Hi there,
I wonder if anyone can advise or help. My bitch gave birth by emergency cc some 8 weeks ago. She had a ruptured uterus during the op so therefore also sadly needed a hysterectomy, seven of the eight pups survived although many needed quite some encouragement to get going. As the op was on a Sunday morning and I knew there would be few staff in attendance for resucitations if required I and my husband insisted on being present, we were in the room adjoining the theatre which contained the incubator.

In attendance there was one nurse who spent her entire time attempting to resuscitate (unsuccessfully) the first pup, she remained in the theatre doing this. The vet operating (who had his hands full with the dam) and the assisting vet. The assisting vet brought us pups as they were removed for us to try and get going (which we did) each pup had a large metal scissor type clamp (virtually their body length and quite heavy) attached at the bottom of each cord which again was virtually the length of their body, each was placed in the incubator when they were revived to keep warm. They then proceeded to squeal and squirm around the incubator looking in vain for mum.

The assisting vet was intermittently in and out seeing to something entirely different in the kennels at the back of the clinic. I asked her over an hour and a half at least four times to remove the clamps as the puppies had become entangled in their own cords and metal clamps to the point of being immobilised and resembling spaghetti. Eventually after an hour and a half she untangled the pups and clamps. I now have four of the seven pups confirmed with hernias of varying degrees. This is a popular medium sized breed of dog notorious for easy deliveries. There are 96 champions in the parents five generation pedigree. There is no history of hernias within the line (obviously I would not have bred if there was).

I do not want to get into complicated legal wrangles as I feel grateful all things considered to have a live dam and seven puppies. However, my vet seems to want to insist that this must be congenital/hereditary rather than accept the inevitable trauma to their umbilici during entanglement. I do not want my bitches line tarred with congenital defects that have never before been present because the vet is frightened of any consequences should they accept the clamps should have been removed earlier or at least not been at the end of ten centimetre cords.

Any advice appreciated on how to best approach this with the partners/directors of the vet practice, non of which were in attendance and non of which know I have a video of the length of cords and clamps. (This was not for any reason than to video the new born pups) The hernias only became evident a few weeks ago.
Thank you so much, any input or additional information in particular when the instruments should have been removed.

I would give Trevor Cooper at Dog Law a call and pay for a phone consult with him or his team.  I think it's about £50, but it will be £50 well spent and give you some ideas:  https://www.doglaw.co.uk

If it goes to court (and I really think it should!) then you will need to find another independent and neutral vet to give their expert opinion on whether the clamps could have caused hernias - an expert witness.  You should try looking for a repro vet who specialises in this area, as this would be a great witness for you in court.

I'm really sorry to hear this happened and I hope your bitch and pups are doing well besides.  Have the pups gone to new homes and how are the new homes with this?

Thank you for the reply, much appreciated.
I have been very fortunate in so far as the four people concerned chose their puppies at four weeks and when I discovered the hernias I had it confirmed by one of the partners at the said practice who was intent on going down the congenital route, he missed a fourth hernia which the new family’s vet discovered (embarrassingly). All families have taken their puppy and been very understanding, I have discounted one particular puppy who is going to need one if not two procedures for correction.
Mum has done well and although was completely out of it for 48 hours post op nursed and accepted all her pups throughout, with a maiden bitch the outcome could have been very different.
Already one of the new families vet have said don’t consider ever breeding from this pup in case this hernia is hereditary .... I am finding this the hardest thing to accept. By the practice insisting there was no trauma!??! By default they tarnish sire and dams line. All because they are frightened of repercussions .... yet instead I can and have paid a large four figure vet bill and had the line reputation damaged to boot!
I shall look up the Company you suggest. I had hoped to find something on line regarding the length of time the clamps were on and indeed the length of cords or anything about umbilical trauma but near to nothing on the internet.
Many thanks again for taking the time to reply.

I would be doubtful of the prospect of finding a vet who would testify as an expert on this issue, because currently there appears to be no consensus as to the extent to which hernia is hereditary, and extent to which it can be caused by a trauma.

In your situation I'd too be inclined to view it as a trauma issue, but I'd be wary of pursuing it by the legal route as I think there isn't much chance of getting anywhere that way, just further expense from your pocket.

I disagree:  An expert will give their opinion as to whether excessive force and weight applied to the umbilical cord can increase the risk of hernias.  It doesn't matter if there's a 'consensus' about it - expert witnesses are paid to fill in the gaps where research stops and to know about the research which exists.

That's what expert witnesses do - they give their expert opinion, based on their expert knowledge.

The court would also look at whether hernias have existed in the preceding generations - because if not, that would flout the idea of them being hereditary...

Shocking!!   And I've been in on C.Sections - right there.   Never have I seen anything like the clamp you describe and in my untrained view, of course this could have cause hernia.  Each of my puppies had the cord cut, not left long.

If there has truly never been this kind of hernia in previous generations .... YES, take them to Court.  Or at least report what happened to the Veterinary Regulatory bodies.    I would caution re cost of suing.   You may be better to cut your losses, and walk from that Practice, with your feet?  IF you get a good outcome it might help re the owners of the puppies - are you going to have to pay for the hernia repairs which are usually done at the time of neutering, if that's done?    That might influence whether or not I took this further, legally.

As I see it, you are most concerned about the reputation of your (and others behind your line) bloodline re hernias, understandably.   You won't do that even if a case went your way, with compensation (money).   So I'd be reporting this Practice/vets to their regulatory body if they are likely to use these clamps again, although you'll most probably be told this is standard practice.  Seems to me it had more to do with the cords being left too long so the puppies scrabbling around, dragged on them, which could quite likely have involved tugging at the umbilical cords, causing the potential for a hernia.

At the end of the day, it depends on who pays for correcting these hernias - and, if you,  that might be worth going after your vets for (compensation).

Talking to Trevor Cooper may help.

Good luck - it's traumatic enough to have a bitch need a 'Section AND be spayed at the time because of the rupture, without now being accused of having a line prone to umbilical hernias?

Many thanks to all for your opinions and advice, most gratefully received.
By coincidence going through the videos and photographs we took during the post delivery we realised late last night that we have another video on my phone. The first clearly shows the pups when the final one was put in the incubator with the length of the umbilicals, the size of scissor clamps and time video was recorded. The second shows the distressed puppies in a tangled mess dragging the scissors behind them, it shows the time recorded as 1 hour and 15 minutes after the first film. By then I had in vain asked on three occasions for the scissors to be removed. They were not removed until my fourth time of asking/begging which I estimate to be another fifteen minutes or so.
We have made an appointment with the senior partner of the practise (who is at the moment on holiday). We are seeing him on Monday with the view of having an ‘informal’ discussion in the hope we can find a way forward. At this moment he is unaware of the videos, indeed we only found one of them last night when perusing our telephones in detail. As you are all probably aware by the time puppies are eight weeks old there can be an insurmountable number of photos and videos! This was a much planned litter of two years planning with this particular sire .... so many many memories taken. By luck we found one that proves exactly what happened. Whether this will sway them to consider their position remains to be seen, in the meantime I am contacting the owner of the sire (who happens to be on the board of the KC) and the breeder of my bitch to begin the paper trail of ‘proof’ that there was never a pre disposition to hernias within the line.
Any other thoughts and suggestions still gratefully appreciated, I wish to minimise any potential damage to the reputation of this line for the owner of the sire, myself and the extremely understanding owners of the puppies four of whom have had the heart and faith to take their pups regardless.
Many of you here have far greater experience than me and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help in finding a way through this.

Goodness, this is awful - just hearing about them having those clamps on for that long.... If I were there, I think I'd blimming well take them off myself and deal with the repercussions from the vet.

I really hope you get justice, whatever that means for you...