Crypt surgery...any advice?

[novachick]

My vet was out to geld my colt last week and after sedating him, found him to be retaining one of his testicles. So now we have to go for the big surgery. Anyone who has been through it have any advice on what to expect from the recovery? What sort of things do I need to watch out for?

Thanks- Jen

 

[stormy]

How old is your colt? Many minis drop late so if you are able to keep him seperate from the girls giving the second one time to show up could avoid an invasive surgery.

 

[novachick]

He's was a year old in February, so the vet gives him a 10% chance of dropping the 2nd one. He is also beginning to show a lot of interest in the girls in the past week and keeping them seperated is hard, so I think we need to go through with the surgery ASAP.

How old is your colt? Many minis drop late so if you are able to keep him seperate from the girls giving the second one time to show up could avoid an invasive surgery.

 

[Carolyn R]

I don't know if the vet would be willing to try or not, but while he is sedated, roll him on his back to see if it is there but VERY VERY smal, sitting within the ring. Someone recently posted on this, sure enough it was there. Be it a costly procedure, I would still opt to geld him. You don't need him acting out towards your kids. Kids tend to shy away after a bad experience, then the horses senses it and will sometimes bully them. I know you are there to referee, but they are smart little beggers and will do it when your back is turned.

I had my colt gelded at 6 months, reg gelding, and was VERY HAPPY to do so, they never reach that hormonal stage.

 

[novachick]

Hi Carolyn,

When the vet was out last Friday, he actually checked him while he was fully sedated. He checked 4 or 5 times because he was disappointed that he wouldn't be able to take care of it for me, so he kept gong back and checking while we were waiting for him to wake up. I was going to wait a bit, but then I saw his that his behavior has changed just in the past week and realized it has to be done NOW! You're right about the kids too, he's small, so they are very comfortable approaching him and playing with him...I don't want that the change!

I don't know if the vet would be willing to try or not, but while he is sedated, roll him on his back to see if it is there but VERY VERY smal, sitting within the ring. Someone recently posted on this, sure enough it was there. Be it a costly procedure, I would still opt to geld him. You don't need him acting out towards your kids. Kids tend to shy away after a bad experience, then the horses senses it and will sometimes bully them. I know you are there to referee, but they are smart little beggers and will do it when your back is turned. I had my colt gelded at 6 months and was VERY HAPPY to do so, they never reach that hormonal stage.

 

[Valerie]

I would say do the surgery, esp if your colt is starting to act out.

I have gone through this same thing with my colt.....this was our only foal that we raised on the farm and he was quite the stinker from the get go. I did wait to see if his "berries" would drop and I had the vets out I think 3 different times before I ended up having the crypt surgery done. Frankly Rascal got to the point where he was trying to rear & strike (and mind you, I don't tolerate bad behavior, so this was not just a horse being bratty)......he as well as all of my horses know their boundaries, but hormones take over and he became a bear.

Anyway, looking back, I wish I had done the surgery even a year earlier......I had it done late last summer and he was 2....but again, after getting advice from people, including the vets, I thought, well we can wait and see if his other testicle drops. It never did and the surgery ended up over $800........but you know what, he is a totally different horse now and I was very careful with his recovery and he is so much nicer now........ he had to be hand walked daily because he couldn't be just "turned out" to exercise and that was fine, after plunking down twice what I was quoted, I wasn't taking any risks with that incision opening up. Healing went fine, no problems, not issues......... and he is much happier as am I now, knowing I can go out to his pasture and not get bit, kicked, or reared up on. I know after reading this people are going to think my colt was just not disciplined, but you know what, he was and he still is, but he is much, much nicer now, like a totally different horse.

Hopefully this helps and I am sure if you do the surgery you will not be sorry, esp if your colt is starting to change his behavior...... good luck on what you decide and please know I have been through this, so if you want to contact me, I am here for you.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Hi,

I got my young boy's surgery done at 1 1/2 years of age by New Bolton center vets. His testicles may have come down eventually, they were not terribly deep, ultrasound can help with determining where they are located. My vet was very comfortable doing my boy right on the farm, she says minis tend to swell less and are much easier to do than full sized horses, probably because of so much less body weight to deal with and they did not feel that he needed a trip to the center which would cost 5 times what doing on the farm would cost.. They ultrasounded him and cut the skin a couple of inches maximum and removed his testicles which were quite small (dropped testicles get so much larger). The inscisions were quite small, he was awake fairly quickly and he was allowed to wander around as this vet said the exercise was good for him although I did keep him in the paddock with access to the run-in shed rather than allow him to run all over the field. I hosed him a bit to keep the crust and ooze washed off and that is about it, recovery was easy and no complications. This was a fall season surgery after the flies were gone but before it got too cold, probably around October. We had one vet and two attendants to watch anesthesia and assist. The surgery only cost around $200 and my boy was back to normal much quicker than I had expected.. Best wishes

 

[CheyAut]

The POA I had had one retained. His behavior was wonderful, not studdy or anything, but he lived with mares, so I couldn't wait to see if it would drop lol!

My vet came out, sedated him, and still couldn't feel it. When I had a vet out to geld him, they knocked him out (lol anesthesia not really knocked him), rolled him on his back, and was able to easily locate it, so that was good for the procedure!

Other than that, it was pretty much the same as when I had my donkey gelded (the only two I've had gelded so far, others came here gelded or are my breeding stallions). His surgery wasn't very invasive since they were able to locate it well. He needed excersize, I think starting the second day (IIRC they wanted him kept in a stall that first day?) and antibiotics, plus monitoring the site... pretty much like a normal gelding procedure.

 

[ruffian]

"I don't know if the vet would be willing to try or not, but while he is sedated, roll him on his back to see if it is there but VERY VERY small, sitting within the ring. Someone recently posted on this, sure enough it was there."

This was my post last week. I had 2 instances where the vet could not find one or either testicles.

The last one (couldn't find either) one was in the normal location and the other was right alongside the penis. Both were about the size of a grape. But you have to roll them on their backs to find them. Just sedating them doesn't always work. Rolling on the back has work 2 out of 2 times for me so far. The vet needs to understand he or she might not be looking for something the size of a normal testicle.

Good luck!

 

[shorthorsemom]

Our vet used a portable ultrasound device to locate and then sedated and rolled them on their back. I was stunned at the difference in the size. I knew from reading but seeing the tiny ones from my boy and the whoppers from the normal gelding I saw right after my boy... oh my.

 

[babygoose]

I have had two minis that were cryptorchid. The first one had two retained and they were high up in the abdomen. For the first few days after surgery he had a rolled piece of guaze sewed over the incision. I forget what it was called. I kept him confined to a pretty small area so that he wouldn't run around. The vet gave me some pain killers with instructions to give him enough to knck back some of the pain, but not too much so that he felt like moving around alot. He seemed to take it all pretty well and had a good appetite, and didn't seem to be in too much pain. The vet had me keep in a small area for a few weeks, gradually letting him into a bigger and bigger area. He did get a lot of edema and swelling on his belly. It slowly migrated down toward his chest and it took a long time for it to go away.

The second mini had one retained. She didn't have to go as deep to get it. The aftercare was similar to the first one except this little guy was in a lot of pain. He wasn't real interested in eating. I gave him some of the pain medication and he didn't respond to it. The vet came back out and checked him out and gave him more pain killers. That seemed to help some, but he was miserable for awhile. I felt so bad because he would just stand there all hunched up. I guess he just had a much lower pain tolerance. He didn't get near as much edema though.

 

[novachick]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have the surgery scheduled for Friday...it needs to be done as the poor little guy is seperated from the 2 girls and he is not happy at all...pacing constantly and when turned out, he won't leave the door to the barn where the girls are. I'm hoping they don't have to go to deep or maybe the other vet missed it, he didn't actually turn him completely on his back to check, but we will find out soon enough.

On a good note, he was an absolute gentleman for his bath and clipping yesterday, even the legs and ears. I will post pics when I get a chance, my husband did a pretty good job on the clip for a first-timer!

Thanks again!