Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Tim Charlesworth — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 19:36:09 GMT

There is no problem with making a big skin incision, far more important that you see what you're doing. The wound will take 7-10dd to heal whether it's 1cm or 10cm! Open the hernia sac, reduce the contents, resect the redundant sac, and then close down the inguinal ring (+/- castration depending on what you decide). You'll be fine,

Best of luck,

Tim

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Rebecca MacMillan — Thu, 09 Oct 2014 17:27:20 GMT

I've got him booked in for tomorrow (earliest owners could bring him in!) and I'm starting to get nervous!

I've done an inguinal hernia repair in an older (bigger!!) female dog. I think I'm mainly worried that I won't make my skin incision in the right place in this little guy, and end up extending it or making a hash of it. I'm sure it'll be fine, just also worried it'll be super fiddly, I have fossum to hand though...

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Sammy82 — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 22:36:05 GMT

I wouldn't be too worried about castrating it at this young age. Obviously not common practice here and I wouldn't want it to be, but done in the US without any problems. I wouldn't want to anaethetise a puppy unnescessary, but if you have to go in anyway I would take both testicles to save the dog from a second op in a few months time. Fixing the hernia without castration is probably a lot more fiddly.

I did one or two piglets when seeing practice (I think even before vetschool if I remember right), really not difficult.

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 22:18:15 GMT

[quote user="Tim Charlesworth"]It may be reasonable to just take out the one testis for now and then finish the job later on when he's older[/quote]

I've done two (I think) puppies like that.

It's quite common in pigs. They are great to practice on - twist tunic and testicle, double clamp and ligate. Deserves a bit more finesse in a puppy but it only adds 30 seconds to cutting a piglet!

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Tim Charlesworth — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 17:42:40 GMT

I'd have a really good feel and incise if any doubt,

Tim

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Rebecca MacMillan — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:55:52 GMT

When you say about checking for bilateral hernias, do you mean just by palpation or through making an incision on both sides?

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Tim Charlesworth — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:26:10 GMT

you should be OK, if you start the surgery and you find compromised bowel then yes you would have to go midline but you would expect the clinical signs to be much more severe if this was the case. I agree with you that I wouldn't like to neuter him so early. It may be reasonable to just take out the one testis for now and then finish the job later on when he's older (presuming that he doesn't have bilateral hernias which you should check for)?

Tim

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Rebecca MacMillan — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:03:53 GMT

Do you think there are likely to be any long term issues with neutering him so early? I've been reading up in fossum and certainly castrating at the same time as hernia repair looks easiest. It suggests that you should be able to repair the hernia without making an abdominal incision, is this your experience in most cases? (guess not if it strangulates though!)

Re: Scrotal hernia in a young puppy

Tim Charlesworth — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 12:26:10 GMT

Hi Rebecca, these are quite unusual but the risk of strangulation is thought to be high and so surgical correction is usually advised as soon as possible after diagnosis. You can repair them w/o castration (just have to leave room for the testicular vessels/attachments when closing down the inguinal canal) but can be easier to castrate at same time (esp if the o's want to castrate anyway). It will be fiddly but as long as you check your anatomy first then they can be really nice "technical" repairs.

Tim