Do dogs have belly buttons?

Doggie Belly Buttons and Some Fascinating Facts About It

Do dogs have belly buttons?

This question can be easily asked by a child because of their natural curiosity for the most common and beloved pets in the entire world but the reality of it is that even adults may not know the answer. Well, we are here to learn as much as we can about this question: Do dogs have belly buttons, and some more about our four legged buddies.

So, do dogs have belly buttons? Yes, dogs really have belly buttons. Their navels are actually quite easy to spot once you know when, where and what to look for. Dogs are mammals, like us, and most mammals gestate with their offspring in a placenta. The placenta is the sac which houses the fetus but an umbilical cord connects the fetus to its mother. The umbilical cord acts as a conduit through which nutrition, among other things, passes from the mother to her young. It also allows the transfer of oxygen to the unborn puppies as well as helps to get rid of waste products that the puppies produce. Each unborn puppy has its own placenta and its own umbilical cord in their mother’s abdomen. This is pretty much the same with all mammals.

When to Look

When a dog gives birth, the mother usually bites through the placenta and severs the umbilical cord of her puppies with her teeth from their tummies. This is an instinct which has been ingrained in female dogs through time. In many cases, the mother dog eats the placenta along with the remaining umbilical cord which she has severed from her puppies. Sometimes the mother may not be as thorough in severing the cord, so some part of it may be left on the puppy’s tummy. Sometimes, the umbilical cord entryway on the skin might still be protruding and this is obvious in puppies that are just a few days old. Constant licking and washing by Mama should hasten healing and soon the protrusion will be nothing more than a faint scar.

So the best time to actually see a prominent belly button is when a puppy is just a few days old or a newborn. You might even be lucky enough to see part of the umbilical cord. The protrusion usually goes down when the puppies are a couple of weeks old but there should still be some evidence of an umbilical cord.

Where to Look

If you are curious about how your canine buddy’s belly button looks like, you should try to look in the general vicinity of his abdomen. This is the part which forms a concave from his chest, right after his ribcage. The belly button should be right smack in the middle of his abdomen. If you still have some difficulty identifying it, try to look for a strange arrangement of fur around the area. Fur may have grown over the area but the scar should have some form of disturbance on how the fur grows. Some disturbances are more prominent than others even when covered with fur. In some cases, fur might not have grown over it so it should be easy to spot a disturbance in an otherwise smooth belly. Long haired dogs usually have fur all over their bodies, a little less in the abdomen area but still long enough to cover part of the abdomen where the belly button should be. Short haired varieties may have easier to spot navels compared to long haired ones.

It might also be easier to spot the belly button on a male dog than a female dog. This is because the scar, which is actually the belly button, should be sitting just a couple of inches away from the dog’s penis. You couldn’t miss it because both should be in line with each other. While the same holds true for females, the female part of their anatomy sits more on their posterior compared to those of males. So, although both male and female parts are in line with the spot where the belly button should be, the males’ parts are closer compared to those of females, thus much easier to spot.

What to Look For

You should also know what you are looking for. Dog’s belly buttons do not look anything like ours. The best description of a doggie belly button is a flat scar. The size of the scar is small because a dog’s umbilical cord is smaller than ours and in direct proportion to their size. In some dog’s the scar is slightly elevated while in others it is just a faint disturbance in the skin. The scar is also more of a straight slit than a rounded one like those of humans, although, there are some instances when a doggie belly button may appear roundish and flat.

A Complication of the Belly Button

Some dogs develop a hernia in the place where their umbilical cord used to be. An umbilical hernia is a soft protrusion which occurs when the abdominal wall does not heal completely from the inside. This leaves some space for fat, intestines or other organs to get lodged in. The protrusion of an umbilical hernia is very different from the ordinary protrusion that occurs when the dog’s belly button is still healing.

There are two kinds of hernias that may occur in dogs around their belly button. These are the uncomplicated and complicated hernias. An uncomplicated hernia usually gets better when the body corrects itself and the abdominal wall heals itself before anything bad happens to the puppy. Most cases of hernia in puppies are like this. On the other hand, a complicated umbilical hernia can be dangerous and potentially lethal for a puppy or mature dog if not surgically corrected. The condition is not immediately life threatening and the puppy may need to grow more in strength and size before any surgical procedure is done. Some vets and breeders prefer to operate on an umbilical hernia at the same time that a dog is spayed or neutered. This practice usually keeps the trauma to a minimum and the performance of an invasive procedure kept to just one time.

Keep an eye out for any unusual swelling in the center of your doggie buddy’s abdomen. A complicated hernia usually occurs in puppies but it can also happen to mature dogs. The signs of this condition includes, but are not limited to, swelling in the general vicinity of the belly button which may increase or decrease in size over a few days, lack of appetite, vomiting and malaise.

Now you know that dog’s really do have belly buttons. You also know when it is best to check for one as well as where to look for it and how it should look like. Keep in mind that although the doggie belly buttons do not look anything like ours, there are some complications that can occur to these which are very similar.

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