My dog has a belly lump he keeps licking. Is it a hernia or tumor?

Question

Hello, so my dog has this big bulb thing hanging from his belly. What we understood from our vet is that it is or his intestines hanging out or something else. It doesn’t seem like he has pain, but he does keep licking it. It has this small wounds on it which weren’t there before. So my question now is, what could this be? And what can we do? Maybe it is good to mention that he is a Belgian Shepherd, 9 year old male. Pet's info: Dog | Belgian Shepherd | Male | unneutered | 9 years and 9 months old | 77 lbs

Jenna Beyer, DVM, MBA, cVMA · Accepted Answer

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.

My dog has a belly lump he keeps licking. Is it a hernia or tumor?

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