They're going to cut them out.... testicles. - Page 1

My boy Falco is almost 3 years old. His testicles never dropped. I have held off having them located and removed, allowing him to mature more before having them removed.

I have never had a neutered dog and this is my first GSD.

He is friendly, loves to play ball and seems to live only to please me.

He has been with me each and every day, 24/7, from the first day picked him up at the airport when he was 8 weeks old. We are very close.

I have been told by others to expect all kinds of issues resulting from this surgery. Heck, mine were being cut off, I would hide in the woods and never come out and I would hate everyone. LOL

What kinds of things do you experts say might happen with Falco because of this surgery. Bad attitude, lazy, fat, no love for life, distant toward others....not me, the dog. ;>) 

Thanks.....

About the most that will change is that his caloric needs will be less, so he WILL get fat if you don't cut back his food a bit, but just keep an eye on him at first and if you see some pounds creeping on, then reduce his intake as needed to keep him fit.  You also may see the texture of his coat change, and become a bit softer, but I haven't observed that in all neutered dogs, and he might develop a sabled 'stripe' down the center of his back, often referred to as a 'bitch stripe' because it oftens occurs in females after they've had their first heat.  If his attitude, temperament, energy level, love of people and of life are good now, they will remain that way.  In dogs where there are problems with inappropriate aggression towards people or other dogs, neutering can help reduce those behaviors IF the trigger is testosterone production, and not other factors such as the dog's actual personality.  In normal, healthy, happy dogs, you shouldn't see any change in their aggression as it applies to appropriate situations, however, since that is not based on the dog's testosterone.

hexe...... Thank you very much for responding. 

 

In short, don't expect much in the way of changes. My male was neutered at 3 years due to prostatitis. The only change I've noticed is he doesn't pee on the counter at the vet's anymore, and he did develop a bitch stripe.

The silly git will still chase after the ladies, and even tie with them. Last summer, he got into a scrap with an 18 mo. old, testosterone-loaded, un-neutered English mastiff, which resulted in the owner of the mastiff being bitten on the leg.  (I'm not sure which dog nailed her, but I'm pretty sure it was her own, as Ranger's canines are worn down to stubs from chewing on rocks.) Her dog was definitely the aggressor, but Ranger certainly didn't back down from him!    And at 9 years of age, damnit, he SHOULD have known better!!

I tell ya, they still have that pesky 'Y' chromosome, even if they ARE missing the bits that go along with it!

Thank you all. I feel much better about this. I don't like the gray stripe... he is now so darn beautiful. Oh well... it needs to be done.

I had my 3 year old white GSD neutered and he lived to be 12, also he still tried to mate with the girls, he was still a guy at heart, like hexe says, just watch out for them calories, my boy loved bread and butter, all he could steal, I nick named him the dough boy!
Kanes good weight was 90 pounds, his bad weight was 110 pounds, so just keep track of that.

Kane pictured at ten years old!
Don't worry, your dog will still love you and you have just saved his life, cause his testicles are in a bad spot and need to be removed.
  I actually got Kane snipped just so I could get an indefinate listing number on him from the AKC,(he didn't have papers) I ended up taking him to his first dogshow and having him pee so much in the ring we got kicked out, I'm talking the judge yelled "Get him outta here!" so after that I didn't go back to a dogshow with him till he was ten, he got a prize for being the oldest dog there to earn his first leg toward his CD!
Word to the wise....no matter how thirsty your dog seems right before entering the obedience ring, DO NOT give him a big sip of what you're drinking!

My last GSD Duke's testicles never dropped. I never had them removed and they never caused a problem (and he still "accidently" sired 2 litters with strays who somehow got into our fenced yard).
 
At age 6 he developed congestive heart failure and A-FIB, but the vet assured me that was unrelated. The vet cardiologist had given Duke 1-3 months to live when I first brought him in (she removed 7 liters of fluid from his chest cavity! I initially thought it was bloat/twisted stomach.)
 
He lived 4 more years. The cardiologist always said she was his miracle dog. Duke was PTS this past Nov 16th as the meds (24 a day at various times!) could no longer control the build up of fluid and draining him of the fluid was not enough as he would start filling up again after a few days.

I would recommend a 30% reduction in calorie intake right away in fact prior to neutering;  and you can plan on that much less food/calories for the rest of his younger years;  have to see when he ages if his calorie intake needs to be adjusted again.  Best of luck  Nan

Why can't you have them located and dropped? Are they too deep in the abdominal cavity?  Do they have to come out totally or could you just leave them alone where they are? There is a lot of dispute about the cancer thing relating to undescended testicles. It's more a thing where IF the dog develops testicular cancer THEN it's not good if the testicles are undescended, but there isn't much evidence to support that having them undescended CAUSES cancer. I had a dog w/one undescended and finally neutered him at about 6. I would never do it again, though I didn't really have much choice at the time. His body compostion totally went to $hi+ in a matter of about 5 weeks. All muscle was lost and he just became thin and soft instead of lean and muscular. Yuck. He was a tiny dog so it was much easier/quicker to see. 

That's what my regular vet told me, Jenni. "You could do it or not do it (remove them). There's a possibility it could cause cancer or he may just live a normal cancer free life".

He left the decision up to me, not that I must do it, just because.

Zep--