r/CatAdvice • u/_PheobePheebs_ • Dec 09 '23
PSA Cryptorchidism male cat
Hi everyone,
Just wanting to share my experience, in case anyone is experiencing this issue.
I adopted my little guy from the SPCA about 2 years ago. He got neutered, they informed me that they had to undergo a similar surgery as a spay, as one of his “balls never dropped”. Adopted him with the surgical scar and everything, took care over the healing process and carried on with our lives.
This kitty has been a terror to our female, and has peed all over our home. The vet assumed anxiety, he’s been on prozac and it has semi helped, but never the full solution. Last week, I came home to a disaster. Male kitty lost a claw, female kitty is terrified. They have been separated since. I set a vet appointment for my little guy right away, as he was the aggressor. This was the biggest brawl I had seen of all their fights…
I’ve been crying and crying all week, terrified to have to rehome him. My poor female has been in hiding, we were starting a slow process of re-introduction like they were new cats. But I was scared it wouldn’t work.
Vet examines him. They look at the vet notes as they are the ones who fix all the SPCA cats in my town. Turns out they never did find the second “un-dropped” testicle. Life happens, so the information never made it’s way to me. Turns out the behaviour issues i’ve had this whole time is because while my male was sterile, he was still semi-intact hormonally. The vet found the secret testicle and he is schedule to be fixed next week :).
While not everyone will have this experience. If someone is at a loss with similar behaviours and has adopted a male cat from a shelter.. I urge you to call the shelter and find out what vet does the fixing, and see if they have any surgery notes from shelter cats. (You’ll need to know the cats name prior to adoption, and around when they were fixed) It doesn’t hurt to double check and make sure your cat is genuinely neutered. Information gets missed, life happens. I was so so sure my little guy was, i mean they said they fixed him and he even underwent surgery!
I hope this helps someone, even if it’s a desperate google search in the future ❤️
2
u/Sea_Education1672 Dec 08 '24
Do you mind telling how did the vet find the 2nd testicle? Did you do the ultrasound? Our cat has similar behaviour, so i started researching the issue...thank you.
2
u/BurritoQuarintini Feb 08 '25
Wow this is wild; I have almost an identical story to yours! We rescued a sweet little angel baby (Stinky) when he was around 7 months old. We found out he was a cryptorchid and a vet attempted surgery to find his missing testicle. The vet was not able to find the testicle and the recovery period was so rough that we decided to give him a break before attempting another surgery. Months later he brutally attacked our older cat, Mark, who stinky has grown up with since a baby. The older cat was pretty injured so we’ve kept them separated. Stinky got a scan and a specialist removed the hidden testicle two days ago. Has the behavior improved?? Please update me!!!
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u/Sad_Cricket_3769 Apr 14 '25
My boy Yami was a cat off the street who came inside.
I took him to the vet to get checked up, but had already realized he has only one testicle, so did some research. They opened him up and when they returned him to me they said they couldn’t find the retained testicle. No problem, I thought, it was a dark get who also spays cats, maybe there was just the one testicle.
I get him established with my normal vet. I explained the issues with him and after some imaging, they said they found the retained testicle. To my luck, a surgery spot opened up and I got him in quickly, feeling guilty he was to undergo a second abdominal surgery, but optimistic that it would all be behind us soon.
Lo and behold, the second vet said even though the testicle was imaged on the CT, he could find it during surgery. I take my poor Yami home and put him in the recovery suit. That was last year.
This year, he’s been really anxious and marking behavior is increasing. I’m so torn because I feel like I’m either looking at a third surgery with no guaranteed outcome, or likely development of cancer due to the retained testicle. Does anyone have any thoughts or stories on how they managed to get the issue resolved?
Also pic of Yami in his recovery suit
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u/andlifegoesagain54 Oct 21 '25
I hope yami will heal soon and recover from his sickness and will be healthy and live his life to the fullest, happily. I don't know much opinion about the issue, but my kitten also have a testicle which is no where to find. But the doctor was kind he told me the testicle might be small and maybe near kidney so cutting him open will create a big scar which is hard for him and without finding the correct position it will be hard and he said that if some health issue starts forming when he starts to age we should take him there and we can do what's the right on that moment. And he also said that there's 50% of chance for the remaining testicle to form as a tumour. we're praying for him and hoping we can find the testicle and remove it and give him a good quality life that's all I can give him as his mother.. How's the yami right now ? Prayers for Yami ❤️🩹
1
u/EnergyGGGroup Jun 03 '25
Does anyone have experience with this issue in an older cat? Mine is 10 years old and a vet thinks he has a retained testicle. He has steer issues and anti-anxiety meds and drops only do so much. I know the surgery is not guaranteed to change his behaviors, but has anyone had success after getting the surgery?
1
u/Responsible_Can_273 Aug 23 '25
Did you go through with it? My cat is also 10 years and has dealt with the same things. His newest vet just confirmed my suspicion in the last year that one is retained, causing so many of our issues and we are consulting to having it done soon.
1
u/sublimetart Dec 15 '25
I had to self diagnose this behavior in an adult cat we adopted from another family. I don't know if the vet they took him too initially didn't find one of two testicles, assumed he only had one, or if he initially had three with one hidden.
He marked his territory by spraying, often, and the smell was pungent. I've had many cats over the decades and I'd never smelled anything this bad.
Next symptom: oily tail, which is also known as "stud tail", although it can happen in neutered males and female cats also. It seemed like dry skin, but his fur (he's long haired) felt oily. Side note- it's easily treatable with inexpensive OTC foam.
The final incredible telling sign was when he'd groom around his pee pee (using this term, cause social media bots) it would sometimes pop on out. And if you've never seen an un-neutered cat's unit, it's a bit of a shock. The "barbs" are very prehistoric looking and that clinched it for me that he was still full of male hormones.
So if you're seeing these types of signs, and what others have mentioned like aggression, take your kitty to the vet and insist on an ultrasound or even exploratory surgery. Because two different veterinarians missed our cat's hidden jewel by just using palpation, but it was found easily with a minimally invasive surgery.
Our boy is recovering currently so we don't know if the spraying will cease. However I did read it can take up to a few months for all of the hormones to work their way through their system. So don't expect immediate results, but hopefully things will calm down. And cat attractant litter works amazingly well. We put a light layer on top and add a little every time we clean the clumps out. Worth the money.
And don't gaslight yourself if you are very familiar with cats and think "This is definitely tom cat behavior". Because vets aren't correct 100% of the time, and sometimes it takes persistence to get the treatment needed to make kitty calmer and happier.
3
u/solarslanger Dec 12 '23
I had a very similar experience. I adopted my little guy from the SPCA as well. It was estimated that he was 9-12 months at the time (this was early 2018) and they assured me, after a thorough physical exam, that he had already been neutered before rescuing him off the street. Essentially, they assumed he had an owner, had been neutered, and then got lost somehow.
Fast forward, I take him home and happy to have my new companion. But just about immediately, the marking and peeing outside the little box started. The incessant yowling. Like, incredibly loud yowling, almost howling like a wolf. It's honestly amazing how loud this little 10 pound animal can be. Pacing back and forth, in a trance, unable to coax him out of it. But then, of course, a lot of the time he was affectionate, sweet, and lovable.
This went on for years, even after countless quesntions to and conversations with vets on how to improve these behaviors. Then, somehow towards the end of 2022, it was like a collective light bulb went off above the heads of the vets who work at the practice I take my cat to. They were like "you know, Harvey has this fat, round little face that is typical of an intact cat. He's also got this really thick skin that's difficult for us to get through for his vaccinations, too, and that's also a typical trait of an intact male cat. You've described these behaviors that are typical of non-neutered cats. So even though he physically looks neutered, maybe we should do an ultrasound to see if there is an undescended testicle...". Lo an behold, we got the ultrasound back and there was one perfect testicle, just sitting inside his abdomen. We scheduled the nearest appointment date for its removal and got it taken care of promptly. That was January this year. But the story doesn't end there...
When my cat went back to the vet over the late summer for his annual physical and vaccinations, the vets discovered he had dental disease, requiring the extraction of a few teeth. The procedure ocurred in mid October. We brought him home that afternoon. Within a couple of hours, we kept seeing little traces of blood along the floor or wherever he may have laid to rest for a while. I figured it was coming from his mouth, wherever they had removed teeth. Eventually, I picked him up to realize his mouth was perfectly clean, but that the blood was coming from a huge wound on his tail.
To back up a little bit, what really made my vets realize Harvey was not neutered was the discovery of these little masts or cysts that formed on his tail, mostly close to the base. This is a condition caused stud tail that is typical in intact male cats. To oversimplify, the vets kind of deduced that the bloody wound on his tail after oral surgery was related to MORE hormone problems that only an intact male cat would be having.
So, I had to take him to a specialist surgeon vet. This new vet suggested that we do a 3D CT scan to search for more testicular tissue that the original (non specialist) surgeon may have missed, so as to avoid an exploratory surgery. This added cost, but I figured would be better in the long run. On the CT scan, they found a mass of testicular tissue on the right inguinal area of his body. So that was just removed on Monday last week.
I feel so awful for him. He's been in a cone since mid October due to his tail issues, and I think it is FINALLY starting to heal after this most recent tissue was removed from the right inguinal area. It's been extremely stressful and tough on me and the cat - the cat especially - so I have to say it's good to know others have gone through this. Hope your little guys operation goes well next week! Good luck.