My mini schnauzer puppy has an umbilical hernia, I was told by the vets that it would be better to have her spayed as this can be passed on to her puppies if I decided to breed her? Is this true?

How old is she? Sometimes they disappear as the puppy gets older. They can be caused by the bitch cutting the cord too close or too roughly, not necessarily hereditary. You do not have to have her spayed to stop her becoming pregnant just do not let her get mated. Spaying as a puppy is too young and can affect her growth both physically and mentally.

You have no way of knowing whether it is hereditary unless it was very common amongst the parents/litters, some vets do say the daftest things....  The seriousness depends on the size, if it is small then it may well disappear as pup grows.  Is it large?  Assuming not, if you are going to spay then do it at the time best for the health of your dog, the hernia can be fixed at any time.  My schnauzer had one because Mum cut the cord too close.  A breeder told me that you can get them to go back inside by taping a coin onto the bump, I guess if you were wanting to show then you have need to do something like that.    My boy had to have an operation so vet took the opportunity to fix the hernia at the same time otherwise I would have just left it alone.

She is just 11 weeks, I just hate the pressure some vets can put on you?

It’s not hereditary. Her mum & dad we’re fine, it’s small, she needed help at birth as she was the largest pup, she was also in two sacks, which the birthed had to break, they had to get the chord cut quickly as she wasn’t breathing. I’ve since found out since yesterday that her sister seemingly has one also but wasn’t picked up until the new owners took her to the vets?

Her sister's must also be very small if they didn't notice.  Personally I would leave it, I used to enjoy squishing my schnauzer's "button" when he had a belly rub.

Other than the fact that this can be done by mum biting the umbilical too close as said, if there is an incidence of this in the bloodline, most probably breeding from her shouldn't be in the plans for her going forward.    However, I'd not rush into getting her spayed either.   And it may well disappear with time.  

If she's only 11 weeks atm, you have a long time before you have to act, much as vets will often repair this, when neutering.   Wait and meanwhile, see if you can find out re it being a problem within her lines.

Did you buy her to breed from, eventually?

I had an occasional tiny umbilical hernia when I had Cavaliers. I always found that the puppy grew but not the hernia, and they were closed and invisible by the time the puppy was show age. I would have had the operation and placed in a pet home any that were larger, or didn't pop back in, but thankfully, that never happened. I'm not sure to what extent they are hereditary, or are caused by birth trauma, but I'm sure that certain breeds have a greater predisposition towards them.

I’m not sure if I would want to breed don’t know if I could do it, just trying to get some information on it.

There are alot of breeders on here who will tell u what u need to know about your dog and her line before even coming close to making that decision.
Is she KC registered for.example ? Would u have support from the breeder ? Are their endormemts that would need lifting ? And many more

She is KC registered, and I do have the support from the breeder as she is a friend, no endorsements it’s just that I’ve heard so many conflicting stories so don’t know what to do for the right thing?

I personally wouldn't far to much risk imo . Usually if someone wants to breed they will show or work their dog to see if the dog is a good example of the breed and that breeding would be a beneficial in some way.why not start a thread about breeding ? You should get some useful information to help u

Thank you

It very much depends. Some bitches with umbilical hernias (better to get it repaired before breeding to avoid it ripping further during pregnancy) have puppies without hernias. However I know of one bitch that had a small hernia, and whose breeder was meticulous in ensuring that nothing pulled on the cords and the bitch didn't chew them at all, whose whole litter developed umbilical hernias at 5 weeks of age, which one after another started strangulating (going black, rock solid and painful when attempting to press them back). Three of the pups needed surgical repair before 8 weeks of age, and the rest needed the repair (to save their lives) before they were 4 months old.

So yes, they can be strongly hereditary, and are not caused by the bitch.

They are relatively common in my breed and I've shown dogs with hernias and done very well with them. I did keep a close eye on my bitch with the hernia when she was in whelp but she was fine (this is talking about the fatty lump closed type hernia of course, not a true herniation of bowel). One of her 3 puppies had a small hernia, and I think only 2 of the 7 from that girl had hernias.

http://showdogsupersite.com/kenlclub/breedvet/umbilical.html

had one of mine with the fatty bellybutton and it never needed treatment, and wasn't even considered when spayed.