Westie Puppy With Inguinal Hernia

[Lillium]

A friend of mine has placed a deposit on a west highland white terrier puppy; the puppy is due to be picked up in a fortnight. The breeder rang her up this afternoon to let her know that the puppy has been diagnosed as having a inguinal hernia as she had the puppies vaccinated & microchipped. The puppy is very healthy aside from this. The breeder has offered to deduct around $400 to cover costs for surgery. Does anyone have experience with inguinal hernias? what are your thoughts pertaining to this matter?

[dancinbcs]

If he is being bought as a pet to be desexed then it shouldn't be a problem. The vet could fix the hernia at the same time he is desexed.

[Lillium]

Just got off the phone from my friend; she said that she decided not to go ahead with the puppy as she feels she could not handle being faced with an emergency situation. She told the breeder that she would prefer it if the breeder organised the surgery before picking up the pup. The breeder was concerned and said that she had spoken to the vet and although the vet said he could operate, he doesn't specifically like the idea of such an operation on a young pup and would prefer to operate when the pup is 4 mths old. The breeder said she didn't feel comfortable in taking the risk at this stage. All in all, it was decided that the breeder would keep the pup until it is 4 mths old and have it operated on then.

[SwaY]

I had one fixed in my last litter of puppies - $150 done by Micheal Bell, Craigeburn Vet.

Was done at 10 weeks of age.

ETA sorry was an Umbilical hernia

Edited December 23, 2011 by SwaY

[raz]

Just got off the phone from my friend; she said that she decided not to go ahead with the puppy as she feels she could not handle being faced with an emergency situation.

What a shame. I took on a pup with an inguinal hernia and it corrected itself as it does in humans in most cases. It's never been a problem.

All the best to your friend. I hope she finds another puppy in the future. The poor thing must be pretty upset if she had her heart set on this one then had to make a decision at the last minute.

[aussielover]

It depends on whether the hernia is just fat or if intestine is incorporated. If it is large enough, sometimes the intestine can become involved and there may be a potentially very serious situation.

I recently saw a hernia op on an 9 wk old puppy, the intestine was incarcerated and was beginning to become de-vitalised. Luckily it was caught in time and there were no complications and the pup didn't need a resection.