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Persian Monorchid HELP!!!

post #1 of 15
12/31/10 at 1:53am
Thread Starter 
Hey everyone, I am in desperate need of help.

I have a persian cat, whose coming up for 2yrs old in feb.

The problem is in the last 2 months he starts howling at night and a good chunk of the day too, he's desperate to go outside and he's started spraying in most if not all the rooms in the house.

I got him neutered in July of last year or so i thought, i was told that only one testicle had descended and to come back at a later date to complete the procedure.

Took him back at the beginning of this month to discover that he only ever had one testicle!

His behaviour is that of a tomcat though.............

We cant let him outside as there are a lot of stray cats in the area, some of which sleep around the house. He often get's into fights with these strays, when i say fights their one-way fights. He always get's 'beaten up'.

From what i've read online he wants to mate.....but if he was neutered then shouldnt these urges have gone?

There's a possibility that the other testicle is in his body, most likely the abdomen however I have been informed by a vet that no sperm could be produced at the temp present at that part of the body.

I need help to stop this behaviour, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Ps. I'm living in a family member's house therefore I feel responsible for the cat as I was the one that brought him into this house.
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post #2 of 15
12/31/10 at 5:11am
I think your vets advice was very odd - I have had two fosters with undescended testicles, and they have a different op to find the undescended one and remove it at the same time - it isn't likely he only has one, it is likely the other is still in his groin somewhere. It is important you get it sorted though, as undescended testicles have a higher rate of testicular cancer and while he might not be able to produce sperm, he still has the hormones, causing him to want to spray and fight.
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post #3 of 15
12/31/10 at 7:43am
Quote:
Originally Posted by booktigger View Post
I think your vets advice was very odd - I have had two fosters with undescended testicles, and they have a different op to find the undescended one and remove it at the same time - it isn't likely he only has one, it is likely the other is still in his groin somewhere. It is important you get it sorted though, as undescended testicles have a higher rate of testicular cancer and while he might not be able to produce sperm, he still has the hormones, causing him to want to spray and fight.
I'm not a vet, but my understanding of this issue is the same as booktigger's. If I were in your shoes, I would get a second opinion.
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post #4 of 15
12/31/10 at 7:48am
Quote:
Originally Posted by booktigger View Post
I think your vets advice was very odd - I have had two fosters with undescended testicles, and they have a different op to find the undescended one and remove it at the same time - it isn't likely he only has one, it is likely the other is still in his groin somewhere. It is important you get it sorted though, as undescended testicles have a higher rate of testicular cancer and while he might not be able to produce sperm, he still has the hormones, causing him to want to spray and fight.
That sums it up perfectly. The term is cryptoorchid, and the problems will remain until the undescended testicle is removed. Did the vet even do an ultrasound?
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post #5 of 15
12/31/10 at 8:22am
Ditto with the second opinion. We know very well in humans with internal testes that testosterone is still produced. A recent famous example is the South African runner Semenya, who appeared very masculine compared to the other women runners which prompted a hormone test which she failed by a huge margin, but turned out she wasn't cheating, it was an internal testes.
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post #6 of 15
12/31/10 at 8:46am
Thread Starter 
Well, where I live the vet doesnt have the equipment.....

I'm in pakistan and keeping pets is something that's only just becoming popular.

Another problem is that in the city in which i live in, this is the only vet.

He's not a very good one in my opinion, he's not one for listening to the client/patient.
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post #7 of 15
12/31/10 at 10:13am
All live bearing(so not platypus or echidnas but they might) mammals(including us) start with 2 lumps of cells, at whatever point in the pregnancy(since gestation vary with species) hormones kick in and you end up with either testicles if testosterone is involved or ovaries if there is a lack of testosterone. We all have these 2 clumps of cells so he does have a second testicle, you just can't easily remove it.

I understand that where you live there isn't much you can do but until the second testicle is out he is going to continue with this behavior because he is essentially an intact tom since he has a fully functioning testicle. Body heat kills any sperm he produces, there is a reason testicles are external and live in the scrotum, normal body temp kills sperm whether you are a cat, a monkey, or a human, but your testicle(s) are still fully functional.

I would try to find another vet who is willing to operate to remove the second testicle because he is intact until it is removed, he can't produce kittens but he is hormonally a full intact tom and with behave as such.

Taryn
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post #8 of 15
12/31/10 at 10:25am
More then likely the other one IS inside the cat - not outside and surgery like a spay would be needed to remove the retained testicle.

While the vet is right - the sperm would be "cooked" inside, the fact is the HORMONES are not and the cat is acting and thinking as a tom. Which means he also will spray all over the house.

So you will need to get him back to the vet (or another one) that will render him completely neutered.
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post #9 of 15
12/31/10 at 10:27am
Thread Starter 
Hey thanks for the advice.

I'm going to look into getting him an ultrasound and get the testicle out hopefully.

The only worry i have is that if i am able to get this done that his behaviour will still remain the same because that would be intolerable.
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post #10 of 15
12/31/10 at 10:45am
If the vet, the only vet easily accessible, can't help you, I'd consider looking into where one is who can. You may have to travel with your cat to a better vet.

Unfortunately, the problem won't likely be solved until you can get the appropriate surgery done.

Good luck to you and your kitty!


Robin
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post #11 of 15
12/31/10 at 10:51am
Thread Starter 
i'll definately be lookin for a new more fully equipped vet, it will definately involve travelling.

But like I said before my only fear is that after this procedure that he will still behave the same......

What's the possibility that that will happen? Ball park any1?
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post #12 of 15
12/31/10 at 1:33pm
Most of my experience with crypts is with horses but the end result is the same: an animal that behaves as a castrated animal shoud after retrieval surgery. The wait time can be a few weeks, but he will gradually calm down. The only things that will not change are learned behaviours rather than instinctual, hormone driven behaviour.
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post #13 of 15
12/31/10 at 2:33pm
He should stop spraying and howling after the remaining testicle is removed. It might take a few months for all the hormones to leave, or he may go back to normal much faster. You can also ask the vet about giving him "girly" hormones to knock all the male hormones out at the time of surgery--I understand that's common in Europe so maybe your vet will know about it. Don't let this go on too long, though, or it could become habit, and be much harder to stop. If you get it taken care of soon, there shouldn't be a problem.

You may not need to get him an ultrasound. My cousin's kitty was a full cryptorchid, and the vet never did an ultrasound--he just did exploratory surgery to find both testicles. The poor cat had 3 large incisions, but both testicles were found and removed. He had been acting like a tomcat before the surgery, and within a week he was behaving much better. He was only about a year old, though. So even if your vet doesn't have any specialized equipment, likely he's done a spay on a female cat. If so, he should be able to go in after the hidden testicle; the procedure is very similar to a spay.
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post #14 of 15
12/31/10 at 3:37pm
Agreed that the testicle is still there, however, it never dropped and he needs surgery to "find it", that surgery will be similar to a spay surgery on a female as they will have to open him up a bit more to find the long lost testicle and remove it.
An ultrasound is not needed.
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post #15 of 15
1/1/11 at 5:31am
Neither of my fosters needed an ultrasound to find it, and there was a programme on TV recently that showed them finding an undescended testicle and they didn't use an ultrasound either, just felt around. I was lucky with both my cats that they were easily found, so just one scar and a couple of stitches (but needed a collar), but the vet said it has taken quite a while to find some others, so it can be quite a pricey op. Both my fosters were adults, one was about 2yo, one was a stray so any age from 2-4, but luckily neither had any undesirable tendencies, so the only thing was it took about 2 weeks for the smell of unneutered tom cat to disappear (but they were completely unneutered) - if you can get it, anti-bacterial litter is fantastic at hiding those kind of smells.
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