Journal of Veterinary Research Advances Short Communication Open access Visit at: http://jvra.org.in Vol 02 No 01, p 01-04/01 Surgical management of ventral abdominal hernia in a royal palm turkey hen * Haruna AA, Mohzo DL, Adam MK, Yusuf UG and Bokko PB Department of Veterinary Surgery & Radiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Maiduguri, Nigeria Corresponding author: ahaliyu1@yahoo.com Received on : 17/02/2020 Accepted on: 23/04/2020 Published on : 01/05/2020 ABSTRACT Abdominal hernias in birds are often not clearly defined but have been described as a separation of aponeurosis of the abdominal muscles of the ventral midline. This clinical case report describes the management of an acquired ventral abdominal hernia in a two-year-old Royal Palm Turkey (Hen) presented to the University of Maiduguri Veterinary Teaching Hospital with a month old fluctuant swelling at cloacal region. On examination, there was an oval, painless, reducible swelling about 10 cm ventrolateral to the cloaca behind the left thigh in the abdominal region. The turkey hen was apparently healthy on presentation. Following proper restraint on dorsal recumbence and local anaesthetic infiltration, the hernia was surgically reduced and the content returned to the abdominal cavity. A standard three-layer closure with a Ford interlocking suture pattern was applied to the abdominal muscles using DEXON ® Polyglycolic acid (PGA) of size 2-0. A subcuticular suture pattern was applied beneath the skin using absorbable PGA of size 3-0 and the skin sutured with silk material of size 3-0 employing a simple interrupted suture pattern. The procedure was safe and uncomplicated and the approach can be recommended as a curative method for repair of abdominal hernias in birds. The Turkey was recovered uneventfully without any complication throughout the 3 weeks follow up period. Keywords: Cloaca, Hernia, ventrolateral, Royal Palm Turkey, Surgical management. How to cite this article: Haruna AA, Mohzo DL, Adam MK, Yusuf UG and Bokko PB (2020). Surgical management of ventral abdominal hernia in a royal palm turkey hen. J. Vet. Res. Adv. 02(01): 01-04. Introduction Hernia is the protrusion of the contents of a body cavity through a congenital or acquired, normal or abnormal opening in the wall of that cavity either to lie beneath intact skin or to occupy another adjacent body cavity. Hernias may occur as isolated defects or could be associated with defects of other parts of the body (Dennis and Leipold, 1968). Hernias consist of: Ring (neonatal, congenital or acquired), Sac (skin, muscle fibres, fibrinous connective tissues or peritoneum) which may have a neck, body and fundus; and content intestine (enterocele), omentum (epiplocele) or peritoneal fluid. Hernias could also be classified according to its pathologic content: Reducible hernia (content can be returned completely and easily) and Irreducible hernia (contents cannot be Copyright: Haruna, et al. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. returned due to incarceration,strangulation or adhesions); location; functional alteration and cause. Abdominal hernias in the aves could also be congenital or acquir ed (Bennet, 1994), but are not true hernias because there are no openings in the aponeurosis of the bird’s abdominal musculature and inadvertently, there are no hernial rings that could result in entrapment and strangulation of the visceral organs. The aetiology of abdominal hernias in birds is unknown but are mostly associated with weakening of the abdominal musculature caused by egg-laying, egg binding and hyperestrogenism showing a higher frequency in the females. Trauma, weight of viscera, straining and abdominal masses could be factors applicable to both sexes but are rare. Avian surgery must be exact and precise to prevent instances, intra and post-operative hypothermia, excessive haemorrhage, algesia, sepsis and shock. Case history A two-year-old Turkey Hen was brought to the University of Maiduguri Veterinary Teaching