[Pippinsmom]

I have a friend at work who adopted her puppy from my breeder at the same time that I adopted Pippin. Different litters (she has 2 females). Maria took her pup to the vet yesterday and was told he has an umbilical hernia that must be fixed when they do his neuter surgery. I have never heard of an umbilical hernia before....how serious is it and is it something that is relatively common? How and why do they occur? I am a little surprised that her vet is just telling her this now because this is the 2nd time she has brought him there and they did not make mention of it at the time of the first exam. She is very worried about her pup and I am hoping that we can give her some words of encouragement and advice!

 

[Mystify79]

My sister's little dog also has an umbilical hernia.. it actually didn't show up until a couple of weeks ago so the vets hadn't noticed it because it wasn't visible. To us it just looked like a tiny little bump on his tummy. The vets told us that it was easy to fix and they'd do it when he went to have his upcoming knee surgery. I've heard that the larger the hernia the more likely problems can arise (i.e. intestines coming through the hernia) but with boy dogs they are usually really small and not as big of a deal. It's a lot more rare in boy dogs than girl dogs. As long as they will be fixing it when he's getting neutered, it doesn't sound like she has anything to really worry about.

 

[jmm]

It is fairly common in puppies and a small one is not a big deal but should be fixed during the next elective anesthesia. As was already mentioned, a larger one should be fixed as you don't want intestines getting caught in it.

 

[Pippinsmom]

Thank you for the responses! I will definitely let her know that it is nothing for her to be lying awake at night worrying about. I know she will feel much better about it.

 

[Ladysmom]

I've had a couple of cats with umbilical hernias. They were corrected during their spay - no big deal!