umbilical hernia?...anyone had a puppy with this?

rstedem

Forums Novice
We just brought home our new sheltie puppy saturday and last night I noticed a swelling protruding from the belly button area. It's a little larger than a pea sizE and pink and is soft and disappears when you push on it. It wasn't there on saturday . He has an appointment in 3 weeks and is 6 weeks old. Anyone had experience with this? Should I be concerned now and get him in to see the vet sooner, He's rompin around and eating and drinking just fine.
 
6 weeks!? Take that puppy back to the breeder, it should still be with his mother. Holy cow, who sells a puppy at 6 weeks?

Anyway, umbilical hernias are mostly genetic and usually not a big deal. My Collie has one, she is 8 now, it just chills there. The vet offered to remove it, but meh.
 
We just brought home our new sheltie puppy saturday and last night I noticed a swelling protruding from the belly button area. It's a little larger than a pea sizE and pink and is soft and disappears when you push on it. It wasn't there on saturday . He has an appointment in 3 weeks and is 6 weeks old. Anyone had experience with this? Should I be concerned now and get him in to see the vet sooner, He's rompin around and eating and drinking just fine.

I don't know anything about hernias but I did take my 8 week old puppy/ies to our vet the next business day after getting them home................
 
My 14 month old girl, Ida, has an umbilical hernia. It doesn't ever seem to bother her, but I have heard that sometimes there can be something critically wrong with the insides (not sure how much truth is in that, you may want to ask your vet). They are also caused by the mother or breeder removing the umbilical cord to roughly. You should ALWAYS take a new dog/puppy to the vet after you get them. Also puppies should NOT be separated from their mother/litter mates until they are AT LEAST 8 weeks old. This breeder is NOT responsible.
 
6 weeks is too young to be away from his mom and 3 weeks is way too long to wait to have a new puppy vet checked.

If it is an umbilical hernia, it probably isn't very serious. Our Shih/poo puppy had one and the vet fixed it when she was being spayed. It cost about an extra $100.
 
Oh and she's a rescue...we've never BOUGHT a puppy we've only had rescues. He's our 2nd sheltie rescue puppy.
 
I agree with the other posters here. 6 weeks is way too young for this puppy to be taken from its mother. They need that time to develop stronger immune systems and that only comes from the mother, they also need the extra time to with their litter mates, this is very critical to their socialization skills. As stated, this is not a very responsible breeder.
 
umbical hernia?...anyone had a puppy with this?

Welcome to you and your new rescue pup...glad you cleared up the age typo. :) Nine weeks is a good leave Mom/adoption age.

But I really would take your pup to your vet sooner than 3 weeks unless the rescue just did all the vetting UTD...and even so I would still want my own vet to see any new pup I got right away. My Sketch, an adult rescue sheltie, has an umbical hernia and our vets said to leave it unless we suddenly see a change in it's size, color, etc. We have had Sketch for 4 years now and it has caused no trouble at all.

Trini and my gang.
 
Without bothering it too much, make sure that it does recede when you flip pup on it's back and GENTLY press it back. Hernias can and do strangle. If it won't push back with gentle pressure it needs repairing immediately. What you are seeing is a small portion of the intestine falling through a hole in the abdominal wall. Often, they will resolve on their own but if not, then it is a question of a few stitches when pup gets spayed - please do it at 6 months if this hernia is still there. The problem is when the intestine falls through the hole and can't get back. Then you can have death of the tissue - not great.
All pups should be seen by the vet within the first 48 hours of you getting them - especially if you have another dog in the house. At this time, the vet will see how large the hernia is and can monitor it's size.
Most hernias occur during the birthing process but some breeds and bloodlines are more likely to have them. It's not the end of the world as long as you take the correct action and not ignore the fact it is there.
 
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