Animal Welfare Professionals

Today I sent a TNR cat to clinic.  The cat was cryptorchid and the second testicle was unable to be located despite the DVM's best efforts and abdominal exploration.  This cat could have been born with one testicle or it still have it retained somewhere in its body.  What is best practice for TNR cats in the case of cryptorchidism when both testicles cannot be located?  Currently, these are the options we are considering:
  1.  Return to colony with one only one testicle confirmed to be removed
  2.  Second surgery with a different DVM to re-explore (additional cost) 
  3.  Delay return, monitor testosterone levels (additional cost)
I am curious to know what other rescues have done or would recommend doing when faced with the same circumstances.
#CommunityCatManagement
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

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Corissa Arndt
President and Founder
Whiskers TNR of Warren County
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Hi Carissa: 

What an interesting dilemma!
I recently had my first ever (after 30+ years of practice) cat with testicular agenesis on one side. So it does happen! He was not a TNR, but a shelter adoption, so easier to follow (we measured a testosterone level a month after removing the testis I could find). If your vet that explored the cat for the missing testis feels confident about the procedure, I would suggest releasing the cat. If he really has an abdominal testis hiding somewhere, although he'll make testosterone, he shouldn't be making sperm to father more kittens. I always worry about the stress on holding a TNR cat in an unfamiliar and confining environment, and it would have to be for a long time (that one-month wait) before checking his hormone level. 
I'm certainly not an expert, but just adding my 2 cents. Good luck!

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Kirsten Cianci
Palmetto Animal League
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For some reason it seems like we have a uncommon but somewhat regular stream of cryptorchid cats that come through our shelter.  For cats we're adopting out, we may hold them for a few days to see if anything descends after the surgery, but that's for adoptable animals that will recoup some of their costs for care.

For TNR cats, we wouldn't take extra time because:

1. Cost - For TNR cats, they have no adoption fee so any additional costs we're eating
2. Time - Doing double surgery takes up extra surgery time which is incredibly valuable since we have limited vet time and we're over capacity for cats
3. Stress - The longer a feral cat is in the shelter, the more stressed out it is and the more likely it is to get exposed to URI or other illnesses
4. Risk vs Reward - Chances are the cat has a genetic abnormality if nothing was found on a basic exploratory during the surgery, so you're doing extra work for nothing

While there is a reasonable chance that something is hiding around in there, again it goes back to risk vs reward with all 4 of those factors.  Looking at the fact that TNR is not population control effective unless you're addressing at least 75% of the population, releasing one possibly partially neutered cat is not going cause much of an overall impact when you could spend the same time spaying or neutering another cat.

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Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
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Hi Corissa,

I'm sure you have already come up with a solution to this incident but just wanted to add a little more info for next time :)

In terms of reproduction, the cat is considered sterile. A testicle that is in the abdomen is not functional so even though you didn't remove it, he will not be able to reproduce. In instances where this happens at our shelter we tip the ear and call it good enough. 

He may however, still display tom cat attributes. He could start/keep spraying, have smelly urine, or do other annoying tom cat things that we all try to prevent. 

With limited resources it's not worth it for us to spend a large amount of time,  do a second surgery, or hold onto the cat and stress him out more when the end goal is just to stop the cycle. 

Hope this helps (and eases your mind),

Heather Traxler

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Heather Traxler
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This happens to us now and again (7000 TNRs/year). Our surgeons do  hunt thoroughly for the retained testicle. We don't routinely microchip TNR cats, but this would be a good time to do it. That way if anyone comes across this cat in the future and is confused because it is ear-tipped and tattooed but has jowls and penile spines, the chip can lead to a medical record and they will know what they are dealing with. It's so frustrating to come across cats that are supposedly spayed or neutered, but the observations don't add up and the surgeons don't know where to start.

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Julie Levy, DVM
Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida
Maddie's Million Pet Challenge
https://sheltermedicine.vetmed.ufl.edu
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