My 11-year-old dog needs another hernia surgery. Is it safe for him?

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor Nidjie! If Nidjie is healthy and his blood work looks good then I think it is fine to have another surgery. Inguinal hernias can be a trickier hernia to repair and the surgery could fail. The odds are more in favor of it succeeding. I would ask your Veterinarian, performing the surgery, what their success rates are for this particular hernia. I hope this helps and I wish Nidjie the best!

If a hernia is repaired surgically, there is always a small chance that it will herniate again at some point of time in the life of the dog, obviously more care needs to be taken up to 10 days after the surgery to prevent from the wound and sutures to open.

Yes, it is important to have surgery done on this because if left untreated, it can be serious. A loop of intestine can become entrapped in this hernia, which will make the dog very sick. Puchku should have this fixed, and I would have it done when you have him neutered (if he isn't already neutered). Because umbilical hernias are hereditary, dogs with them should never be bred. Best of luck.

I have to say i disagree with your vet. both hernias should have been operated on when he was younger. he isn't young but isn't very old either, my advise would be to do the surgery to repair the inguinal hernia.

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 would wait until the stitches are removed from Newt's surgical incision before taking him out for a walk. Those are typically removed 10-14 after surgery. If he has dissolvable sutures, I'd still wait for at least 10-14 days before taking him for a walk to make sure the incision is fully healed. When you do first take him out, do not take for a long walk, ease him back into it. I hope this helps!

It is ok for Lily to remain on those antacids long term. I suspect there are reasons your vet considers the surgery to be risky (brachycephalic breed, senior age, complicated nature of the surgery, possible bloodwork issues). It is great that they have stopped the vomiting. Putting her on an intestinal diet that is easy of the GI tract such as Hills i/d dry and canned or Royal Canin GI dry and canned may help as well. Good luck!