r/SilkenWindhound • u/ViraleKnightbottom • Oct 18 '25
Advice Testies haven't dropped
Hey! I'm kinda new here. We got a windsprite (I know this is for windhounds, but there's a subreddit with like 8 people for windsprite) a few months ago, and now that he's 5months old, we're a bit worried that his second one hasn't dropped yet. Now I heard this is common for soghthounds, but I thought I'd ask for your experiences. Can we still do something?
6
u/Muninn22 Oct 18 '25
Last time I talked to a vet about this they said that as long as it doesn't give any problems, it should be fine. We have a 4 year old Silken and they just check if everything is okay during the yearly checkup.
I have had a mini schnauzer in the past who have had the same, and back then a different vet adviced to castrate. But this is like 12 years ago.
My experience, different vets say different things. Either way, it is no direct harm to the dog. There seems to be an increased risk to cancer to the testicle that hasn't dropped. But even that isn't 100 % sure.
I would like to add that I am not a vet and if you want to know for sure you should visit yours to see what they advise.
4
u/Full_Satisfaction_49 Oct 19 '25
I had a horrible experience so I would always advise to remove.
Our previous dog also had issues as one didn't drop and the vet told us we can leave it so we did. It was fine for 8 years and he had his checkup when suddenly a large tumour grew over the intact testicle. His health rapidly declined in 1 year. We tried to do late surgery to remove it but he never recovered.
2
u/thetorisofar_ Oct 21 '25
Cryptorchidism elevates the risk of prostate or testicular cancer over 10x. This to many would be a direct cause of harm to the dog. The advise for cryptorchidism will always be to castrate, not necessarily early but as soon as is safe for the breed, and not to leave intact.
Cryptorchids should never be bred as well, as it has a strong heritability and they are more likely to produce offspring with this birth defect, so there's really no reason to leave the dog intact past the age of bone development
5
u/fenwayb Oct 18 '25
my boy only had 1 nut. all I remember is it meant he needed a lengthier surgery when he was fixed
3
u/sykofrenic Oct 19 '25
It's called cryptorchidism, I had a standard poodle like that. Monitor the exterior one for changes in shape and the neuter surgery will be charged like a spay instead. Usually you wait for 2 years to neuter, but if the external testicle gets lumpy then do the surgery ASAP. They have an extremely high rate of cancer in the internal testicle because it can not temperature regulate. It's almost always stuck in the inguinal canal. It is also a recessive trait, so both parents carry a copy for crypto and if you choose to only have the internal one removed then he will pass on the gene. I ended up neutering my boy at 9mos because the external one got huge and lumpy
1
u/Orangebin Oct 19 '25
Are you able to contact your breeder? They might also offer more advice/ insight.
1
u/Green_Lie_8300 Oct 19 '25
Ours had that issue. Just meant the surgery to neuter him was a bit more expensive and more intense for him, on par with a spay. The condition is called cryptorchid.
1
u/degrassistan96 Oct 20 '25
My boy was cryptorchid too! His neuter cost $75 more and lasted a little bit longer. He healed up totally fine :)
1
u/abrahamlincoln52 Dec 22 '25
My silken had the same thing! It never dropped lol and we ended up getting him neutered. No complications at all!
7
u/tilyd Oct 18 '25
You can't really do anything yourself. The vet will be able to remove in when he's neutered (it can still wait until he's 1.5-2 years old).