Umbilical Hernias in Canines:

Umbilical hernias are considered to be very widespread and tend to occur across the midline of the stomach towards the navel.



Umbilical hernias do not pose real health issues or problems as fatty tissue is normally the only item that tends to protrude out of the opening. These hernias can occur to both the male and the female dog.



 

Causes, Symptoms of Umbilical Hernias in Dogs:

As a point to note, generally umbilical hernias in puppies are a congenital or genetic defect in more than 90 odd percent of the cases. The umbilical hernias disorder is passed on from one generation to the next generation just the way the color of the dog’s coat or the dog’s overall size passes on.



Extremely rarely are the umbilical hernias caused by any sort of trauma or an excess of pressure while the dog is whelping. Dogs that have an umbilical hernia or had a surgical repair of an umbilical hernia should never be used for further breeding. Also, for those adults that normally produce puppies with the umbilical hernia condition, it is advised that they should not be bred again. The symptoms that the doctors and veterinarians associate with a hernia are firstly weakness and an unusual lethargy in an active dog, breathing difficulties, various other associated intestinal problems, coughing that can be accompanied by excessive salivation, the dog can suffer from weight loss, accompanied by medium to high fever with vomiting too.

Treating Umbilical Hernias in Dogs:

Umbilical hernias are repaired by the veterinarian wherein he tries to replace the herniated or displaced bodily organs back to the correct positions and then sutures the area thus closing the abnormal openings. This may require the use of some techniques that are specialized. Before surgery there are a lot of pre operative requirements and medicines to be given. The patient dog needs to be given a lot of rest, some medicines are prescribed and IV fluids and oxygen is given if required. Surgery is not the necessary option for all the hernias. But once surgery is completed on the animal it is urgent to see that the sick dog gets adequate care. Post operative the check ups are vital to insure that the surgical area is healing and that the umbilical hernia condition has been resolved.  If the dog is very young then the hernia treatment can be attempted while the dog is neutered or spayed. Umbilical hernia surgery is almost always successful and is rarely accompanied by any complications.