Hernia's in Puppies

Hi everyone,

I am just looking for some advice. I have just got a female shih tzu shes 8 weeks old. We noticed she has a hernia so asked the vets advice etc when we took her for needles. Anyway its an umbilical hernia and should hopefully go by the time she is 6 months old if not she has to have surgery to correct it. I wanted to know would I be okay top breed her if the hernia goes away? Or is this wrong to do? I have asked numerous people now nincluding vets and have received quite conflicting advice!! PLEASE HELP!!!!

Thanks.

Hi my little one Poppy is 10 weeks old she to as an umbilical Hernia. I was also told they would correct this when I have her spayed. I don't know about breeding her but someone on here will know.

Post a picture of her we would all love to see her.

You will probably get conflicting advice anywhere for this - because there are a lot of opinions out there! I have used a bitch for breeding who had a small hernia because of the quality of the bitch and I also had a showdog who had quite a large "bubble" but was used at stud a few times too.

As the puppy grows the hernia usually appears smaller. You need to keep an eye on the hernia and gently every day just lightly press it to make sure it goes back in - this will help keep it from strangulating. If the puppy at any time shows pain when you press it or if it usually moves in and out quite freely but becomes swollen then take her to the vet asap. A strangulated hernia is very serious. Having said that most of them cause no problem whatsoever - but it is wise to keep a check on them.

Thanks Lesley didnt know that. I will get the vet to check it again on Thursday as she goes for her second injection. She's at the moment so will check when she wakes up.

I agree Lesley....so many opinions but at the end of the day i dont think any are 100% right as they would only be one answer.
My Molly has a small hernia and her litter had non, the vet said if i bred her then all the puppies would have them but just goes to show...i also had 2 hernias in another litter but both mum and dad had non, my hernias tend to come from the birth i think as these 2 puppies were pushed out with the afterbirth still inside mum so it was hard to cut the cord and had to tug a little bit more than i would have liked.

You can ask loads of vets but i can tell you that they wont all agree, i do think it is wise to have the hernia repared if its not a tiny one before using her for breeding.

Now a picture of this little one would be great

I agree - we want pics!!!

Gus has an umbilical hernia and we had it repaired when he was castrated. He never had a problem with it, and still doesn't.

Fluffyangel wrote:I agree Lesley....so many opinions but at the end of the day i dont think any are 100% right as they would only be one answer.
My Molly has a small hernia and her litter had non, the vet said if i bred her then all the puppies would have them but just goes to show...i also had 2 hernias in another litter but both mum and dad had non, my hernias tend to come from the birth i think as these 2 puppies were pushed out with the afterbirth still inside mum so it was hard to cut the cord and had to tug a little bit more than i would have liked.

You can ask loads of vets but i can tell you that they wont all agree, i do think it is wise to have the hernia repared if its not a tiny one before using her for breeding.

Now a picture of this little one would be great

Shih Tzu are often short-corded and that is what happened with my show boy Beau - neither his mother or father had a hernia.

Also when a hernia is repaired early it can reopen so I believe it is better to wait rather than rush in.

One of my bitches had a hernia that strangulated. Her hernia was never loose and I could never push it back it. Mistakenly I thought that was better but she had a strangulation. However I wouold say it is really obvious that something is amiss so I don't think anyone would miss there is a problem and although you might not think it is the hernia I think it would still be obvious enough to go to the vet!! We thought she had hurt her back when Ming's strangulated but it wasn not her back!!

Yeah piccy's are essential

Both Daisy and Hattie had hernias.

My vet was going to repair Daisy's when she was spayed but got called out to an emergency and the vet who performed the spaying did not think it was nessacary so I was pretty mad when we picked Daisy up to find it hadn't been done.

I just check it daily to make sure it is soft and doesn't hurt so far so good.

When Hattie went in to be spayed I told the nurse that if Graeme was called out not to let anyother vet at the practice operate on her but luckily Graeme did the op and repaired the hernia at the same time.

An umbilical hernia is a midline failure, and runs along the midline of the body like the cleft pallate and hair lip the mid line should close at birth, and can go on closing untill around the six months stage, which is why the vets usually say that it should dissapear if it is small enough. sometimes there is just a little omentum or fatty tissue that protrudes through the muscle layer and sometimes it is a piece of gut which is where the danger of strangulation comes in. It is very common in shih tzu and there are very few lines without some kind of umbilical hernia. A large hernia should be operated upon and the bitch should not be used for breeding. Far more serious is the inguinal hernia which can be seen as a luimp in the groin. Bitches with inguinal hernia should never be bred from.... Pat

All of my 3 have hernias. Sasha had hers done when she was spayed, and Monty and Ivy's have all but disappeared, but I still check them after baths etc to make sure there are no problems.

Pat is right though - inguinal hernias should definitely be operated on, and you should never breed from a bitch who has had one.

Kirstyxxxx