My dog's umbilical lump is itching. Should I be concerned about it?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. She may have developed a umbilical cyst and not necessarily a hernia. These are typically benign and cause no harm. If you want to be sure of what this is, I would recommend having your veterinarian examine Roxy and this area to help better determine what this could be. Additional testing such as a fine needle aspirate, where the vet inserts a small needle into the lump and looks at the cells under the microscope, can easily be done. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further!

When internal organs slip through an umbilical hernia, the swelling tends to become larger very quickly and is very painful. That does not seem to be the case with Charlie which is good. Umbilical hernias are normally present at birth and should not develop later in life. This swelling also looks like it is a little higher than his umbilicus, so it may not be an umbilical hernia. Depending on what your vet thinks, they may perform a fine needle aspirate to collect a few cells and decide what it is and if anything needs to be done about it. If it is a benign mass, they may not recommend any treatment. If they think it may be a hernia or if they see any concerning cells, they may recommend surgery. Hopefully your vet appointment will put your mind at ease. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

What you describe that your vet said is an abdominal hernia. It is a small hole in the muscles that hole the guts inside the body and allows loops of small intestine or other organs to fall through. That is quite possible. Another possibility would be a large, fatty tumor (lipoma) or other tumor. The only way to know for sure is to do diagnostics and an exam with a vet. In any case, I would recommend getting it fixed. If there are intestines in there, they are at risk of reduced blood supply, which would require emergency surgery. If it is a tumor, even a benign one, it can continue to get larger and outgrow its blood supply, again requiring extensive surgery. The wounds on the mass right now are likely caused from normal movement and Karat simply laying down on it. It is a reason I recommend having it dealt with now before things get worse.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is possible that he has developed a hernia again and the concern would be that it could be causing him pain and discomfort, especially if he did not like it touched. The other possibility is a seroma which is an accumulation of fluid at the incision site though that seems less likely. I recommend that you have Columbus evaluated by a veterinarian perhaps tomorrow when your veterinarian opens again. If at some point he develops loss of appetite, vomiting or lethargy, have him evaluated sooner. Good luck with your boy!

This looks like an umbilical hernia, quite common and usually not serious in dogs. It is usually recommended to repair it when general anesthetic is performed for castration. Anyway, generally speaking, this kind of lump/growth needs to be ideally assessed by your veterinarian to have a definitive and specific answer. Usually there are two ways your vet can do that a part from examining it directly during physical examination (if it is an hernia physical examination will be enough). A biopsy can be taken under local or general anesthetic, otherwise a smaller sample through a fine needle can be aspirated (this technique is called FNA= fine needle aspiration). Other differentials include skin cysts, infections, benign or more sinister type of tumors (unlikely if Ichirou is under 5 years of age). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

This does sound concerning - occasionally an umbilical hernia is large enough that abdominal organs can slip through the hernia and become trapped outside of the body - most commonly intestines or spleen. This is pretty rare however. I would recommend checking in with your vet to see if they want to examine Maggie sooner and determine if surgery should be moved up. If she seems painful, if the area continues to get larger, or if she vomits or has a decrease in appetite you should see an emergency veterinarian.

I am concerned about those lumps. Being itchy in that area could be from insect bites or he could have had a puncture wound that became infected. Those generally would be more red and uncomfortable. There are lymph nodes and lots of vessels and nerves in that location. Definitely I would take him to your veterinarian to have these examined and they may take some cells through a needle aspirate to diagnosis whether it is infection or a cancer. Then when they know what it is they can decide on the best treatment. This could be serious so I wouldn't wait too long as treating most problems early is most effective. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Junior.