Kitten Hernia question

[Cat_88]

Hi all. So tim and tammy are stacking on the weight though we noticed that he was putting on alot more than her. we examined her and noticed a fairly big lump on the underside of her. We rang the vet straight away and they said extremely normal, she'll be fine (it wasnt out regular vet).  the lady said it sounded exactly like an umbilical hernia. Anywhoo Tammy is her regular self, she runs around and plays, their little teeth are coming in, but i am worried as she doesnt seem to be putting on as much weight as her brother and she has a bit of difficulty pooping- in fact they've both been constipated for afew days and even though im watering down their formula im still only getting occasional small, hard poop balls. (yes, i am stimulating them). they have just had their first taste of wet food (fish flavoured Dine kitten) and she nearly ate my finger off (i just let them lick it off my finger so that they could experience the taste- so all in all she seems to be eating well but the hernia seems quiet big for such a tiny baby.. I included a photo for you to have a look at. Basically im wondering what i need to do- the lady i spoke to on the phone said to just leave it until they neuter her and they'll fix it nut im worried it might damage her eating and weight gain. I have had them checked every week since i found them at 36 hours old (they are nearly 4 weeks) and apart from a bout of fleas at the start they have had a clean bill of health...
Will the hernia cause her any trouble?
ALSO I have heard that adding pumpkin to their feed could help their constipation. are my babies too young for this or can i try to give them some- and in that case- how much do i give them?
THANKS
Catxxx

[Cat_88]

Hey guys update for you- the hernia turned in to a huge horrible infected mess. She was moving abit slower than her brother and I had a look and noticed the hernia was quiet hard and had white dots inside it. Gave it a warm salty water wipe down and left her to sleep. That night I came home from work and noticed the blanket was sticky. When I looked in n them her brother got all excited and jumped on her, slicing her hernia right open. H my god I have never been more terrified. The gash was about a cm long, bt no blood came out,... No no it was thick creamy pus!!! I rang the emergency vet and they calmed me down because she wasn't agitated and they instructed me on how to gently squeeze the pus out. The next day it was straight to the vet who put her on oral antibiotics. Within a week the whole lot was cleared up (as the vet shaved the lump off basically)  and now she is a big body healthy 8 weeker.

[AnnieBrooke]

If you take her in for a check-up, which is not so costly, the doctor can advise you on whether it would be OK to wait until she is spayed, how safe it is to push the intestines back into the body cavity, and so on.  My vet charges a hundred dollars for spaying but I think it can be done much less expensively (there are a lot of spay-neuter coupons from humane organizations and other resources) and stitching up an opening that lets a hernia protrude can happen at that time for no added cost.  So if you can wait until the kitten is ready to spay, you will be ahead financially.  But you don't want her to have to have emergency surgery for a necrotic intestine in the meantime.  So let the vet see it.

[Cat_88]

How expensive are these surgeries? I am not very well off and don't know if i can afford them :( I don't want to lose her :(

[AnnieBrooke]

It does sound like an umbilical hernia.  Can you gently push and ease the intestines back through the opening in the muscles?  Then it is almost certainly a hernia.  It does look a bit large, I would run the kitten to the vet and see what they say about the risk of the intestine twisting off and getting necrotic.  If the risk is high, they might suggest surgery now.  If the opening into the abdominal cavity is large there is actually less risk than if it is just a tiny opening.