Hello,

Deacon has one undescended testicle. The vet says it is fine and the other one still might drop. He is only 3 months old. Will this have any effect on his growth or behavior if it doesn't drop? My wife and I plan on getting him neutered at around 6 months, but until then should I be worried at all?

Thanks,

Trent

You should not be worried as far as behavior and all that goes. I think all of the huskies that I have heard has developed normally. I would not get it done at 6 months though. Wait, let it grow, and then make a plan. I would say as close to a year as possible, will be safer.

Best person to talk to is Jen (wpskier222). Dizzy has one and is getting neutered this weekend if I remember right.

Don't worry, Orion had this as well. I waited until after it had dropped to have him neutered (It took until he was 9 months) although to be honest I would have waited to have him neutered regardless just to give him a bit of extra time to mature mentally. It is remarkably common in this breed for a condition that is supposed to be rare, I know of a few other dogs who have gone through the same thing - some do descend later others don't, it kind of depends where the testicle is located though as to whether it will come down but either way they can safely neuter so it shouldn't be an issue. Adorable boy you have there by the way!

Ok, we will wait longer to neuter then. I am glad to hear that it's not just a problem with Deacon, and that others have had experience with this. Thanks for all the advice!

Trent

Hi Trent. Yes, my pup has a retained testicle, and yes he's getting neutered tomorrow. I really wanted to wait until he was a year old, but decided to just get it done. I haven't been able to take him to the dog park because he keeps getting picked on by neutered males. Apparently its a smell thing. Anyway, his social skills were kind of suffering because of this and I really want to be able to send him back to daycare. He is 10.5 months.

It won't have any effect on his growth or behavior, he really isn't going to start going through puberty until around 7-8 months of age. You will know when it starts lol. I definitely recommend waiting as long as you can, some even recommend waiting up to 18 months. For your puppy, there is still a chance it could drop, which would be great. Your vet might try to scare you into neutering early because of the retained testicle, but do your own research, read up on it and decide from there. Also the big risk of not neutering a cryptorchid dog is an increase in testicular cancer. The chances of that developing between the age of 6-18 months is slim to none, so you aren't putting your puppy at an increased risk. Of course, there are other issues cryptorchidism can cause, but nothing that should make you feel in a rush to neuter. I think it's better to let a puppy physically develop before neutering. It also allows the retained testicle to grow a little bit so it's easier to find when you do decide to neuter him.

I can update you and let you know how his neuter goes tomorrow, but at this point, you have nothing to worry about. It's still important to neuter with this condition, but there is no rush.

Yeah, I hope it ends up dropping to help the procedure when the time comes. He still needs one more round of shots before we take him to the dog parks, but we will see how that goes in the months to come. Hopefully it doesn't develop into a problem because of the smell. We will wait as long as we can to get him neutered due to all the helpful info I have received here. Thanks again!