One of my Cavalier pups has an umbilical hernia, 1 inch by just under 1 inch. She is due to leave this weekend to go to her new home so I have told her new family so they can discuss with their vet and all my pups are booked into the vet tomorow for a final check up before they go to their new homes.

Does anyone have any experience of umbilical hernias and are they serious ??

Thank you

That's quite a large hernia for a Cavalier puppy. The severity depends of whether just fat or intestine pokes through the hole.  You will discuss it with your Vet tomorrow.  If a Vet recommended repair at 6 months, I would expect the breeder to either pay for the operation or reduce the price of the puppy accordingly.

If there is a major problem I think I wouldn't let her go.....would rather keep her with me as wouldn't be fair to her new family. If they were adamant that they would still want her I would definately pay for her operation and reduce her sale price. Would be the fair thing to do.

Yes, I think that's fair. :)  Do be aware that a predisposition to umbilical hernias can be hereditary.  Small ones can just be late closures, but large ones.........

All my Cavaliers have had them. :) It's very common in Cavaliers. The only one that had his repaired was the one who also had an inguinal hernia as that had to be repaired the umbilical one was done at the same time. They're not always true hernias, sometimes it's just fat as opposed to the intestines.
http://www.cavaliers.co.uk/articles/healthconditions.htm  Go right to the bottom of the page.

They are only serious if they should become strangulated.  My friend had a Cav also 'coincidence' with the same problem the breeder reduced the price by £100 (this is not covered by insurance)as the vet quoted approx £150 to have it put right at the same time as having him castrated. (He was done at a year)  It makes no difference to the dog, you would never know anything was wrong infact when she had him castrated she did not even bother with the hernia as it was in no need of an operation.

If the people still want your pup, let them have her, she will still be the same dog, though it is something to be watched, most of the time it will not need to be operated on, as the pup grows it is not noticable.

However if they do have it operated & wish to show the puppy they have to notify the KC & I can tell you they will not give permission to show

The KC yave had a change of mind on that one (at least for now) and are giving permission to show for dogs with repaired hernias.

Possibly depends on what the vet say as a Cavalier breeder claimed on the KC insurance, then applied for permission to show & was turned down on permission to show just before Xmas This bitch was the G daughter of her first bitch who had a hernia & the bitch's mother also had a hernia & all three had operations to correct because they were big like this one

Well then I could understand their stance in that case as with 3 generations of hernias requiring repair it would seem to be fairly certain the condition was inherited.

Some of my douge puppies had a hernia, after a c section, (Brit had, had a litter 2 year prev no hernia's)  nor c-section, nor did her mother father and grandparents as well checked when this happened to try and find out if it could be hereditory

We sold the puppies but marked in the bill of sale that any operation that the puppies have for heria's will be paid for in full by us. At the average price

The vet that did the c-section said that, that kind of delivery is prevalent to umbilical hernia's, and now one of the puppies my son had from the littter says most of the time it is not visable.

We also have a Tibetan Spaniel now 10 years that has a herinia, she had is as a puppy, but never bred from her and it never bothered her so we just left it, at times her tummy is prefectly flat.

I had the lady shouting down the phone at me that all hernials were hereditary, her vet had told, her I give her vets phone number and told her to have the conversation with the my vet

Lynn

My friend's never had trouble breeding from her bitches with hernias. I'll have to read that link again, I don't quite understand how you know whether it's a true hernia or just a fatty bit - my bitch has one, which I can massage gently back in, so what does that make it please?

A hernia is a gap in the muscle allowing the abdominal contents to push through.  Many are so small they allow only the fatty layer through, larger ones could allow bowel which of course is dangerous as the bowel can become twisted, lose its blood supply and go gangrenous.  So it may be a fatty lump you have there but it is still a hernia that it is poking through and as you have noticed many are reducable temorarily by pushing back through the gap, in fact this is what will be done prior to the surgeon stitching up the gap in a repair.

In a late closire the bit of fat will not be able to be pushed back as the muscle will have tightly closed around it.  This type will not need a repair.

My eldest (now deceased) had one of these and the Vet confimed that it was no problem, and reconfirmed that it was sealed when she was spayed a few years later.

Yes, thats true but it is still evidence of a hernia not just a fatty lump as in a lypoma.

Both my cavaliers had hernias.  The vet checked them when they went for thier first jabs and decided they would be fine to leave until they were spayed and castrated, unless they got bigger in the meantime.
They were repaired at the same time as the spaying/nuetering

My 3 year old Cavalier has a hernia it was never repaired as its not caused any problems and the vet has said if  its not causing problems then there is no urgency to get it repaired but can this cause problems later on in life as he is 3 years and 4 months old now???

Hi there, My bitch (flatcoated retriever) had 13 puppies in her first litter.  I found that she cleaned and chewed to much round the umbilical cord and this was why 5 of the puppies had hernias.  I was told that they were not going to be a problem and you can have them opperated on later in life but not nessasary to do so for cosmetic reasons, hope this is helpful........jo

It depends on the size of the hernia as to whether there would be a problem with it.  If it's only small then more often than not it's safe just to leave them.

Unfortunately I don't think 5 pups having hernia's would be due to the mother.  I've always felt that this could be a factor but it's more often hereditary.