you find something amiss that is the time to remove them. And don't forget the mammary area too as even male dogs can get a problem there as well as bitches.

He will probably be a bilateral cryptorchid and will therefore need to be castrated as retained testicles can become cancerous due to the warmth of internal body. You will still be able to have a lovely pet but it is a fault for the showring.

thanks to everyone for your replies. i will take him to the vets asap.

my 8 week old pup has testicals already - I thought this was really early! I would def think tehy shoudl have decended by 8 months!

Some pups are there at 8 weeks, the pup I have just bought has when I picked him up but when I checked the next day one had disappeared. But both are back now, he is 10 weeks, but have known a dog to still retract up to the age of 15 months and have heard of one who did not descended at all until 17 months. So it does happen and I would not worry about surgery until the dog is over 18 months, owners of dogs who do not descend till late or not at all should let the dogs breeder know, they should look very carefully at their breeding programme.