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Puppy with umbilical hernia

appledoll

Member
When i took Serena to the vets to get her second injection i asked the vet to check a lump i noticed on her tummy and he said it was an umbilical hernia. Apparently this is very common amongst puppies. Has anyone else ever had a puppy with one? Also he said to wait till shes 6 months old and they will spay her and fix it then.. Is it anything that should be fixed sooner?
 
Sophie had one, too, and our vet said the same thing. We followed his advice and it was taken care of when she was spayed.
 
One of my guys had one when we first got him (at 6 months), we were going to get it removed when he was being castrated but the vet said it was so small that there was no need for another incision (he was having other bits done too while he was anaesthetised) and the likelihood of it tearing was next to none (because the muscle wall had built up around it so it was very stable). Anywho, a while later (prob 6 months or so) he did tear it (typical :roll: ) - it became exponentially bigger very quickly and ended up as quite a big protrusion. The vet was very surprised he managed to do it and operated to remove it and close the abdominal wall. Apparently, he has really strong abdominal muscles and joked that he must have been lifting weights to tear it! He was fine afterwards and the scar is really small (considering how big it got!). With a spay, it's just an elongation of the operating site (with maybe an extra stitch) so definitely get it done when you get her spayed - just keep an eye on it in the meantime and if it started to get bigger and/or painful bring her in to be looked at!
 
Thistle had a small hernia, at first the vet said they'd fix it when she got spayed. The next time we went in they said it closed and wouldn't need surgery.
 
Rylie had one that his breeder pointed out to me. Our vet agreed it wasn't serious and could wait until he was neutered to fix even though I chose not to have him neutered until he was a year old.
 
My old cavvy had one and it was not a problem at all. Kokoda has one now too and we are waiting until he is 6 months old to do it while he is being neutered.
It shouldn't be a problem at all :)
 
Same thing with my four month old puppy. I was a bit shocked when the vet casually mentioned the hernia while checking for something else. I thought it was a regular belly button! Our vet also said the same thing - will remove it when she's spayed. But is there really any point? Will anything happen with it?
 
Yep same here.
Leo had one but they operated on it as a pup. No ill side effects and he was fine afterwards.
 
Oliver had one; the vet said it could be easily repaired at the time of his neuter. I routinely checked to make sure I could push it back in without any discomfort. Although my vet said it's unusual, his resolved on its own! It can't be felt at all anymore. He's almost 5 months old now.
 
Same thing with my four month old puppy. I was a bit shocked when the vet casually mentioned the hernia while checking for something else. I thought it was a regular belly button! Our vet also said the same thing - will remove it when she's spayed. But is there really any point? Will anything happen with it?
A hernia is a loop of intestine protruding through the abdominal muscle wall. It's not a problem so long as it easily slides back and forth through the opening. If it becomes incarcerated (=stuck), that piece of intestine will die. An incarcerated hernia requires immediate surgery. Otherwise you can just watch and wait.
 
Thanks for making it easy to understand, StillPooh! When they weren't worried about it and I was, I stopped being worried, but I'll make sure to keep poking at it and watching to see that it's not bothering her until she is spayed and they remove it.
 
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