# New puppy has hernia, what should we do?



## jesterjigger (Dec 12, 2008)

We brought our puppy home from the breeder's Sunday night. Monday night we noticed a little ball on her stomach, back far enough to almost be between her hind legs. I emailed the breeder about it and googled the description. I think it's a hernia, we made an appointment with the vet (called today, appointment is tomorrow). 

The breeder emailed last night and said that the puppy went to the vet December 9th and he didn't see anything wrong with her. I emailed her today to let her know we were taking the puppy to the vet and that I thought it was a hernia, after looking at hernia pictures on the internet. 

She called while we were signing paperwork to refinance our mortgage and left a message, saying that she hadn't checked her email yet, but that she talked to the vet and he didn't recall seeing anything wrong with her and that we could call the vet and talk to him ourselves. She also said that she didn't think it was an umbilical hernia and could be a pimple. (I hadn't mentioned I thought it was a hernia until the second email, which she wouldn't have read since she said she hadn't checked her email today). 

It definitely isn't a pimple, it's the size of a pencil eraser, but longer than just the pink part of the eraser. 

I've read that some hernias go away on their own, and others can be fixed when the dog is spayed. Apparently the breeder's vet said that hernias can pop up at any time in a puppy (our puppy is 11 weeks old). We're obviously going to be asking our vet tomorrow, but I was wondering if anyone has any experience with puppy hernias. I really hope that this isn't something the puppy came to us with, but at the same time, don't know what to do if she did.


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## briteday (Feb 10, 2007)

You won't really know what it is until you see the vet. So I won't speculate on the hernia issue. But any new animal to a household should be seen by your own vet within the first 24-72 hours after taking it from the breeder. Be sure to take along a FRESH stool specimen so they can check for parasites as well. You will also need to discuss vaccination protocol, heartworm meds, appropriate time to spay, regular hours and method of payment (might not be important now, but if something expensive or emergent comes up in the future you will want to know), what to do for after-hours emergencies, ...

In the meanwhile I'd be looking at my purchase contract for the health clause. Most contracts specify remediation protocol if a puppy is found to have an illness, within a certain amount of time after the purchase. So read it carefully. Sometimes you are entitled to be reimbursed for some of the cost of treatment if it's something that the breeder should have known about. I'm sure that's why she wanted you to call her vet to verify that he saw nothing when the pup was seen last.

Let us know what the vet thinks...


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## LunarFlame (Jul 6, 2008)

Hi there!

I thought I might post my experience. My 7 month old pup has an unbellical hernia. This is a common problem with pups. It happens when there is too much strain on the um. cord during birth.

Sometimes this issue will heal as the pup grows, but in our case, it requires surgery to fix. Rufus is actually at the vet today to get it fixed while he is being neutered.

You took the right step by calling the vet. They should let you know where to go from there!


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## jesterjigger (Dec 12, 2008)

Well, this incident probably highlights the fact this is our first dog more than anything. We took her to the vet and he checked her joints and felt her all over. He felt under her belly while she was standing and said that he didn't feel an umbilical hernia. We told him it was further back, and looks almost like a tiny penis. He looked and said "oh, that! That's her vulva " 

I never thought her vulva would be so big! I did take some pictures of it, you can just click these two links. They're *huge*, which is why I'm linking to them and not just posting them in the thread.

http://www.jesterjigger.com/pictures/jilly/2008/jillyhome/bump.jpg
http://www.jesterjigger.com/pictures/jilly/2008/jillyhome/bump2.jpg

Otherwise, he said that she was fine, in good health and he asked us lots of questions about what we were doing with her and about her behavior at home. We got heartworm/other worms medicine for her, which is good, because the fecal sample we took tested positive for hookworm eggs. She'll go back in three weeks for her last round of shots and to get her poop tested for worms again.


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## Bearjing (Oct 24, 2008)

Well, that is just too funny! I'm glad this turned out to be not be any cause for concern....


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## loratliff (Feb 7, 2008)

This thread made me smile.  Concerned parents, much? 

Now, let's see some photos of the puppy and not just her privates!


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## jesterjigger (Dec 12, 2008)

I made a new post with pictures http://www.dogforums.com/19-first-time-dog-owner/41717-pictures-our-papillon-puppy.html 

Concerned parents is right, the vet clinic people said that we looked like new parents with her when we brought her in. In a way she's our replacement baby, I was diagnosed with a missed miscarriage almost two weeks ago, and we picked up Jilly a few days after my D&C. 

My husband and I haven't had a dog of our own before, and we want to do everything as right as possible with/by Jilly. I wanted to say, it's nice to see another horse owner on the forum, I currently have two, though one is retired. I do dressage though, not jumping.


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