Scrotal hernia/inguinal hernia in foal

Does anyone have experience with this? My 5 week old colt has an appointment tomorrow to get looked at by the vet and determine a course of action.

It looks like a scrotal hernia, unless he is a foal with a very large testicle…

We had a foal with a scrotal hernia.
Vet could feel intestines in there and said that was an emergency.
He was gelded at two days old, did fine, never knew anything happened.
He made a big, strapping gelding, very sound and never had a sick day and as his siblings, born broke with a wonderful temperament.

4 Likes

My vet is referring me to a different clinic. I called both clinics and neither have called me back. At this point it looks like we are waiting til next week to try to get him in, unless he worsens before then.

I’m really struggling with this one. If he absolutely needs the surgery, I would do it. But, based on some of the things I’ve been reading online, surgery isn’t always needed and they might heal up just fine. Of course, if they don’t heal up and things go wrong… seems like this is a no win situation.

I’m going to bring him in and see what they say.

1 Like

If he will be a gelding in the future, and they cant keep the herniated tissue inside the canal then I’d just castrate him. Its not worth the risk.

1 Like

He’s going in next week hopefully… it’s tough because both vets I called have vacations planned this summer which limits their availability.

They said they can do laproscopic surgery if I wanted to do that… not sure I’ve decided on that yet.

Does anyone know if laproscopic surgery has a lower infection risk? One thing I do worry about is infection after surgery. But I suppose there is a risk for that occuring with either procedure.

I’m never had much luck with things going straightforward and smoothly…

2 Likes