bump on a male siberian huskies belly

I am looking to get a male siberian husky to breed with our female. When we went to look at a puppy we noticed that the male we wanted had a bump on his belly, I looked a the other males and they all had the same thing. We asked the breeder and she said that she was told 2 different things, that it could be a hernia from the umbilical cord being chewed off too closely or it could be because his balls hadn't dropped yet.

She is going to be talking him to her vet again to get another check up and make sure everything is fine with him. We are just looking for some fast answers as to whether or not he will be able to breed in the future and an umbilical hernia is dangerous and will need to be fixed with the male being neutered.






Hi
I'm afraid I'm not a veterinarian so I can't give you a professional answer to this question, a vet is your best bet. If you like everything else about these pups I would recommend asking the breeder to allow you to have your own vet examine the pup and give you their opinion before agreeing to buy him.

However an umbilical 'hernia' and testicles that haven't dropped look different and would be located in different places. A hernia is usually right at the site of the pups' belly button, and is a soft lump which should be able to be pushed back through the opening in the abdominal muscle wall - although it will normally 'pop' right back out again.

Undescended testicles may appear as lumps on the abdomen, but they would be lower than what is normally seen with a hernia and not centrally located. Basically the lump would be below and to one side of the penis.

Only a veterinarian can tell which is causing the lump in your pups belly, but as simple hernias (actually called 'incomplete closures') are fairly common and can have a genetic component, then if all puppies in the litter have them I would guess hernias are more likely. But as I said, I'm not a vet and you need a proper evaluation to get an accurate diagnosis.

If you want to breed the pup eventually, undescended testicles are not what you want. Hernias are generally not dangerous although you do need to keep an eye on them to make sure they don't become 'strangulated' (when intestine rather than fat drops through the gap in the muscle wall and becomes 'pinched' by the muscles cutting off blood supply). Fixing them is a simple procedure and can usually be done at the same time as the neuter surgery.

Hope this helps some, best of luck with your pup.