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Is it safe to purchase and breed a puppy with an umbilical hernia?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Cavalier King Charles Spaniel | Female | unspayed | 1 month and 23 days old | 4 lbs

Hi! We are in the process of purchasing a puppy. We are small scale breeders and were planning on raising puppies with her eventually. We just found out that she has an umbilical hernia but the breeder assures us she'll be fine. His vet will fix it, but I am very unsure about going ahead with the purchase. In our 15 years of experience, we've never had to deal with hernias, thankfully, so this is new territory. My vet is out of the office and so I decided to try this website. Thanks for any advi

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Ana M, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on October 17th, 2019

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your potential new puppy. An umbilical hernia can be surgically repaired. However, it is typically a congenital problem. So you would not want to breed her as the condition could be propagated. I hope this information helps!

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2Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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    Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Good question! If you ask 100 vets you will probably get about 50 different answers. I personally would not breed a dog with an umbilical hernia because it is a congenital, hereditary defect. On the grand scale of things umbilical hernias are not a huge deal but it can be a potential problem in some cases. Breeding of purebred dogs has really gone down hill in the United States because standards have decreased significantly. Now we have ended up with genetically inferior animals with a myriad of health issues because breeders don't eliminate dogs with hereditary conditions from their breeding programs. This goes for top breeders as well as backyard breeders. Just because an umbilical hernia can be easily surgically corrected (in most cases) does not make it right. I suggest you look elsewhere but this is just my opinion. Hope it helps. Best wishes!

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    1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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