Cryptorchid Colt, Missing Equipment?

Q: My mare foaled recently and the colt’s testicles and umbilicus are set way back between the hind legs, more than normal. The veterinarian checked him and said he can’t feel the penis. He has not seen anything like this before. Any ideas where I could find information about this condition?
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Q: My mare foaled recently and the colt's testicles and umbilicus are set way back between the hind legs, more than normal. The veterinarian checked him and said he can't feel the penis. He has not seen anything like this before. Any ideas where I could find information about this condition?

via e-mail


A: Thanks for the question. Without having examined this foal firsthand, I can provide a couple of reasons for what you describe.

First, a situation in which the testicles are "way back" might be the failure of the testicles to move into the scrotum. In the normal fetal colt the testicles descend from the abdomen into the scrotum typically by the last month of pregnancy. If one or both testicles are not in the scrotum at birth, the resulting condition is called "cryptorchidism," and the foal might be referred to as a "crypt." In the instance that the testicle(s) is(are) high in the inguinal skin or the inguinal canal (the canal connecting the abdomen to the scrotum) the colt is described as an "inguinal crypt," or a "high flanker." This is different than an abdominal cryptorchid case, in which the testicles are higher in the abdomen

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Written by:

Marc Knobbe, DVM, MPH, Dipl. ACT, is a veterinarian based in Philadelphia, Pa.

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