Scrotal Hernia in a 6 week old puppy

RE: Scrotal Hernia in a 6 week old puppy

Niall Taylor — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 08:42:26 GMT

My approach has always been as been described above - castration followed by incision over the hernial sac, shoving it back in and closing - although it is more fiddly than it sounds and there are some exciting blood vessels in the region which you have to be careful to avoid.

The last bilateral inguinal hernia I did though was (unusually, I think) in a female and I repaired them via the midline at the same time as spaying (sounds like the technique you have read about in Fossum). It was an absolute dream - just pull the herniated bits back into the abdomen and close from the inside. Not as difficult as it sounds and you're safely on the other side of the body wall from a lot of those difficult structures. It went so well I would seriously consider this technique next time I have to repair the condition in a male dog even though, as has already been said, it would mean a castration immediately followed by a laparotomy.

Cheers,

Niall

RE: Scrotal Hernia in a 6 week old puppy

Michael Woodhouse — Tue, 20 Feb 2018 00:24:36 GMT

Pretty much and David says. Not particularly challenging, I did one in our cleaners Labrador for not a lot of money as a favour. I did feel a bit sorry for the poor bugger as I only keep cow sized PDS (5 metric), and wouldn't use up a box of smaller stuff!

He did just fine.

There's a big vessel that passes close to the inguinal canal, just watch out for that (pudendal?)

RE: Scrotal Hernia in a 6 week old puppy

David Mills — Mon, 19 Feb 2018 23:47:56 GMT

Seen a few in various breeds.

I think what you must be describing is a inguinoscrotal hernia. In male dogs, this is almost always an indirect hernia where fat passes out of the abdomen, through the inguinal ring and into the tunica vaginalis.

So my approach is:

1. Open castrate (i.e. go through the tunic) normally (as proximal (close to body) as possible) and allow spermatic cord and artery to disappear back into abdomen.

2. Incise over inguinal canal. Identify tunic (this will be open from the castrate) push fat/whatever back into abdomen, ensure nothing remains in sac and amptuate the tunic close to inguinal canal (i.e. whatever tunic remains once fat etc reduced) - this essentially forms a smaller sac that should not herniate again.

3. Freshen inguinal canal edges medially and put a couple of PDS sutures in for good measure.

4. Repeat on other side.

A tip after removing the testes, grasp the open end of the tunic with Allis tissue forceps so you can identify/manipulate the tunic from your other incision i.e. close the castrate wound last.

In most of these, you shouldn't need to enter the abdomen. It is normally just fat in the sac, not organs.