My girl just turned eight this past May, she has had several “fatty” lumps pop up mostly chest, sides, and even one on her front left leg. But Here recently during a bedtime scratch down routine I found a rather large, almost golf ball sized lump. It doesn’t seem to hurt her, or bother her really but I am concerned of the place it’s in. She has natural little belly flabs, this lump is right in the middle of one. It feels just like the rest but the size has me concerned. I have called the vet and she gave me the normal options, we can biopsy it, they can remove it, or we can leave it alone and monitor it. My question is, is it worth it? She is my baby, spoiled rotten and lives a total queen b lifestyle, I do not want her to suffer if it isn’t just a fatty lump. She has her senior moments but for the most part she lives a pretty laid back life. I don’t want to put her in pain if I don’t have too, but I also don’t want to not get ahead of the ball ge if need be. I’m kinda just at a loss.
Hi @JennaH they are a worry, aren't they? If the lump has come up suddenly, already is quite large, then I would definitely get the vet to look at it. It may need a fine needle aspirate, a simple procedure where a few cells are collected with a fine needle to examine under the microscope. Good luck and do keep us posted!
Our 12 year old Airedale Terrier who passed away in March always had an issue with Lipomas aka fatty lumps. We did have a few very large ones surgically removed because of awkward location. He did find with the surgery until 10 years of age then it got too risky due to issues with anesthesia.
Daisy had a huge golf ball size lump on her back leg. So big it had no fur to cover it. We had the needle aspiration biopsy done on it twice. Both tests came back inconclusive so we decided to leave it. It didn’t seem to bother her and she was covered in fatty lipomas on her chest and stomach as well. I didn’t want to put her under general anesthesia at her age. Just have the vet test it to be sure and for piece of mind.
Ranger has such a fatty lump on the side of his lower lip. It is slowly getting larger and it bothers him, he scratches it. We are going to have it removed, I do hope that is the right decision. I cannot stand to see a dog with a plastic cone on their head, so the time that will be required worries me.
My previous black lab had several lumps in his life time. The first resulted in a toe being removed(never had any trouble with the foot after) Each time they came back with a different name and all benign. The recommendation seem to be to have them removed if they would interfere with other organs/joints etc. I would definitely have the one on the lip removed. Have you had that tested? Sadly we now have a different scenario which I have posted about on here. Toby our 18month old fox red had a small lump on his ear which I first though was an insect bite that wouldn’t heal. 2 months later he has had his ear removed and is about to go for his fourth(out of 8) chemo session today.His lump was a very high grade Mast Cell tumour. Everything crossed this treatment will get him in remission and he will lead a full and happy life. I am not saying this to scare anyone but there are so many different lumps so please get them tested even if they are not removed.
I fully agree with "there are so many different lumps so please get them tested ". Lumps and bumps are not in the normal way of life. If you had a lump growing on you, you would seek professional help to be sure of what it was and how to treat it. Dogs are no different. Seek professional opinions.
