…I asked the vet to remove his scrotum too? I’m serious, quite laughing. When I got my cat neutered they didn’t do that and my cat’s got these little white cotton balls down there. You could never tell unless you poked 'em!
Now thats fine for the cat… it gives him something else to lick. But my dog is a Bichon, a little fluffy white dog with huge dangley black balls { OO }. They just don’t… well… match. Besides that he’s just too cute and adorable to have a big black sack. You should see it ('em) when he trots away from you. Blech!
I’ve seen another dog that got his removed and you couldnt tell either (though it was the next day… I dont know if dog scrotum shrivles over time or not).
Please tell me its alright for me ask the vet to take a little off the top. Will I sound like a freak??
My vet explained that they normally do not remove them from a cat, but that they do on a dog “because they are pendulous”.
I reckon that’s vet talk for “ugly and embarassing”.
B_Line, try doing it this way… Instead of telling the vet that you want that done, ASK the vet what exactly the procedure is and what you can expect. Ask if he’s actually removing things or just “snipping” him, like a vasectomy. Ask about recovery time, stitches, anything. And somewhere in there nonchalantly ask if the procedure calls for the scrotum to be removed as well. You are, afterall, just trying to be as informed as you should be so you know what to expect and how to properly care for your pet after the surgery.
If he says yes, they’re removing the scrotum, then you have no worries and it didn’t have to come at your request. If he says no, they’re not removing it, you might simply comment that you’d heard that that was commonly done when neutering dogs and you wonder why they aren’t doing it… because it would certainly look nicer if it weren’t there. They may just say they can do it if you want it and you can say, “sure, why not?”
with cats its pretty straight forward. you pluck the fur, cut open the scrotum, pop out and remove the
offending organ and tie the vein/artery/vesicle. no sutures, just a little antibiotic powder in the hole.
healed in a couple days, no problem.
dogs however are not so lucky (if having your testicles removed could ever be construed as lucky).
with dogs the operation is abdominal. they make an incision in the abdomen, push the testicle through
till it can be grabbed with tissue clamps and pulled out. its then removed and the vein/artery/vesicle
are tied off and poked back in. a few stitches and he’ll be all healed in 7-10 days.
as for the scrotum, it will shrivel up on its own in a few weeks, no removal is required.
hope this helps
dave
Thanks for the info Dave. I think what you described might pertain to a puppy whos testicles havent “emerged” yet. My dog is a little older and he “hangs” outside the body cavity. Way outside. Then again I’m no vet and maybe you are so… L
i haven’t worked in a vet clinic in years, but barring some breakthrough i’m not aware
of the procedure is the same for all dogs regardless of age or ‘size’.
here’s a neat link that shows the steps in crystal clear color, enjoy http://www.malteseonly.com/spayneu.html
i’ve never heard of having a scrotum removed after neutering, but there are ‘replacements’ available. clinton’s dog ‘buddy’ is sporting a pair. i hear its the latest
thing among the well dressed canine in europe this spring.
When you said the incision was abdominal I had in my mind somewhere between his ribcage and his …well… penis. (or dogshlong if that offends less). Judging from your link the surgery is pretty much what I thought exect I assumed they went through the scrotum instead of slightly in front of it. I was hoping that as long as they were cutting it they could cut a little more L, but that may be more cutting then necissary for an esthetic thing.
Both my dogs are neutered, and i made no special requests. Neither one has a visible scrotum, but I can’t remember if it shriveled up( I THINK maybe so ), or was removed. You can see a picture of my dogs here. The Shepherd/Rotweiler/Beagle Mix is named Bear, and today( 5/6{actually yesterday}) is his 5th birthday.
I had my pal who’s a vet over for dinner tonight. I asked her your question. She said that they just remove the testicles, and that the scrotum skin shrinks up. But, she wondered why a Bichon would have a black scrotum. She said that a Bichon would usually have light-colored skin. Maybe it’s a normal variation–I dunno–but I just thought I would pass along what she said. Good luck, and give your poor little pooch hug and kiss for me.
I had my Cocker neutered as an adult. His scrotum shriveled up over the course of a couple of weeks, and now it is barely a bump. It DID look VERY odd for a week or two, though! I’ve never heard of scrotum removal, but I’ve only had a couple of male dogs.
(And yeah, forgive a few gender-related sadistic chuckles here…)
Anyhoo, ask your vet. Scroti (?) aren’t just decorative. Removal of same is measured in pain and stitches for the poor critter involved. Dogs are animals, and while they may not measure pride ::snicker:: in quite the same way, tucking, cutting, and suturing to avoid dangling evidence of animalistic morphology just doesn’t sound humane to me.
As a responsible animal owner, yep, my woofer is spayed. But the poor thing was a hurtin’ camper for a bit afterwards.
Just my opinion (value=worthless) but go for functionality (or lack thereof) and forget the cosmetic aspects.