Hi, sorry if this question has already been asked. we have a young dachshund (standard) who is now 18 weeks old. He is our first puppy since 12 years ago so all seems new again. He still only has one descended testicle and have been told by our vets that it’s now unlikely that the other will make an appearance. My question is when is best to have the corrective surgery. Ideally, although I had no plans to breed or show him, I didn’t want to have him castrated as I believe that if it’s not broke then don’t try to fix it, but understand the health risks if one is left undescened. Our vet is recommend that both testicles are castrated at 8 months. Is this too early? I’d like to leave it as long, but as safe, as possible to be sure he has matured both physically and mentally. I guess my next question will be is it best to remove both the testicles, as the vets advised, or can we just remove the undescend one and leave the healthy one where it is, which seems to make sense to me?

First bit of advice is change your vet.  Unless your vet is willing to prove scientifically(ie by Xrays at their expense)that your puppy's growth plates are closed at the age they wish to neuter him then walk away.

No puppy should be neutered(of either sex) until the puppy has stopped growing & is fully mature. I've been shown Xrays of puppies joints at varying ages & it was quite clear that the growth plates in the long bones(tibia, femur etc)were not closed until the puppy was fully mature & much older than 8 months.

Canine testicles can"yoyo"up & down during teething for starters & the more anyone checks them the more likely the pup is to involuntarily to retract one or both. I've known of puppies who haven't had both testicles fully & permanently until they were over 12 months of age & been through both testosterone surges & are fully physically mature. There is NO danger of cancer or other testicle relating problems developing until much later.

If it turns out that both your puppy's do not descend then only the retained one needs to be removed.

I've known puppies go into the ring at around 6 months, fully loaded, but when the judge checks, one, or occasionally both, have 'disappeared'.

So the message from me is wait.  18 weeks is still young much as to be honest, the missing one may not descend.  It should be safe to wait until a year although we did have a puppy with just one down when we sold him (with the full knowledge of the new owner!) and before they had him castrated, the missing testicle had become a real problem (I forget now exactly what happened) and the dog was in serious trouble long before he was a year old.

Of course it's up to you, but frankly I'd have a full castration done, if the missing one doesn't appear.   But be guided by a vet you know AND TRUST.

I kept a pup from my last litter that had the same issue. I chose to wait until he was over 2 years and then had him castrated.

18 weeks is far too young to know if a testicle will descend or not   Change your vet and find a more knowledgeable one!  I'd give it over a year at least. 

Even if it doesn't come down, there is no rush to neuter - allow him to mature properly and with his hormones.

Thank you for the replies.. I’m going to get advice from other vets for sure, as I’m under the impression certain vets feel the need to castrate everything that walks through their doors with know thought of what’s best for the dog and it’s owners. whats the latest you’d leave it until castration, and at what age does a standard dachshund become mature? He’s turning into such a good pup and I wouldn’t want to change him in any way. As I said before ideally I wouldn’t have had him castrated at all. Also, does anyone know of it will effect his coat? He’s a wire hair dachshund. Thank you. Sorry for all the questions.

I'd imagine castration will indeed affect his coat, it does with other wire coated breeds, and with spaniels too. I agree he's too young to be sure whether the other one will appear or not, and if/when you do have to give up if it hasn't, by all means just get the retained one removed, there's nothing wrong with the other!

Posted this in 2010
Zuma, my GSD, only had one down, I talked it over with vet and she agreed that it would be fine to leave it till he was 2ish to remove. As it worked out he had to have surgery for possible gastric obstruction when he was 17 months, part way thru his op I had phone call saying the vet had found 'the missing bit' in abdominal cavity and did I want it removed. They did ask about the other one which was down and were happy to leave it where it was/is.
After Zumas was removed he was very slightly less 'in your face' with other dogs, Vet said it could have been a bit less testosterone or just coming out of the Kevin stage, but whichever he has had time to mature physically and mentally and also kept his good temperament with dogs and people and is now just over 2 1/2.

Zuma is now 10½ and is still fine with just the one and no change in coat etc.

> I'd imagine castration will indeed affect his coat, it does with other wire coated breeds, and with spaniels too.

Coat change - it did with the two oldie Bassets we had to have castrated - prostate problems (not cancer).   They both grew a heavier softer coat and one became quite 'wavy' (back to, maybe, what Queen Alexandra was reputed to be doing in the royal kennels at Sandringham - Bassets and Clumbers!!).

There’s no reason to remove the descended one. Wait until over a year and remove the retained one if it still hasn’t made an appearance.
Obviously breeding a dog with an undescended testicle is not advised, so you could always ‘neuter’ if you felt the need by having the normal one vasectomised at the same time.

Also just to add, if you do need to get the undescended one removed at some future point when he's mature, I'd highly recommend finding a vet who can do this laparoscopically - it's one of the surgeries they can use laparoscopy for, besides a lap spay - and healing time and recovery and pain will all be much better if it's done laparoscopically.

Our now 13 year old Basset had undescended testicles, they were removed before he fully matured.
He sadly had other issues going on & was prepped ready for an operation, but awaiting X ray results which when the ortho specialist saw decided in discussion us not to subject him, so asked as he was sedated would he please neuter him now rather than having to have another sedation/GA. Realise I did it with good intention but in hindsight it was too soon, even at 13 he's a geriatric pup, it's like he's never matured! His coat is a 'puppy' coat, soft, fluffy, like someone with a bad hair day, it could be that his testicles never worked properly any way but if in that situation again I'd leave for as long as possible. We call him Dorian Grey, as I'm sure somewhere hidden away is a picture of him as how he should look as a 'golden oldie dog' & not a 13 year old pup!

Mmm.   I've long said that puppies who are castrated before they are at least a year old, (other than for a retained testicle btw) do remain 'silly puppies' for all their life.   It could be that the soft-already Basset isn't a good candidate for castration however.  I saw a puppy of 7 months, sired by one of our boys, who'd been castrated, and indeed he was a silly puppy for all his life.   I don't know why he was castrated, but it was just so sad to see what should be a noble hound, like he was.

Thank you for the replies. Would you say that leaving the undescended testicle where it is until he is 2 years is reasonable, or is it likely to turn cancerous before then? I know nobody can be certain, and of corse if there were any complications before then I would t delay, I just want what’s best for him.

My boy had his removed after his 2nd birthday and he was fine.

I would be perfectly happy to leave it until two years old, and as someone else has mentioned, leave the descended one in place. Vasectomise it if need be.

But this pup is too young to worry about it yet :) I have two friends whose dogs’ second testicle has dropped at around 12 months old.

Isabella, at 18wks, it's too early to start worrying about whether to leave it there till 2 years or not - it might pop down next week or next month! 

Sometimes if you apply some inguinal pressure, you can get the one that is undescended to come down - getting it to then stay down can be tricky, but regular 'massages' (ahem) can help it stay there!

Thank you, my mind has been put to rest. I will just wait and see what happens and cross any bridges when they need to be crossed. Will keep in mind about vets advice and to look elsewhere is not happy. Thank you.

My boy only had one come down, can't remember how old he was but the other was was clearly there and had made an appearance.  So, after breakfast every morning, I would put him on my lap, with his back to me, and gently massage the other one, giving it a very gentle pull.
Don't know if this helped, or if it would have come down on it's own anyway, but it worked!  And we now have a very special bond!
I would give it a while before you make any decisions.

Yes, this can definitely help - especially if done before the anatomy closes which prevents it from moving up or down.

Messing around with his testicles could actually have the opposite result - hence them being pulled back when checked by a judge in the ring!!   And it would depend on where the missing item is ..... sometimes they are not near enough for massaging to make much difference! 

https://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/reproductive/c_multi_cryptorchidism

This .....  "However, acute onset of abdominal pain generally indicates that the spermatic cord of the retained testes has become twisted, cutting off the blood supply to the testis"  from this article, is what happened to the puppy I mentioned earlier.......

Not really, it would probably only be a good thing to habituate a dog to being used to his testicles getting handled - in fact it's recommended.  Yes, sometimes you can't get them to come down and sometimes they won't stay down, but it does work occasionally.

The advice I gave to one of my puppy buyers was to wait until the dog was at least 18 months, preferably 2 years old before having him castrated (if the retained testicle hadn’t dropped) and I’ve offered to pay the excess on having it removed as I’m aware it’s often more expensive than a routine neuter.

> in fact it's recommended.

   Kinky!!

Looking back at the answers here, re taking both or not, frankly if he's going to have the surgery to remove the one that hasn't dropped, much as it not 'necessary' to get them both removed, it just makes sense, to me,  to get both removed at the same time, under the same general anaesthetic,  to avoid the need for another g/a, should it be necessary to do a full castration later on.