It must be very scary to discover a lump on your pet especially if it a decent size. I ask you not to panic and I hope this post will guide you on what to do next. I will be including lots of pictures and some may not be so pretty.
The rule of thumb with lumps is if it is growing too quickly and bothering your pet (appears red or inflamed) then it needs to be attended to immediately.
Pingback: Oh no, I discovered a lump on my dog. Part II | Passionate About Pets
Sorry to read this and hope things improve…
Not my dog, I re-blogged it from Rayya the Vet
I discovered my dog had a mast cell tumor, and it turned out to be positive for cancer. We had it removed, and are constantly paranoid about finding another one. My dog seriously saved me, how can I not return the favor??
Nice to meet you, and thanks for re-blogging that story.
This was well worth the ‘reblog’ I follow the doctor’s blog. She shares a lot of great information. Hugs and nose kisses from Chancy and me.
Thanks Mumsy! Dr Rayya is a fantastic vet and shares much valuable information about the animals she helps.
Thanks for sharing a very informative and helpful post. It is a scary thing to find our but if we have the basic facts, it helps ease the anxiety. Wonderful post.
I felt I had to re-blog it because it contains so much valuable information.
We pray all is okay! Through the years we’ve had a couple of collies with lumps and it all was okay. They were two of our longest living collies too…. watching for the update.
God Bless You!
the collies and chuck
I pray the collies will remain free of lumps.
Our English Setter has a cyst on her chest. Very small in size right now. A few months ago it was maybe half the size of a golf ball and burst open oozing all kinds of puss and blood. Very worrisome. We kept it clean with hydrogen peroxide and all seems well but I do monitor it, pretty much daily.
Oh Joss, sorry to hear that, your dog is so gorgeous. It sounds to me like that lump might have been an abscess. Keep cleaning the lump until everything is out of it and it should heal nicely.
the vet thinks it may have been caused by a thorn imbedded there.
thank you!
Thanks for sharing this important topic. I know first hand how troublesome some of those lumps can be.
Dr Rayya is a really good vet and explains things so we can understand.
That’s a very informative post.
Thank you – credit goes to Dr Rayya the Vet.
Just love Dr Rayya’s posts – so worth while reblogging.
She is a wonderful vet and her blogs are really informative and educational.
Very good post, Barb! Very informative … so far I’ve been lucky. I’d be worried to death if I found one. A few months ago I found a bald spot on him, and even that was enough to have me worried … all kinds of diagnoses went through my mind! [fur has grown back now]
Thanks Rebekah. Rayya is a good vet, she is thorough and absolutely adores animals; I love her blog, it’s always very informative.
So what was the bald spot on McDuff, or did you never find out? You have been lucky with him, he seems as fit as a fiddle!
I guess our pets getting sick is always a pet owner’s fear, we love them so much.
Never found out … could have been some food allergy.. but I sure had time to worry!
We found several lumps on pur previous dog. I thought she had cancer. When we took her in to have them removed, they discovered she had cushings disease and the lumps was caused by it. She was a sweet old dog and it broke our hearts when she passed on.
You did the right thing by getting the lumps checked out – at least you discovered the reason for the lumps was because your dog had cushings disease. Was the vet able to treat it?
Princess had a lot of health problems going against her that showed up at an early age. According to our vet, she was dealt a bad hand at birth.
She was one of those unfortunate mixed breeds that instead of getting the good health genetics of the different dogs, she got the negative health genetics.
We feel blessed by having her for the time we did. She was such a special loving girl.
That’s how we discovered my first dog’s cancer. It was a horrible discovery and unfortunately, it turned it to be much more extensive internally than the single lump we found. I’d always follow the policy that a lump of any kind should be checked out by a vet, just to be on the safe side. Great reblog Barb, this is important information.
So sorry to hear that, RD.
One of our other dogs developed a lump on the side of her chest and the vet we took her to brushed it off, saying our other dog probably bumped into her; he didn’t even do any tests on her. We had a gut feeling about that lump so we took her to another vet shortly after because it was growing, they did the tests and it was a tumor attached to the inside of her rib cage. She was too old for surgery so we let her be, and had her for another two years.
If we have any doubts, it’s always wise to get a second opinion – had my dog been younger and the lump diagnosed as soon as we discovered it, she could have had the surgery and may well have had a longer life.
You said it – any lump needs to be investigated as soon as it’s discovered.
I remember hearing that if the lump is loose (i.e. can be moved around) then it is less likely to be serious. I don’t know if this is true or not.
That’s always been my understanding too, Denise – perhaps we should put that question to Dr Rayya.
adeeyoyo, that is not always the case with mast cell tumors (our dog has had two). They are called “The Great Imitators” because they can mimic benign lumps. It’s always best to have new lumps looked at by a vet, and often a simple aspiration can give you peace of mind.