The day I went to Germany was Stu’s ball day. He got them taken off, as well as had his hernia fixed. I was provided all the photos by Stu’s breeder, although I will only share the non-gross ones.
The castration went in the normal fashion, but the hernia fix was quite interesting. A hernia is when the abdomen wall is weak or missing a part, so the intestines spill through a little bit.
Here is Stu’s hernia. I do not normally like showing dick pics, but at this point, I’m sure we all know what they look like.
I was given a few options – wait to see if it heals itself (sometimes happens), have surgery to fix it, or try a “newer” surgery to fix it. The newer surgery is something that livestock owners have been doing for many years – basically, the intestines are pushed back up, and the loose skin is collected in a very tight band. We used to do the same thing for our sheep to castrate them and remove their tails. The gathered skin will grow together and as the body part’s blood supply is cut off, eventually the unwanted body part just falls off.
The wrapped up hernia.
The vet said sometimes people will have it done to their horses for cosmetic purposes, but I’m not sure if he was joking or not. I can’t imagine someone looking at the horse’s belly button and being so grossed out by it they have to get the horse surgery.
But, Stu seems to be doing well! He’s recovering from both the castration and the hernia surgery, and…. *drumroll* He’s coming home this weekend!! We’ve had a few delays, but everything is finally ready, and I am so excited. Fingers crossed everything goes smoothly, and that I will have a positive report next week!