Met a pup today, exactly six months old. He has no testicles as yet, the vet is saying he’ll likely need an op to remove them if they are retained to avoid them becoming cancerous. I understand the need to remove retained testicles, but my question is, at what point should this happen? Is it likely they’ll make an appearance in the next couple of months? (I honestly cannot remember when they arrived on my one and only boy). Should the op wait until he’s older and more mature or is the risk of cancer greater than the loss of hormones?

My last (late) GSD only had one down and my vet at the time happily agreed that we should start considering it for when he was about 18 mth/2 years old.

River’s breeder bought a papillon boy from a well known kennel many years ago who didn’t drop until a year old.

River only had one down when I got him at 10 weeks, but the second one didn’t take long and both were present and correct at 16 weeks - he was a fast maturing boy from a fast maturing breed though.

And I have a friend with a standard smooth haired dachshund who she bought intending to start a breeding program, but neither of his ever dropped and he was castrated somewhere between a year and 18 months.

I know a dog whose testicles just descended at 8 months, his owners were ready to neuter him. I don't think there's any rush, depending on breed I would wait until he was finished growing?

It's certainly true that retained testicles need to be removed (because being inside the body keeps them too hot so the cells start behaving abnormally) but there's no rush. Between 12 and 18 months is fine, especially in larger breeds which are slower to mature and should be castrated later rather than sooner anyway.

Unless a vet thinks otherwise, just as with any castration, I'd wait until the growth plates have closed before going in after retained testicles.  There is also the fact that with some puppies, they have been known to pull them up when a judge checks for them, in a Puppy Class.  Which would mean at around 6 months this happens.    I'd wait although thankfully we only had one with one missing, and we'd sold him (with the new owners full knowledge of the situation).

Thank you all for your advice, it’s much appreciated. I will pass your thoughts on/tell the owner to look on here. I said there was no rush, but was bothered because some vets seem to be quite ‘trigger happy’ when it comes to neutering. Thanks again.

Tell me about it. My vet said I should either spay or breed from my bitch puppy by a year old or she will die from mammary cancer...
Some vets seem to be working on commission

> Some vets seem to be working on commission

No kiddin'!!   To suggest that (taking a litter/spay by a year old - ye Gods) is just beyond belief.  We only had one who developed mammary cancer although almost all our bitches weren't spayed until around 7 or 8 years, after taking a litter from them .... but certainly NOT at a year old!!  That one developed MC when in her 13th year.  So although she did 'die from mammary cancer', it had nothing to do with being spayed or not, or taking a litter, or not!!

2 years and over is fine for removing retained testicles. If only one is retained, it's recommended just to remove that one and leave the descended one so the dog still gets testosterone.

Hopefully at least one will come down soon - I believe you can help by massaging/gently teasing the testicle down if you can feel it.

As others have mentioned, leave until pup is fully mature and only remove the retained one/s

This is what I did with my dog--I had the retained testicle removed at 15 months, much against my then vet's advice, and earlier than I would have really liked but I had another male joining the household. He's now 14 years old, never got a curly coat or lost his colour (both of which often happen in our breed with spayed or castrated dogs).