Hernia in 1yr old kitten?

[bigandclever]

Can one of our internet vets assist? It looks like Floyd (12mths old, male, snipped) has grown himself a hernia. He's not in pain, runs fine, but his appetite has dropped off over the last couple of weeks. Today I found quite a large, hard, reddish lump on his belly. Prodding it a bit didn't get any adverse reaction, but he is washing the area quite frequently. Does my internet diagnosis sound right?

Yes, I'll be taking him in to the vet for a physical exam

[bexVN]

It's possible. Most of the time they are born with them. Often we will repair them at the time of neutering. Occasionally trauma can cause them.

A pic would be useful but I appreciate prob not easy.

Vets tom a good idea just incase it's becoming strangulated - thats when a bit of tissue pokes through the hole and doesn't go back in so the hole starts to close around the tissue poking through, eventually cutting off blood supply. This doesn't happen too often but your vets may suggest an op to close it, to either correct this or prevent it.

Otherwise it could be a bite reaction, tick reation etc.

[gd49]

bigandclever said:

Can one of our internet vets assist? It looks like Floyd (12mths old, male, snipped) has grown himself a hernia. He's not in pain, runs fine, but his appetite has dropped off over the last couple of weeks. Today I found quite a large, hard, reddish lump on his belly. Prodding it a bit didn't get any adverse reaction, but he is washing the area quite frequently. Does my internet diagnosis sound right?

Yes, I'll be taking him in to the vet for a physical exam

Unusual not to have been picked up at time of neutering or vaccination (if he's had them).

Can occur due to trauma but usually requires quite substantial trauma so I'd expect you to have noticed other problems with him. Hernias are normally soft and easy to push back in, unless important abdominal viscera are trapped inside them, in which case the cat is normally unwell, so I'd think it's less likely to be a hernia.

Regardless best to get it checked by a vet.

[bigandclever]

Cheers both

The patient himself doesn't want to be put on film, so I've edited this image of an equally hairy moggie to show size & location of the lump...



Bloody animals, vets tomorrow it is.

[bexVN]

That looks too low down for a hernia, they are usually much more in the middle of the body, ie where the umbilical cord (hence the term umbilical hernia, that you may have seen written) would have been attached. This is why we see them at such a young age.

The only way a hernia would occur there is through trauma and you'd expect bruising and probably for him to be unwell/ lethargic/ uncomfortable with it.

Still worth a ck up though as it is obviously bothering him if he is licking it. (it's not a swollen nipple is it?)

How big is the swelling?

Edited by bexVN on Sunday 12th August 19:30

[bigandclever]

Swelling is about 3 inches long, 1 inch wide and 1 inch deep. It's like there's a sausage under the skin. Firm, not hard, and the skin around it is redder than normal. He doesn't moan when it's prodded about, and he's still stretching and poncing about, so I don't think there's any pain.

[Thevet]

Def not normal, and not an umbilical hernia, doesn't really sound like an inguinal hernia either, but would be a very good idea to get it checked tomorrow, probably some inflammatory or infected tissue, although another possibility would be cancer, but this is unlikely due to age and position. Anyway, just shows how difficult it can be to be accurate with internet info. Sorry that I can't be any more use than that.

[bigandclever]

Well, he's been prodded and poked, and the upshot is... it was an infected cat bite, so now he's dosed up on anti-biotics and anti-inflammatries. He needs to CTFU

Thanks for the help, I should really stop googling so much.

Edited by bigandclever on Monday 13th August 11:44

[bexVN]

One of my guesses was right then . Glad it's being sorted. Don't worry we're all guilty of the Google at least you we're still going to get it checked.