[alaskayorkie]

Thanks for your thoughts, you guys. I spoke with the vet for about an hour today, and I've decided to wait and see if the problem recurs and to what extent. He thinks it will get progressively worse, but he's not sure. Since the risks of surgery (temporary or permanent incontinence, nerve damage, etc.) outweigh the short periods of discomfort that he's experiencing now, I'm not inclined to take the chance that I'll make the problem worse.

It's not all bad news. I was afraid that the episode he had the other day was life-threatening, and the vet doesn't think so. He says he's just trying to force a bowel movement that isn't there. If I can get him to relax or distract him, the problem should go away quickly.

Unfortunately, as the vet was examining him today, he noticed ANOTHER hernia, called an inguinal. He thinks the problem with his perineal hernia likely aggravated the other one. But the inguinal is not as serious, says the vet, so we're not going to treat that unless we do the other one.

Meanwhile, Jack is seems healthy and happy and you wouldn't know he had any problems at all. Maybe now that I know what's going on, I'll be able to manage the discomfort.

Thanks for your thoughts. Maybe they healed him!