Umbilical hernia



I like poop
Barked: Fri Aug 23, '13 10:47am PST 
So I'm pretty sure Brevin has a umbilical hernia. It's not hard to miss. It's about marble sized and it's where his belly button is. I can push all the ball back into his tummy if I wanted. It's very easy to feel that he has a hole.

He is 11weeks old and he didnt have this when we first got him 4 weeks ago. It only popped out about a week ago. My question is; is there a chance that he can seal up on its own? He's rather active jumping around everywhere, as he is a puppy and that's just what they do, I'm afraid it will just get worse.

It says we can wait until neuter to help lower costs of the hernia surgery. What is the average cost of a small hernia repair? And can his hernia wait a couple more months to get repaired? Is there anything we should do to keep it from getting worse or to perhaps help it seal on its own?

Design jewelry,- not dogs!!!
Barked: Fri Aug 23, '13 11:58am PST 
Jethro had an umbilical hernia. His was from birth and about the size of a walnut.
I chose to wait until he was neutered at 8 months to get it fixed. No problems, and it was about $50 over the regular neuter price.
Pretty much the only thing to watch for is that intestine getting trapped outside the hole. You will be able to tell...it will swell and become dark red/purple. Otherwise, your guys sounds fairly small and shouldn't be a problem waiting.
Occasionally smaller ones will close up with no surgery, leaving just a "bubble" of fatty tissue. These also pose no problems in terms of future health.
We have a kitten in our rescue with one the size of a golf ball...hers is the largest one I have ever seen yet the vets are recommending we wait until she is older and spayed and just keep an eye on it.

You know i'm- cute, pet me!
Barked: Fri Aug 23, '13 12:03pm PST 
I did alot of research and talking with vets about this, as the rottweiler puppy I had been going to get (but turned down beacuse of it, stupid me), along with Dante, had an umbilical hernia. Now the big thing is to determine whether it is an umbilical for sure, and not a "true" hernia. If he hadn't had it before then i don't know that it would be umbilical, as it is generally caused by trauma at the cutting. Vs true hernias can be genetic and cause health concerns.

Anyway Dante is not getting neutered so there was no age to wait for him to have it fixed. I wanted it fixed asap so as not to cause any problems. He had his surgery I believe around 12 weeks and it did great. Looked a little funny healing the last week cuz his fat puppy belly was pushing out the staples, but it healed with barely a scar. I could look for the actual receipt but with the blood panel for anethesia, a microchip and the hernia repair, it was under $200. Which was my other reasoning, get it done while he's small, has to be less cost.

As for helping it on it's own, when they're soft like that it's good, I assume it goes away when he rolls over too? Well you can get like a small piece of cardboard or something fairly sturdy that you can tape over it to keep it pushed in. However that will take a while, and good luck keeping tape on a puppy! If you've read about them you probably know when they get hard that's the problem- intestines are coming out of the hole then getting blood supply cut off so that can be quite dangerous.

As I said I wasn't neutering so that affected my decision, the vet wanted to do it during that. So i would imagine you're safe waiting a few months, I just wanted to get rid of it ASAP. Though it kinda sorta was a cute little belly button laugh out loud But just keep an eye on it maybe and rest easy, it's a simple procedure


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Barked: Fri Aug 23, '13 12:24pm PST 
It doesn't go in when I roll him over and it is firm but I can push it inwards. It just pops right back out.

I'm a big brat- and I don't care- :)
Barked: Fri Aug 23, '13 4:25pm PST 
Your vet can determine if it can wait or not. Koby had the kind that we were able to wait until he was older. But the vet said, some can cause serious problems if they aren't taken care of right away. Good Luck!