Should I consider a cryptorchid colt?

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GMSampson

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I viewed a colt in a rescue centre yesterday, he is 14 months old and has no testicles to show yet! I have not been through the gelding process before, my understanding is to do it ASAP. He is not at all coltish, he lives in a field with two geldings and was born at the sanctuary so they know his exact age. My questions are; could his testicles still turn up? How long should I wait before assuming they are not going to and he is in fact cryptorchid? What are the costs in the UK, in personal experience, to have them removed in the event he is cryptorchid?
 
There is still time for them to drop - the fact that he isn't coltish suggests they haven't and he doesn't have any testosterone in his system. To remove them if they never drop is full abdominal surgery, costs depend on how easy they are to find but will be many £hundreds I would think.
 
I never geld mine until they are three, but I have my own land. It all depends whether it comes down and who has to pay for the surgery, you are talking at least £500, that's what the last one cost me, and it could be a lot more. Unless its going to do a job for you I would walk a way.
 
Thank you for your responses. He is such a special colt, I really don't want to let him pass, I accept the cost will not be cheap it's more a case of it not being extortionate! I just wasn't sure how long you should wait in hope before going in.
 
If he is at a rescue centre could you not come to an arrangement with them that you will have a home for him when he has been gelded, and then wait.
 
Is there none or just one down? I bought a little spotty cob from the sales. He was 18 months old ish and only had one down. I had the facilities to run him on and the autumn of his 3rd year it dropped and we had him gelded early in his 4 yr old year
 
I overheard a conversation in my feed store last week, the cost of the op was in excess of £1500, they were just off to pick him up from the vets and discussing the expense, this was a yearling, I thought it seemed rather early to be operating and probably a bit late in the year to be ideal, if they had waited until autumn it may have dropped and been cheaper with less risk involved but it was nothing to do with me so I made no comment.
I have a NF who was operated on at 21/2 as he had only dropped one, no idea of the cost as it was before I bought him.
 
Is this a reputable charity? I am surprised that a proper rescue would rehome this colt without arrangements being made for gelding.
 
Kat said:
Is this a reputable charity? I am surprised that a proper rescue would rehome this colt without arrangements being made for gelding.
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This.

I've had experience of one rig. He was bought at 6 months old and at 18 months he still had nothing to see. He went to Leahurst and was operated on under a GA. It's fairly substantial surgery, and it wasn't cheap.
 
Kat said:
Is this a reputable charity? I am surprised that a proper rescue would rehome this colt without arrangements being made for gelding.
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I thought that too. What sort of rescue place rehomes colts without having them gelded, that is only asking for more unwanted foals.
 
Hmm lots to think about. He is in a relatively new sanctuary to the area, however they are in connection with several of the major and well know charities, I also checked it out with my vet following this thread and he has clarified they are reputable. When discussing him with the yard manager she explained they would like to wait as long as possible before gelding him to avoid the larger fees of assuming he is cryptorchid, if they do indeed drop in due time anyway, however if they do not drop within the next year or his behavior starts to change they will have to. There is perhaps room for a contractual agreement between us in this eventuality. Thank you so much for all your help!
 
it is not just cost, depending where they are situated inside the body cavity it can be major surgery, regardless of cost I would not want the thought i was taking on something that was fairly likely to need major surgery on. heart break down that route
 
twiggy2 said:
it is not just cost, depending where they are situated inside the body cavity it can be major surgery, regardless of cost I would not want the thought i was taking on something that was fairly likely to need major surgery on. heart break down that route
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Very true. My friend sent hers for surgery. Before they operated they checked him and found he had a major heart murmur and would have been unlikely to survive a general anaesthetic so he was PTS.
 
I lost a 3yo last year because of this. We knew that our vet couldn't do the abdominal surgery if it was needed and he would have had to go ether to another surgery or to Liverpool - costs started at £1500 and that was if the op was fairly straightforward.

We asked our vet to put him under GA to scope for the 'missing' testicle before we made the decision on the larger op. The testicle was retained in his abdominal cavity - it had attached to the intestines, it had grown unusually large (and was probably causing quite a bit of discomfort) because of where it was the chances of him surviving the surgery to remove it were very slim. We took the decision not to wake him up but I really do wish we had had him scanned/scoped earlier as if we'd found it earlier before it attached itself to his intestines and started growing we might have had a chance of him still being here.
 
This may be a daft question, but if he's a rescue, is there any chance that he might already be a gelding? Obviously o not if he was born at the rescue, but many people get colts gelded aged 6 months or even younger if they've dropped.
 
Wagtail said:
This may be a daft question, but if he's a rescue, is there any chance that he might already be a gelding? Obviously o not if he was born at the rescue, but many people get colts gelded aged 6 months or even younger if they've dropped.
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The OP said he was born at the sanctuary.
 
Back in 2011 I had a 15.2hh four year colt who had a rig op to look for one missing testicle. I think it was up by his stomach. He went to vets, had the op under GA and came home next day. Took about 3 - 4 weeks to heal, the hole in his groin where they went to find the missing one taking the longest as it healed from inside out. It cost just under £600.
 
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