Well, as Ziggy hit the six and a half month mark, I knew it was time. I always have tom cats so I am used gauging whether they are ready. Their testicles go from being flat to looking like little grapes.
I have my toms neutered as close as possible to six months so they don’t have a chance to develop habits like spraying, because that is almost impossible to stop once they have started, even after castration.
Something about Ziggy seemed a little off, so a few weeks ago I alerted the vet to the fact that he might have one undescended testicle. He has always been a late developer due to his rough start in life so I waited a bit, and then the last week things seemed to kind of right themselves.
I took Zig to the vet bright and early on Thursday to have him snipped. The vet had a good look at his nether regions and said ‘yep, they are both present and correct’ so off I went to work.
When I arrived back at the vet later that day to pick him up, the vet said ‘Once we started the procedure, we had a little surprise!’ and yep, Ziggy’s one testicle was in his abdomen so they had to open him up to get it out. My happy little fellow had to be both spayed and neutered at the same time, so to speak. What we had seen as his second testicle was actually his penis. Because he is so fluffy things can be deceptive. Apparently it is only once you shave them that you can see the real state of affairs down there
The vet explained that the testicles descend from the kidneys and can end up in the abdomen or groin if they don’t descend far enough.
In terms of procedures, it was both a spaying and a neutering so it cost twice as much, but I believe there is a high rate of cancer in undescended testicles (due to the higher temperature inside the body), so better out than in!
Ziggy was not a happy chappy. Bald butt, shaved tummy, stitches, a cone, dopey from the anaesthetic, and hungry. But after he came around from his initial stupour and ate his weight in food, he was rocketing around the house like a mad thing – as usual. By this morning he had pulled his cone off by himself, and looks normal apart from having a shaved tummy and hind end.
The stitches will dissolve on their own so no return visit needed!
He has really grown in these last few months … as all babies do! I love his adorable white paws!
I’m really glad it went well. We have a queen and we had her spayed and I can completely relate to the spaying!… For some strange reason, my Furryosa had her belly sprayed with some metallic paint. She hated the cone of shame but eventually this was removed and unfortunately, she had to have her stitches removed but she was a very brave girl and she didn’t meow at all! Good luck and extra cuddles to your Ziggy!