A Boy Dog Question

[Kimbo]

Hi Everyone.

Otis has an embarassing question to ask. He is just gone six months old and has not had his boy bits drop yet. Can anyone give me some idea if this is common in whippets?

When I took him to the vets - approx 3 months ago for his final vaccination the vet found one of his balls but couldn't feel the other. His older brother has just been de-sexed (due to living in a house with other bitches - including his mum) and he had one ball up and one down.

I have had a wee feel and can definitely feel one - but am not sure about the other! Then he gets all embarassed and starts to wriggle!

I know leaving such things long term can result in cancer - but should I wait a few more months and see if he drops? I am in no hurry to de-sex him - and have read that whippys tend to take longer to develop than some other breeds - is this correct?

I don't want to start a de-sex or not debate but would like to hear if this is common among boy whippet dogs and what the average age is for such things to appear.

Looking forward to your comments :- ) :teehee:

 

[BlackMoon Magic]

I'm by no means an "expert" :teehee: but I can say that all my boys have been lucky to have their bits down by 4 months of age.

I have been told this can be a problem with show bred whippets, though mind you.....I don't know exactly how much knowledge the person has who told me this.

Everyone seems to have their own opinion on this.

Though out of the litters (5) that I have actually seen I only know of 3 boys that didn't get their bits

hopefully i'm not rambling on too much! (w00t) (w00t) (w00t)

 

[Rebecca Claire]

Sorry to hear about Otis. I had a similar question to you this time last year with my dog Bailey. He had one ball that had dropped but they couldn't feel the other at all. After discussing with the vet and my OH we decided to have Bailey neutered at 10 months old and his ball was located right up by his kidney,it wasn't the most straight forward of op's apparently but he recovered in no time at all :thumbsup: There is no right or wrong answer, you'll know what's right for your Otis. Good luck with whatever you decide :luck:

 

[Macha]

I think you can safely wait a year or so, let the dog mature. Re the comment on showbred whippets, the condition is also common in several other breeds and in race-bred whippets. I read that the pedigreed whippet racing association in the UK did a survey and found that they had more cryptorchids among the dogs of racing lines than among the racers with show bloodlines ... well, I would take that with a grain of salt but it seems to be a widespread problem in many bloodlines. The WRA concluded that probably racing people were more likely than show-breeders to breed from a dog who had only one testicle descended, as long as he was fast, a practice they are trying to discourage.

 

[joey]

Hiya..2 of my boys had "just the one" Connor had the op at 10 months of age..he did have complications afterwards but when Diesel went for his to be looked at sailed through his castration operation.

Good luck for what ever you decide

 

[Noise]

Eskil already had two as a little puppy

 

[BlackMoon Magic]

sorry macha, it seems i have somehow offended you with what i said. I was only saying what people had told me to look for when breeding show bred whippets. I have had race whippets for years but have only just been showing over a year. I don't know anything about breeding in the UK but I know the whole time i have been racing here in oz I have only known of 2 race pups that were ever bred in a span of 10 years that were born with only 1 testicle. The people i know and including myself would NEVER use a dog with 1 tesicle to breed from......no matter how fast he is! Unfortunately, here in oz the greyhound people have no problem doing this as we seem to always have heaps of racers and stud dogs with only 1 testicle.

I hope you now can understand where i am coming from, I wasn't pointing a finger at show people. I was only trying to help. Though I have no doubt that things are very diffrent in the UK as we don't have the number of racing whippets nor the number of compititions that you have there.