# Umbilical Hernia in yearling - To repair or not to repair??



## Duren (Oct 25, 2011)

My yearling has a hernia that was supposed to have been repaired before I brought her home. When I talked to the breeder before I even when to see her she let me know that the filly I was interested in had a hernia but that her vet had already banded it. Personally, I had never heard of banding a hernia. Sure enough, there it was all shriveled and close to falling off when I went to see her. Obviously I purchased the filly and by the time she was delivered everything was healed. This was in Feb so of course she was super fuzzy and I didnt think any more about it.

A month or so ago she had to be sedated for a laceration repair and I noticed at that time that she still had the hernia. "Small" per my vet's opinion. I told him about her having had it banded and he agreed he had never heard of that either. I was given the option of corrective surgery or just leaving it alone, but if I opted for surgery I was told it is best done when they are younger.

I know if left open there is the small chance that a loop of intestine can become trapped and necrose...the vet did not seem to be concerned about that as he gave me the option to do nothing.

Pros/Cons of surgery vs leaving it alone?


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

I have a 30 yr old pony with an umbilical hernia, god only knows how we have managed to get him to this age as he colics regularly.

we have at least 4 bouts of minor colic from him a year.

get it fixed now. it will save you money in the long term


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## Duren (Oct 25, 2011)

Does your vet believe the colic is directly related to the hernia?


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I would go ahead and get it fixed, just to be on the safe side. Yes, while it may be easier to do when they are young, it's not like it's dangerous to do when they are older. I got one fixed on my, then, 18 month old colt and there was no problems with it at all. Now, you can't even tell he had one unless you really feel around down there.


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## Duren (Oct 25, 2011)

Smrobs - we're in the same state, do you remember how much it cost? I havent gotten an estimate yet.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I got him gelded at the same time and the total cost for all of it was right at $270.

The gelding was $75 and the hernia was $125, plus the cost of all the shots and the anesthetic.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Sounds like the "breeder" took matters into their own hands and tried fixing it themselves.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Duren (Oct 25, 2011)

LaPorte,

I truly believe that the vet actually did come out. The "breeder" is actually a very nice ranch that specializes in cutters, not some back yard breeder as I may have made it seem like. I work in companion animal medicine and we use the term breeder a lot in reference to litters. Just a term I picked up there...if you purchased it from the party that bred it, you bought it from the breeder.

However, believe it or not I HAVE been wrong in the past...


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## Breella (May 26, 2012)

you can "band" a hernia, however it has to remain banded for about a year to allow full heal, this means putting bandage all the way around the horse and is time consuming.


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## flytobecat (Mar 28, 2010)

I would suggest getting it fixed sooner rather than later. At least get a second opinion about it


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## faye (Oct 13, 2010)

Duren, yes the colics are directly related to a little bit of gut getting through the hernia. Because we know what to look for we stop it before it gets too bad (vet up, sedative and anti spasmodic injection, massage the gut back through the hernia, job done) If harvey were younger we would have him operated on, but by the time the vet suggested it the pony was already 26yrs old, thus realy too old for any surgery at all as ponies of his age dont heal as well as they used to.


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## Duren (Oct 25, 2011)

Breella said:


> you can "band" a hernia, however it has to remain banded for about a year to allow full heal, this means putting bandage all the way around the horse and is time consuming.


Oddly enough, that is not the type of banding I mean. They literally "rubber-banded" it. Think of it as how the actual umbilical cord would look after a few days. Craziness! 

Equine/stock medicine is SOOOO different than companion animal medicine.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Duren said:


> Oddly enough, that is not the type of banding I mean. They literally "rubber-banded" it. Think of it as how the actual umbilical cord would look after a few days. Craziness!
> 
> Equine/stock medicine is SOOOO different than companion animal medicine.


That is so disgusting. They literally rubber banded the hernia to get it to fall off. Nice. No vet I know would ever even THINK of doing that, let alone actually do it. I still think someone tried saving themselves a vet bill and did it themselves.

Poor filly.


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## Janna (Apr 19, 2012)

rubber bandit the skin isn't going to help a hernia. The hernia itself is still there, where, depending on the size you could probably stick your finger in it, because the stomach liningdidn't fuse together or something. I've had a few.horses with it none bad enough that it needed fixing so it is left alone other than being checked on sometimes.


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## Annanoel (Mar 29, 2011)

smrobs said:


> I got him gelded at the same time and the total cost for all of it was right at $270.
> 
> The gelding was $75 and the hernia was $125, plus the cost of all the shots and the anesthetic.


 
WOW, the vet in our area STARTS at $350 for gelding, makes me feel a little sick. ):


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Wow, Anna, that sucks big time. Do you live out in the middle of nowhere like I do?

I honestly don't know whether the banding (rubber banding) of a hernia is a common practice for vets or not. I talked to both my vets when I got Taz and neither even made a passing mention of banding it, so I honestly never even considered that an option until I saw mention of people doing it on here.

I would think that it would be incredibly risky because the person doing the banding would be unable to see if they also banded a small portion of the intestine in there with the skin, which would be catastrophic and probably fatal (or at least _very_ expensive to fix, what with having to do _actual_ surgery then to repair the damaged/dead intestine). The only thing I've commonly seen done by banding like that is castration on cattle.


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## Amblin Cowgirl (Apr 27, 2010)

Get it done now. It will only lead to an EXTREME vet bill later in life. Why chance it getting really bad, when you can do a quick fix now! Hernia's are not a nice thing to deal with in an older horse!


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

I guess it depends on what part of the country and what country you are in. In small hernias the rubber banding creates enough inflammation that the hernia ring seals. The animal is rolled on it's back, the hernia is probed to ensure there is no bowel and the band applied. Usually just a local is used. I think there is a size range they recommend this procedure for because some really small hernias are left alone as the area can heal itself and all you are left with is a small knot. One of my draft mares is like this. At this point it is the size of the tip of your thumb. She is 18. Either way a decision that needs to involve a vet. Too big and surgery is the only option. Not to say there aren't risks but you have risks with surgery as well.


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## jbs0010 (Sep 13, 2016)

I've been involved in several hernia surgeries (university hospital tech, as well as married to a equine specialty veterinarian) and all have went well. While it IS easier on younger horses, any age can benefit. The surgery is typically quick, moderately cheap (under $1k, even at a Uni. Hospital), and the after care is easy. It really comes down to just HOW big the body wall defect is, and if it holds the repair. The bigger the hole, obviously the more involved, more expensive and less effective the surgery can be.

The belly bands work well when used in combination with surgery, but not as much by themselves. They would have to be left on foreverrrr.

Leaving it alone is also a possibility - just make sure you check it daily, and know at SOME point, it may require repair. Some never grow, and some do unfortunately.

As for the banding of the hernia done at the breeder... I'll just say NO. That is NOT a reliable method nor common practice for a veterinarian - it was done to disguise the hernia, not repair it. I would hazard to guess this was NOT a horse vet that did that - if so, they should loose their license... It will just come back again (skin won't keep a body wall defect closed), and you run so much risk of infection, its not even worth thinking about.

Good luck!!


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