# How big is a 'small umbilical hernia'?



## Lab-lover (Mar 31, 2008)

A lady I meet while walking my dogs is in the process of getting a puppy with an umbilical hernia. She says the breeder says it is small and it should clear up before the dog is a year old. The dog is going to be a pet so she will be having it spayed when older. My question is, how big is a 'small umbilical hernia'? How can you tell if it will clear up on its own when the puppy is only 6 weeks old. Can it get larger as the puppy grows? She says it is the size of the tip of her small finger at the moment (she doesn't have large hands). Is that small/large? The puppy is a medium sized breed.


----------



## dobermummy (Apr 4, 2009)

Mouse has a 'small' umbilical hernia when he came to me. i spoke to my vet and was told it would be ok to leave until he was castrated unless it got a lot bigger and / or hard.

by the time he was 9 months old it was as big as my fist and hard so he had it sorted out then, it cost just over £400. what has the breeder said about it?

here is a pic of Mouse with his. we think he is about 6/7 weeks at this point


----------



## Firedog (Oct 19, 2011)

I was told if it got bigger than one centimetre it needed operating on.


----------



## SharonM (Mar 2, 2010)

dobermummy said:


> Mouse has a 'small' umbilical hernia when he came to me. i spoke to my vet and was told it would be ok to leave until he was castrated unless it got a lot bigger and / or hard.
> 
> by the time he was 9 months old it was as big as my fist and hard so he had it sorted out then, it cost just over £400. what has the breeder said about it?
> 
> here is a pic of Mouse with his. we think he is about 6/7 weeks at this point


I wouldn't have classed that as a 'small' hernia, that's pretty big at that age, had that been one of my pups I wouldn't have let him go until I had paid to have it repaired.


----------



## gayle38 (Jul 16, 2012)

About the size of a pea no bigger really.


----------



## PennyGC (Sep 24, 2011)

its difficult to say, but often the small ones wont grow with the pup and will 'disappear', others can grow with them and will need treatment, no reason to keep a pup at the breeders whilst this is discovered - better to be with their family, but I'd help out financially if an operation was needed... I'd prefer it to be done separately from a neutering operation as I'd rather this was left to physical/mental maturity


----------



## Leanne77 (Oct 18, 2011)

I have a 6.5 year old dog who has had an umbilical hernia since he was a pup. He is actually going to the vets later to have it checked out as it keeps becoming ulcerated. I wouldnt say his is small though, probably about the size of a strawberry and it obviously never disappeared.

My vet told me that it was fine as it was and wouldnt need treating unless it changed in some way, yet i've read many other people saying they should be operated on.


----------



## emmaviolet (Oct 24, 2011)

SharonM said:


> I wouldn't have classed that as a 'small' hernia, that's pretty big at that age, had that been one of my pups I wouldn't have let him go until I had paid to have it repaired.


No i wouldnt say that was small either as it is protruding quite a bit already at a young age.

Alfie had a small one we never knew about until he was at the vets as i had never seen one, but you couldnt see it standing at the side at all, it was about the size of a small marble at this age.

Id say it isnt as big as the doberman puppy now as he hasnt had it done as it was small, still i was very annoyed when i was told about it, the breeder is supposed to let you know these things and she is very well known in the breed too!!!


----------



## Sled dog hotel (Aug 11, 2010)

Lab-lover said:


> A lady I meet while walking my dogs is in the process of getting a puppy with an umbilical hernia. She says the breeder says it is small and it should clear up before the dog is a year old. The dog is going to be a pet so she will be having it spayed when older. My question is, how big is a 'small umbilical hernia'? How can you tell if it will clear up on its own when the puppy is only 6 weeks old. Can it get larger as the puppy grows? She says it is the size of the tip of her small finger at the moment (she doesn't have large hands). Is that small/large? The puppy is a medium sized breed.


Umbilical hernias are where the cords attached and the hole fails to close, they are believed to be hereditary and dogs shouldnt be bred from.

Small ones tend to be just or mostly fat from the tum, larger ones you can usually actually feel the hole and larger ones can often be intestine thats protruding as well as tummy fat. The large ones if the intestines involved are the dangerous one as the protruding intestine can get twisted causing a strangulated hernia.

Im pretty sure that I have read that very small ones can close on their own,
but usually if they havent by the time the dogs neutered or spayed then they usually repair it then. Obviously if they are large and intestines protruding then they would need doing sooner if there is a risk. A small one I think is classed as being no more then about half a centimetre.


----------



## dobermummy (Apr 4, 2009)

SharonM said:


> I wouldn't have classed that as a 'small' hernia, that's pretty big at that age, had that been one of my pups I wouldn't have let him go until I had paid to have it repaired.


my ex took him from someone he knew who was keeping him in an out building as a guard dog :mad2: we think he left his mum at only 5 weeks old 

so im not sure his breeder would of cared about the hernia or what they advised


----------



## miljar (Jan 27, 2012)

The advice that I was given is that it is not so much the size of the "lump", but rather the size of the actual hole that is important.
Many vets are not willing to anaesthetize a pup, under 6 months of age, for something that is not threatening to a pups health. The advice was to wait until neutering and then get it fixed at the same time - unless it grew larger, of course.


----------



## Blitz (Feb 12, 2009)

dobermummy said:


> Mouse has a 'small' umbilical hernia when he came to me. i spoke to my vet and was told it would be ok to leave until he was castrated unless it got a lot bigger and / or hard.
> 
> by the time he was 9 months old it was as big as my fist and hard so he had it sorted out then, it cost just over £400. what has the breeder said about it?
> 
> here is a pic of Mouse with his. we think he is about 6/7 weeks at this point


I would say that is quite a large one. Pup looks a lot older than 6 or 7 weeks too.

A small one would be a pea sized one which probably would not be anything to worry about.


----------



## emmaviolet (Oct 24, 2011)

Blitz said:


> I would say that is quite a large one. Pup looks a lot older than 6 or 7 weeks too.
> 
> A small one would be a pea sized one which probably would not be anything to worry about.


As the poster said it turned into the size of a fist so yes its quite big for a puppy.


----------



## dobermummy (Apr 4, 2009)

Blitz said:


> I would say that is quite a large one. Pup looks a lot older than 6 or 7 weeks too.


the photo isnt the best to see his true size. Hawksport saw him and was surprised at how mall he was in real life.

it was the vet who said it was a small one when i took him for his first check up. it started off soft and pushed up easily. like i said earlier it then got bigger and hard so he had it repaired and now you couldnt tell he ever had anything there apart from a tiny scar 

his 'breeder' obviously knew about it when they sold Mouse to the idiot who had him first but didnt care, which isnt a surprise when he was the one who advised to keep Mouse in the outhouse and keep contact to a minimum, and it would do him good to miss a few meals. thats how best to make a guard dog  :mad2:


----------



## Blitz (Feb 12, 2009)

dobermummy said:


> the photo isnt the best to see his true size. Hawksport saw him and was surprised at how mall he was in real life.
> 
> it was the vet who said it was a small one when i took him for his first check up. it started off soft and pushed up easily. like i said earlier it then got bigger and hard so he had it repaired and now you couldnt tell he ever had anything there apart from a tiny scar
> 
> his 'breeder' obviously knew about it when they sold Mouse to the idiot who had him first but didnt care, which isnt a surprise when he was the one who advised to keep Mouse in the outhouse and keep contact to a minimum, and it would do him good to miss a few meals. thats how best to make a guard dog  :mad2:


Horrendous!


----------

