Testicles Dropping

[Rachelashleigh]

I have a little cob colt that is now 16 months old, I bought him from someone when he was 4 months as they had sold his mum. He has not dropped his testicles, I have a good feel around most days and I think I get to the area before he could pull them up. He is not coltish in anyway just grumpy, greets you with a wicker and ears back.

I have spoken to two different vets and was told by one vet 17 months and the other vet 2 years. What is everyone's average age their colts have dropped please? could be being weaned early have any effect? he is not the best doer bless him. I am praying he does not need to go in and be operated on to get them out.

Thank you

 

[madlady]

They should normally drop by the time they are 2 - it could be that they are there and very small or it could be that he's withdrawing.

It might be worth asking the vet to check the next time they are out for something routine.

Sadly I lost one of my boys due to retained testicle (it was right up in his abdomen and the location was already causing issues) so I really hope it isn't anything like that.

 

[Rachelashleigh]

Thank you so much I have the vet coming out to look at one f my other horses (that's a huge other thread lol) I will get them to take a look again. sorry for your loss, I hope they are not retained. thank you again

 

[madlady]

I forgot to mention - if your vet can't find them manually maybe they could scan for them. My boy had one that was quite visibly there and the other was 'missing' so they scanned and couldn't find it at the top of the inguinal (sp) canal - we opted to go for surgery hoping that it was somewhere easy to remove but it wasn't to be. Sadly it was in his intestinal cavity and was adhered to his intestines so quite risky to remove. It had also grown quite large and in the opinion of the vet was causing pain (which explained the behaviour patterns we were seeing). We took the heartbreaking decision not to have him brought round from surgery but not every case is like that - he was in a minority but beware that your boy may need more than just a simple standing castration if they are tucked right away.

A discussion with your vet is best. My vet was great and laid out all the options for us beforehand.