Born with intestines outside.

Dr. Marie replied:

There are two possibilities for what your puppy had. One is a condition called gastroschisis and the other is an omphalocele. The difference between the two is that when a pup is born with an omphalocele, the intestines are covered by the lining of the body wall called the peritoneum. In gastroschisis there is no lining covering the intestines that are exposed.

While both potentially could survive, pups with an omphalocele have a better chance of surviving than pups with gastroschisis. Many times puppies that have one of these genetic defects will have other defects and so even if they do survive the surgery they often don't live for very long. It sounds like your little dog was a lucky one.

But, it sounds like your question was not about what was happening instead you were asking about whether or not you should have done what you did.

We don't think that puppies this young feel much pain. But, no one knows for sure. When we do tail dockings (which fortunately I don't have to do too often now) on 3-5 day old puppies the puppies do react slightly when I make a cut. But, within a minute they are back to being happy puppies. So, my personal belief is that they feel some pain but not a whole lot.

The next question though is whether or not you should have performed this yourself. Now, I was not present at the time and I don't have all of the details, but I never recommend that someone attempts surgery at home. You were fortunate that your dog survived. But, having a vet do this would always be better. In fact, in most states what you did is actually illegal.

But it's not my job to decide ethics, however. The good news is that your dog is doing well!



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Dr. Marie replied:

I'm not sure that I feel comfortable giving a direct answer to this question if there is a legal component to it. I'm very sorry that you are going through this.

I suppose if there was absolutely no emergency vet available then I could see it being a reasonable thing to do.