Foal with Hernia

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EmmaLeanne

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Hi,
I'm currently looking at buying a foal which I believe to have a hernia. I'm just wondering what options there are for this to be treated? At the moment it's not very large, about the size of a 50 pence piece. It appears to have gotten smaller since birth though. I'm just wondering what experiences people have with hernias and how much the treatments cost? The vet will be called but as the foal is around 200 miles away and isn't very tame at the moment it's difficult to examine it. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
 
Foal hernias are very common and often resolve by themselves (sounds like this might be happening with this fella). Your vet should be able to advise you on costs, but will obviously have to see your foal to be able to asses. Wouldn't put me off buying foal, 'tho.
 
How old is the foal currently? If the hernia is this small and the foal is less than, say, 3 months old, then I would say that there was a good chance that the hernia would resolve without surgical intervention. I have had 2 foals, one purchased and one homebred, which required surgical repair under GA, both hernias were the size of an apple, and there was a risk of gut strangulation. The surgery was straightforward, but the foals were kept on box rest for 6 weeks post op. I would estimate the cost today would be somewhere in the region of £400-£700.
 
hayinamanger said:
How old is the foal currently? If the hernia is this small and the foal is less than, say, 3 months old, then I would say that there was a good chance that the hernia would resolve without surgical intervention. I have had 2 foals, one purchased and one homebred, which required surgical repair under GA, both hernias were the size of an apple, and there was a risk of gut strangulation. The surgery was straightforward, but the foals were kept on box rest for 6 weeks post op. I would estimate the cost today would be somewhere in the region of £400-£700.
Click to expand...

He is only 9 weeks old at the moment, I've added some photos to show what the foal was like at about 4 weeks old and what he looked like on Sunday.

4 weeks old
http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/E...332908621919_646252541_n_zps4d15f6d7.jpg.html

9 weeks old
http://s1288.photobucket.com/user/EmmaLeanne22/media/2013-08-11154132_zpsb89de723.jpg.html

But ofcourse at the moment i cant get close enough to examine him. Looking back at the photos it doesn't look as small as i remember but I think there is definite difference in size.
What age did your foals have the surgeries?
 
Oh gosh that's tiny. Wouldn't be surprised if that disappeared all by itself, but obviously get a vet to look at it and take it from there.
 
I wouldn't say at this stage that this foal's hernia was necessarily going to need surgery, it may well disappear. My foals were 6 months old when they had surgery, their hernias were larger. As Cortez says, best plan is to get him examined by a vet and see what they say.
 
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