Puppies with hernia - Page 3

I should've used the word "just" or "solely" in the sentence you quoted, Hexe. That would've been more clear, I suppose.  In a few other places in this thread, I acknowledged that there can certainly be a genetic component and thus, finding out as much about the circumstances as possible is the most prudent course.  

Thanks Hexe I have several more like that, and I do not spend any time on
'pet' oriented sites.

True Jenni we don't know that ... yet. If ever.  I'm just backing the odds.



Schwabacher (ed.) 1958 revised edition 'The Popular Alsatian.'
From Ch.10: "Some Common Ailments"  Cecil Cohen BVsc, MRCVS
[Cohen was a Vet, but also a breeder of dogs.]  Joseph Schwabacher
​worked with Von Stephanitz.

UMBILICAL HERNIA
Puppies are often found to have a swelling at the navel which may
sometimes be easy to push back into the body...This is a rupture
due to incomplete closure of the abdominal wall.  The condition does not
usually inconvenience the animal, but it is an inherited defect.



Turner, Trevor.   BVet Med, MRCVS, FRSH
Yes he's a Vet too, he is also a dog breeder.
From "Veterinary Notes For Dog Owners" (1990)

Umbilical Hernia.
This is the classical "little rupture of the belly button"... a protrusion of abdominal
contents through the abdominal wall of the umbilicus. ...In a puppy it is only a
persistent or irreducible umbilical hernia that will need surgical intervention.  ... The
condition appears to be familial in some breeds. ...  Cutting the umbilical cord too
close to the body wall by the bitch, breeder or veterinary surgeon has been implicated
in some cases.  This is more likely to result in evisceration of abdominal contents
than in the formation of a hernia, however.  ...


Malcolm B Willis
He wasn't a Vet;  but he had a BSc (Agriculture) and a PhD in Genetics, and was the
Senior Lecturer in Animal Breeding and Genetics at the University of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne.  He was also a breeder of German Shepherd Dogs, and of Bernese Mountain
Dogs, and he & his wife had a house full of both breeds, plus several Chihuahuas.

Genetics Of The Dog (1989) was, maybe still is, "regarded as the standard work on the
subject".  The following is from "The German Shepherd Dog: A Genetic History of the
Breed":
Chapter 10 - Genetic Defects in the Breed.

Hernias.
General: ...(Describes herniation, lists umbilical, inguinal, scrotal, perineal and diaphramatic
hernias)... "Symptoms vary, as does prognosis. All types of hernia may occur in any breed,
but the concern is with possible genetic causes".

Umbilical Hernia.
In the US/Canadian study (Hayes 1974) 1315 umbilical hernias were recorded, in 323,961
patients.  The rate per 1000 patients was 38.8 for pigs, 6.5 for cattle, 4.7 for horses, 1.7 for
cats, and 2.4 for dogs.  This suggests a higher risk in dogs than was the case for inguinal
hernias.  Although in the 13,766 GSDs seen as patients no inguinal hernias had been noted,
there were 27 umbilical cases.  Nevertheless the breeds at higher than average risk were
Airedales, Basenjis and Pekes, with the GSD well below average.  In 5,081 GSD puppies
reported to this author, 42 had umbilical hernias, with even division between sexes.  This is an
incidence of 0.83%, confirming relative rareness of the problem.  Robinson (' 77) has looked
at the genetics of umbilical hernias in Cornish Rex cats and suggested familial relationships.
He postulated a 'threshold trait' as the most appropriate explanation.  This may well apply to
the dog.
 

I believe it could be inherited, but, based on first hand, hands on experience, I have seen the mother cause it...
     You can "read" all day long, and find what ever opinion you want, but NOTHING compares to first hand k owlecge and experience.

Which is why I pointed out that all three of those authors were
also breeders themselves.   Can't say I have ever seen a bitch
get clumsy with the cords on any of the few litters I've whelped,
but one bitch puppy in one of those litters ended up with a v. small
u. hernia, nonetheless.  Mostly they all seem to trail c. 3 inches of
drying skin from the cord for up to about 24 hours, then it drops off
when the dam is cleaning them.  I wasn't around when Taz was born
so I could not tell you  ' which '  happened to him, that resulted in his
'golf ball'.

PS:  The owner was persuaded that litter was the last he bred, there
were a number of other things carried in that bitch / that 'line' which
didn't need repeating any more.  It was this bitch's third litter.  They were,
despite their auto-immune etc problems, a very nice 'family' of dogs, the
majority of which I had the pleasure of seeing grow up, living and working
with, because he kept most of the dogs he produced.