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| The lump last week when I first saw it. |
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| Hey, Mom, why am I in another big white room? |
We took Lulu to Trinity Pet Hospital. The vet there sees my parents' dogs.
He asked me if the lump grew. I said no, but it has gotten darker.
Here is what he told me:
- He thinks it's most likely benign. Possibly a lipoma of some kind. (What's a lipoma? Here's what PetMD said.)
- He said a needle biopsy (fine needle aspirate) would likely be inconclusive and wasn't worth doing. He said most of the time there is not enough material there for the pathologist to get a good idea what it is. The needle biopsy works better with humans.
- If it starts to grow, it has to come off.
I think it's interesting that the vet said fine needle biopsy would be inconclusive. People seemed to think that step should have been taken, but the vet said it wasn't worth spending the money.
So Lulu and I left the vet's office and took a trip down to Dunedin.
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| Sometimes the best way to clear the head is a car ride with the window down. |
Then we visited Happy Tails Dog Park in Dunedin, where Lulu made some friends.
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| That's Scooby, a six-month-old Rhodesian Ridgeback. Already bigger than Lulu! |
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| Here's what it looks like today. |
Great piece. My dog went through something similar with a bump on her tail. One vet wanted to do expensive blood work and a biopsy so I also got a second opinion. The second vet said the same thing about the needle biopsy. I monitored it for a month and it eventually went away. Hope everything turns out Ok for your furbaby.
ReplyDeleteHope lulu's go away too! Thanks.
DeleteThank you for posting an update! No need to take up heavy drinking yet, huh? ;)
ReplyDeleteListen, it's 5 o'clock somewhere.
DeleteThank you for keeping us updated on Lulu's "bump." I'm glad that at least the 2nd opinion visit resulted in a fun-filled afternoon for just you two! Lunch together & then some playing at the park. :) I'm sure Lulu's like "Well if I knew the white office would have resulted in all this, I might have just been happier about the whole thing earlier." Lol, gotta love 'em!
ReplyDeleteShe was a very good girl. She usually is at the vet. She just struggles a little when she gets a shot, or she is being put on the scale or the table. But once she's where she needs to be she is very good and docile. Vets love her.
DeleteHave you figured out how you're going to get accurate measurements? I guess you could hold up a centimeter ruler and take a picture. Like you, I don't like "watch and wait." I want to tension to be over and resolved the way I want! Kisses to Lulu; hugs to you.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think about measurements -- was just going to eye-balling it.
DeleteIt's on the paw and susceptible to infection (form the ground). We recommend to do a biopsy just to make sure ... it's a hard decision but have to do what's best and what provides peace of mind.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like a case of the Three Bears, you have one doctor who is too aggressive, one doctor who is too lax, what happened to the vet who is just right?
ReplyDeleteI know... I could go for best 2 out of 3, but then spend more money I don't have. So I'm giving this until the end of the month and then making a decision.
DeleteFrankly, I would not want to sit on it and watch it. I'd want to know exactly what it is, whether it would take needle aspirate or a biopsy or just getting it off.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dogcancerblog.com/waiting-and-watching-but-for-how-long/#.Uun7NrRyL20
http://www.dogcancerblog.com/how-long-to-watch-and-wait/#.Uun7M7RyL20
http://www.dogcancerblog.com/staying-vigilant-with-mass-aspirates/#.Uun7-7RyL20
I agree 100% with Jana. My vet said we had 2 options with Tynan's first tumor- remove it or wait and see. The vet recommended removal. I had also opted to have my own tumor removed a decade before. Both Tynan and I had malignant tumors that if we had taken the "wait and see" approach could have been fatal. I didn't want some mystery thing growing in me and I didn't want one growing in Tynan! The surgeries both he and I went through were not easy but... worth it!
ReplyDeleteHmm, glad you got a second opinion. That definitely does not look like a lipoma at all to me. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen a lipoma on the ear... but I guess it's possible. All the vets I worked with would do aspirates on some things and then look at them under the micropscope themselves. They all knew how to identify fatty cells, mast cells, cyst cells... sometimes before they even put the slide on the microscope! Then, if they are still unable to give a definite answer as to what it is, they'll send it to a pathologist.
ReplyDeleteThat lump would be super easy to remove anyways. And if you just got it taken off, then you wouldn't have to spend the money on the aspirate, which could be inconclusive anyways. So much to think about... hope it turns out to be nothing either way!
I agree with the vets you worked with Ann. Looking at an aspirate in the office under a microscope is inexpensive and easy to do. However, if it looks "weird" I wouldn't send the aspirate off to the lab, I would send the dog to surgery to remove the lump and then send the lump off to the lab.
DeleteBased on my own experience, I'd have a biopsy done. If it is "something" the quicker you deal with it, the better. IMHO, waiting is false economy.
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with your second opinion. Fine Needle Aspirates are done in most good quality hospitals because it does provide a guide on what to do next. Most are not inconclusive. It should not cost very much either as the vet should be doing it himself in his office and not sending it to a lab. If it is something that looks like it needs to be sent to a lab then it is better to spend the money to remove it and then send the entire mass into the lab.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that you do not know what you will find unless you look and to "wait and see" on certain tumors such as a mast cell tumor would not be in the best interest of the health of the dog.
We always stick a needle in things as a first step. It doesn't take much time. It isn't that expensive, relatively speaking. Ginko had a new really weird dangling lump toward the end of 2013. We were lucky that our vet had time, and Ginko was such a good boy. Our vet used local anesthetics and removed the whole thing that day -- while we sat in the lobby and waited. It was nothing scary, but I was glad to get it off because it creeped me out, and she said if it broke open it would bleed like crazy.
ReplyDeleteGinko has had a whole bunch of lumps over the years. We've checked them all -- one way or another -- and removed very few.
Be sure and take a measurement for comparision... (if you haven't already).
ReplyDeleteI would get the needle aspirate. I did one with Rigby a few months ago after he had a bump that was rapidly swelling on the top of his paw. It wasn't terribly expensive, even though our pet insurance covered it. While I didn't think it could be anything serious given his age (1 year), the fact that it came on and grew so fast freaked me out. It ended up being a benign growth with bacteria present, so he was given a course of antibiotics and it cleared up and hasn't come back.
ReplyDeleteHere's what it looked like: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/19678449/Jenn/dog-bump.JPG
Looks like a histiocytoma, should be easily diagnosed in house on a needle biopsy, they usually regress after 6-8 weeks. Can't believe any vet would say a needle biopsy is not worth while!
ReplyDelete