Hi,
(Not sure if this is in the right place)

I have finally got my puppy.
I think we may have a problem though, it looks like she has got a hernia.
When I went to see her I never noticed it, but since bringing her home tonight I have felt what seems to be a soft, squidgy lump where the umbilical cord would be attached.
I bought her with a view to showing, how is this going to affect her chances.
Can it be operated on and will I still be able to show.
I am taking her to the vet tomorrow for a checkup.
The breeder never told me there was anything wrong, but surely he would have noticed.
What can I do? My pup is KC Reg and she came from an Accredited Breeder.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

when u saw it at the breeders why didnt you ask? ,and if that pup was vet checked then he would of knew about it and should of told you, take pup to your vets and get pup checked out ,you can still show pup.good luck with your new baby x

perhaps in the excitement of finding his/her puppy it wasnt noticed....but surely the breeder must have known and should have told this person.

Hernias of this type are common in some breeds, and some times they almost disappear as the pup matures other times an operation is needed and it is advisable never to breed from a dog that has a hernia although some breeds seem to shrug it off and do not worry about it, wrong IMO but we are all entitled to opinions or so I am told.

So you need to know if it is one of the breed where a umbilical hernia is almost expected and how bad your vet thinks it is. As to showing if it is a breed where it is common it will make no difference, for me I only take note if I have two dogs of similar merit in that case the one with the hernia looses out. A good way to check with a pup is the same as when looking for testicles get someone to hold the pup around the chest under the front legs and let the back legs dangle then with a gentle finger feel for a lump or two as the case may be. 

whitelily, I think if you read the post again, the poster said they didn't notice it when they went to see her, only when they brought the pup home.
I would have the puppy vet checked then phone the breeder to discuss it. I've been in this very situation myself, sold a puppy at well over 1K, the breeder telling me she was showable and if I breed from her to contact her for a stud dog. Got home only to notice the hernia. Breeder did not want to know. I even updated them on her twice, never once received a response and this person was a member of the national breed club, actively showing, so should know better!

o yes so sorry i miss read (10 day old pups :) not much sleep!) xx

The vet will be able to check if it's a hernia that could become strangulated or just a fleshy one. Beyond that I wouldn't worry too much - I have one of those breeds that commonly has hernias, as it happens my boy doesn't have one and my girl does, but I've never felt that it was handicapping her in the ring.

Hi metoyoux, this happened to me with my oldest dog. I didn't notice it because we had expected to take his litter brother and I was so thrown by the change of plan I didn't think to look. It was the size of a small peanut. When I told his breeder she said that it wasn't likely to cause a problem. Anyway, suffice it to say he has not had surgery, and the hernia has never been a problem

You can show a dog with a hernia, and certainly in many toybreeds it doesn't present much of a problem -I think it would be a far bigger problem in larger breeds where it is rarer. However you cannot show a dog that has had a hernia repair. What breed is it? As you've not bred the pup yourself it should be fine to say.

she's a cavalier king charles; it's between the size of a one pence piece and a two pence piece.

I understand that it is not uncommon in the Cavalier so as long as it is not going to cause a health problem then there should be no problem.

Very common in Cavaliers it seems and most don't need surgery, many are shown with it, so I wouldn't worry too much. I've had 4 Cavaliers, all had the umbilical hernia, only Rufus had his repaired but that was only because he also had an inguinal hernia which was far more serious and the vet said it made sense to fix both as he was doing one anyway.

I have 2 cavaliers, neither have hernias..
but if metoyoux wanted to breed in a few years time is this going to be a problem and is it hereditary?

> that was only because he also had an inguinal hernia

Marianne - sorry to hijack the post - but are inguinal hernias hereditary?

I'm not Marianne but I understand that weakness in the stomach wall is an hereditary matter so although there may be other non hereditary incidents connected with a hernia there still remains the hereditary weakness to consider if one is thinking of breeding - mind you there other factors when breeding and one would not disregard the whole line because of the possibility of a hernia particularly in a breed with a small breed pool - not the case with Cavaliers so may be it should rule out most if not all breeding from animals with this weakness.

Thanks for that.  I don't have Cavvies, but I have got a girl that was found to have an inguinal hernia quite young.  The breeder didn't want to know, so I took my vets advice on it.  It was a very small breed, and he preferred to wait until she was 6 months before operating.  She had two when he came to operate! 

I wasn't sure if it could be passed on, so had her spayed after her first season.

I honestly don't know about inguinal ones Jean -never had cause to look into it as the dog in question was only ever a pet.

not the case with Cavaliers so may be it should rule out most if not all breeding from animals with this weakness.

If you consider that Cavaliers have more serious health problems than most breeds, if you ruled out breeding from ones with umbilical hernias there would be even less healthy breeding stock left. At the moment there are far more important issues to concentrate on. It's already believed Syringomyelia mainly appeared when people started to breed for better hearts. Six of one, half a dozen of another.... I am in the process of looking for a Cavalier puppy (pet) and hernias won't even enter the equation, it won't worry me at all.

I had a Cav pup with a hernia and gradually it went away so by 1 year there was no sign. I also have a little terrier (6 months old) that had a hernia that got worse and had to have op to repair it 3 weeks ago, so hopefully it will be sorted now. 

Strangely I had an email about this very thing yesterday, from someone whos story is almost identical to this OP.

I replied that they should discuss this with their breeder.

In the email it said that the cavalier was NOT required for breeding or showing - so in this case, my opinion is that this is a small imperfection of no consequence in the great scheme of things.

I sent a pm to this OP last night.
She bought the pup mainly for showing with a possible view to breeding if shes good enough. The pup is almost 9wks old.
The OP is only 16 herself, so she really is just learning.
Apparently she has saved up all birthday and Xmas money etc for the last 2yrs!!
It must be upsetting for her though.

> She bought the pup mainly for showing with a possible view to breeding if shes good enough. The pup is almost 9wks old.
> The OP is only 16 herself, so she really is just learning

Well, this is going to be a steep learning curve!

To win with a Cavalier it really has to be pretty darned good and I would imagine anyone selling an 8wk old puppy as a "showing and breeding prospect" is either clueless or not quite straight with the buyer.
If this is from a top breeder of show lines, he/she should be the one answering all the OPs questions and this pup should have its KC registration certificate endorsed "not for breeding" until and at such times, it comes up with all clear health tests at 2 and a half, something which will cost a considerable sum.

If this pup was bought for less than £750 ( pet price from health tested parents) and doesn't have a show winner as ( at least) one of it's parents ( then expect to pay considerably more), then I'd say the umbilical hernia will not be the thing which holds this pup back from winning in the show ring.

> but are inguinal hernias hereditary?

Yes indeed and need to be repaired before breeding so rather defeats the point.

Mine are Cavaliers too, mentioned above, yes it is common on our breed, my boy hasn't got one, my bitch has, and has had a litter of puppies with no trouble at all, though of course I kept a very close eye on it. I would say the OP shouldn't find it holds her back in the ring - and even if as has been suggested, the dog isn't good enough to win / place, with or without hernia, that shouldn't stop the OP from having lots of fun learning to handle with her, and showing her at open shows and of course at companion shows - a Cav with a hernia can still win loads of Prettiest Bitch / Waggiest Tail classes! :-)