Puppy and hernia

[bpenn1980]

We have a 9week old pup at the breeders who just got her vet check up before shipping out to me. She now has a hernia. It wasnt there last week. I've never dealt with this before so I'm hoping you can let me know how serious this is and what may be affected if anything?

My number one concern is that I'm paying $800 +fee/shipping for a dog that may have health problems? Will the hernia affect her as a puppy/adult?
How much should it cost to have this fixed? The breeder said I should wait until she is 4months?
I'm not into campaigning her (or not yet) and don't plan on breeding her, but that's definitely out of the question with a hernia on her chart, correct?
Anything else I should be concerned about????

Thanks all. Its like a bomb got dropped on us, but I'm hoping thats because we just dont know what we're dealing with. Hoping its not a bid deal.

Thanks,
Brad

[Neil]

Check with your vet, it should not cost more than $100 to $200, depending on where you live (country vs. big city). We discount the pup or offer the deposit back.

But it is not a big deal, one of my females had one, cost $75.00 to repair, she is one of my best hunters and has had 4 litters, none with a hernia. She is now 8, and never had a problem.

Sometimes it just happens,

Neil

[stlgsp]

Umbillical hernias are usually blamed on the mother chewing the cord and pulling to hard. One of my pups just recently had his taken care of, the cost was around $165. There are risks in not having it taken care, one is if a part of the intestin gets goes though and strangles that section. The other is that only skin is potecting the area which makes it easier for something to get through and damage internal organs.

According to AKC's allowed surgeries for conformation, you are allowed to show a dog that has had umbilical hernia surgery.

[Sharon]

There are several kinds of hernias in dogs just as in people.They are caused from different kinds of tissue herniating.
Some are simply fixed but others can be serious, like a congenital diaphragmatic hernia.It needs to be fixed immediately as it affects the pups breathing as it grows.
The only way you'll know is to see your vet and she/he may need to take x-rays to determine what kind it is.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm ... 90&aid=442

[BigShooter]

True hernias tend to be rather infrequent in canines. Most are "delayed closures" and not true hernias. I've read that some number of vets will misdiagnose "delayed closures" and insist they are hernias. Its been reported that most often dogs with delayed closures live normal lives with no problems. Females can have litters without a problem. True hernias can be a problem, a piece of intestine can fall through the tear or opening in the tissues and become strangulated. The trapped portion of the intestine can die and this becomes a life threatening event for the animal. Also some true hernias penetrate deep back into the animals body and must be repaired. Females with delayed closures may deliver entire litters of puppies that are free of any delayed closures. From what I have read, it has not be proven that delayed closures are a genetically linked defect.

[BdBHunts]

Just keep poking the "hernia" back in and it probably will stay after a while. As was stated previously it may not be a complete closure, should work by just pushing it back in. Try that and see before getting surgery.

[CherrystoneWeims]

Just keep poking the "hernia" back in and it probably will stay after a while. As was stated previously it may not be a complete closure, should work by just pushing it back in. Try that and see before getting surgery.

Yes if the hernia is small it may be able to be reduced. Push on it and rub in a circular motion. Do this several times a day. Many times doing this can close a small hernia.

[Neil]

Quick story.

We had a litter of Boykins and one had a small hernia that we were watching and massaging and everything seemed fine as they neared 5 weeks old. I walked in the whelping room to find blood everywhere, conservative guess - there was a gallon to a gallon and half of blood on the floor, on the pups, the whelping box, the walls. It was a mess. I inspected each pup, but just knew no 5 pound animal could loose that much blood, there had to be a butchered cow in there, then found the little girl had ruptured the hernia climbing out (and back in) the whelping box, yet seemed fine. I rushed her to the vet for a blood transfusion, to which my vet laughed, "she will be fine". About 8 stitches and an hour later we were on our way.

That little girl is at my feet as I type this.

Now I am usually pretty cool in an emergency, I have sutured and stapled some bad injuries, some very bad injuries, but there was just something about seeing those little pups covered in blood that caused real panic.

That whelping box has 12 inch sides, and she scraped her little belly as she pulled herself up and over. Now Boykins are not very large at 4 weeks old, still don't know how she had the strength.

She has made a fine hunter, a wonderful mother, and my favorite companion.

Neil

[bobman]

I've had two dogs with them never affected either one I would ask for whatever it costs at the vet as a reduction in price on the pup

[bpenn1980]

Here's a picture. Maybe about the size of a dime, maybe a hair smaller. Feels very soft and pushes back in like a balloon. So I should just keep pushing it in a few times a day and massage her muscles?

IMG_0102copy.jpg

[BigShooter]

Looks like a delayed closure to me, meaning the tissue in the area of the umbilicus has delayed in closing. The idea is to push the tissue back in several times a day, along with a little massage to stimulate blood flow to get that little bit of omentum tissue out of the way as the abdominal wall closes up. If you are not successful in keeping that little bit of tissue out of the way and it does close up you will have a small bulge that contains not intestine but other trapped tissue and some fluid. Kind of like an outie belly button. It'll be like a zip lock bag that is almost but not quite zipped closed all the way across the opening because there''s a little tissue in the way of the zipper.

Here's one site to review, I'm sure you can google up more if you want to: http://englishbulldogpuppys.net/UMBILICALHERNIAS.aspx

[LookoutDog]

I have a pup that had a slightly more pronounced hernia than yours. Vet charged me $75 to fix and no problems.

[bpenn1980]

What age did you have it done? Her's is more pronounced than the picture. After she moves around a bit it gets like the size of a marble in there.

[BigShooter]

I've seen them as big around as slightly larger than a quarter. I'd consult a vet about when to do it. The older the pup the less the anesthesia/trauma risk.

[bpenn1980]

I've seen them as big around as slightly larger than a quarter. I'd consult a vet about when to do it. The older the pup the less the anesthesia/trauma risk.

The vet said it can wait, but if it gets hard, wont reduce or causes pup pain its gotta get done asap. I think I'm gonna wait till 4 months or older. He seemed to prefer we wait as long as possible until she's grown.

[BigShooter]

Keep pushing the tissue back in and massaging gently because the abdominal wall virtually always will continue to close up.

[LookoutDog]

My pup was about four months old. Size of the hernia was about the tip of your thumb about half-way down the thumbnail.