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KC, my husky, has some sort of lumpy thing on her back. It seemed to be right along her spine but pretty much on the surface. Think big zit that won’t pop. She’s had hot spots before, so I wasn’t too worried, but then it seemed different from the usual spot. She needed her shots anyway, so I took her to the vet Friday to get all that taken care of and looked at. They shaved a spot at the lump and then drained it and said they’d test it, but that they wanted to remove it, since it would probably just fill back up. Removing it would require surgery and anesthesia. He couldn’t say if it was just a fat deposit, a cyst, or a tumor and wouldn’t know until after the surgery. They gave me an estimate on the surgery. Just about $400 and they want to do that this Thursday. Ok, that’s the background. I’ve been hoping that it might just heal up on its own now that they drained it. I’ve been putting antibiotic ointment on it to help with that cause. Can’t tell really if it’s helping. It’s gotten a little bigger then right when they drained it, but not much yet. Yes, $400 is a lot, but I’d spend that on her if I knew it was something necessary. I’m not sure I like the idea of just an exploratory type deal when it might not be needed. The biggest thing being this thing is topical and I think it could be taken off locally without putting her under. I guess I need to call them and ask some of these question, but anyway, thought I’d write out my thoughts and see what you all thought too.
Posts: 2845 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I suppose if they only used a local anesthetic, it might be too hard to keep her completely still for the surgery. No clue if that's the case or not, just a thought. I wonder if it could be an abscess; my friend's cat had one of those a while ago after a fight, and it had to be punctured and drained, then followed up with a couple weeks of oral antibiotics and twice-daily washing out with antiseptic wash. Not fun. My friend would give the cat a treat after each session to reward him for behaving himself; what actually happened was that the cat learned to be afraid of the treats. He wouldn't eat them for the longest time, even after he got better.
Posts: 957 | Registered: Aug 2002
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My golden retriever had a huge cyst on her back, that the doctor's kept waving off as "subcutaneous yadayada" basically never going too in-depth in their exploration of it.
Turned out she had cancer. By the time we found out, it was too late to do anything. (not that there's much to be done, but since it originated in the cyst we might have had it removed)
A lot of people won't spend that kind of "exploratory, is this really something bad?" money on their pets, and that's their decision -- some people just can't afford it. But I would give anything to rewind and let them examine the cyst. Maybe my Abbybear would still be around :0(
Posts: 3516 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Can't they do a biopsy? I would get a second opinion, unless you trust your vet 100%.
When we first moved to Roanoke, we had a terrible time finding a vet we liked. The first one convinced us that he had to biopsy all of Reggie's moles, because he was sure that at least one was cancerous. We let him, and none of them were. He tried to talk us into having them lasered off, but we decided to get a second opinion. We went to 2 other vets who told us that there is no way that those kind of moles could ever become cancerous. I later found out that that vet has a reputation for scaring people into getting unnecessary procedures for their pets.
We love our vet in Richmond. I am so happy to be going back to him - he helped us nurse Reggie (our 10-year-old Lhaso) back to health when we first got him and has kept him healthy without gouging us.
Posts: 3037 | Registered: Jan 2002
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A vet killed our family dog when I was ten. He scared my parents into letting the dog have a totally unnecessary and dangerous surgery, then was an even bigger jerk when the dog came back to us with severe breathing problems and a bleeding eye (the surgery wasn't *on* the eye, btw). The vet took one look at our messed up dog and said that we couldn't prove his condition was linked to the surgery.
Turns out the vet was addicted to horse tranquilizers and was sexually abusing his son. The town still has a whole bunch of frankenpets with limps, incontinence, missing body parts, etc. due to procedures he botched.
So... yeah, get a second opinion and a biopsy. You can biopsy these things, or at least find a vet who gives you a satisfactory answer to, "why don't you do a biopsy?" Also look for satisfactory answers to, "What do you think it might be?" and "What are the risks if we don't do surgery now?" You may also want to ask, "If my dog comes back totally messed up and with a bleeding eye, are you going to tell me that it's not your fault and that the dog probably just inhaled a golf ball?" Just to be extra sure.
Posts: 700 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I truly love my vet, he's been wonderful with our puppies. We just went today for their 2nd series of shots, and the vet stayed in and answered all my inane little questions about training and how to convince Shadow it's okay to go down the steps on the deck (I think she's afraid of heights - she'll go up and down stairs inside the house, but since you can see the ground in between the deck steps, she's scared of it)
Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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It's probably a long shot, but if you have a good vet school in the area.... we're probably spoiled with ours, but they provide world-class vet medicine at a decent "learning discount". You get the occasional nervous student, but anything serious is supervised or performed by a professional. Our pup's spay was only $125 with an overnight stay, not bad at all compared to clinics in the area, and most of that money went to the anesthesia drugs.
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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I'm sorry to hear about the lump on your puppy. Lumps can be such scary things. One of our cats had a lump a couple years ago that grew very rapidly. We took him in as soon as we realized how quickly it was growing. Turns out it was cancer (and a weird kind of dog cancer at that). Luckilly it was removed before it had spread into any other tissue. When we found another lump on the same kitty just a couple months ago, we took him in right away (to the same vet who had seen him before, even though it's a 30-40 minute drive from our new home, because we liked the vets there a lot and I've dealt with them for many years). They biopsied it 4 times because of his history. Since 2 of the biopsies were "inconclusive" (the other 2 showed fatty cells), we decided it would be best to have it removed. They removed it and the pathology showed it was a benign fatty mass. It sucks that we spent between $500 and $1000 dollars (on his surgery and his appointments every other day for 2 weeks for bandage changes, since the wound couldn't be fully closed), but the peace of mind was well worth it. It was absolute agony waiting that week for the pathology report because we were terrified that it was cancer again.
I would ask your vet about the possibilty of a biopsy so that you can have a little more information to make your decision. If you don't feel comfortable with the vet or what they're telling you, find another one to take her to (get recommendations from people you know). I hope you'll be able to get stuff sorted out and that everything will be ok. Posts: 5879 | Registered: Apr 2001
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I would check to see if your vet can aspirate the lump before deciding on surgery. Basically, this involves sticking a needle in the lump (no anesthesia required), pulling back to get some cells from it and looking at it under the microscope to see if there are any cancerous cells or if it is all just fat. I can't say if this is a fail safe way to check because I am not sure you can honestly know unless it is biopsied. However, if cancerous cells do turn up, you can make a better decision based on what the doctor finds. Then again, maybe all you have is a lypolma (sp?) or fatty deposit in which case it is not much of a problem. Good luck.
Posts: 306 | Registered: Jun 2003
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Yesterday I called and talked to the vet. They didn’t do anything with the fluid they drained since we scheduled to have it removed. Which kind of made me mad since he said they were going to test it. He said she had to be put under since her holding still is important. Makes sense, but I know I could hold her, but I understand and didn’t even suggest it. Asked about waiting and he said it’ll just come back and doesn’t think it’ll do any good to wait, plus if it’s cancer that could make it worse. I looked at it this morning and it looks pretty good. I’m half thinking I might wait and see what happens.
Posts: 2845 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I wouldn't wait. Get the second opinion *now* just in case there are major problems. And yes, do tell the other vet the past history. It is important, since stuff has already been done to the lump. If nothing had been done to it, then doing a "double blind" kind of thing would be ok, but since procedures have been performed on it, the other vet needs to know.
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Second on the red flags there! Get a second vet asap.
Good vets do the tests they say they'll do, and good practitioners of any kind of medicine are very circumspect about surgery. This vet sounds like they're just gung-ho to put your dog under the knife. Surgery and general anesthetic can kill even the healthiest dog, so they should only be used if the benefits outweigh the risks. It doesn't look to me like your vet has thoroughly examined that question.
Posts: 700 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Ask the cost of a biopsy up front as well. Probably won't be that much cheaper than full on surgery, but it is worth the money, since you'll know more afterwards, than you would if they just dug in.
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Also since your existing vet does have the fluid... The tests *need* to be performed on it. Ask them for a deadline for the lab report and say you want to see the results before you schedule the surgery. Be firm. Don't let them push you around. Or ask them if you could take it to a lab yourself for the testing, if it would accelerate the process.
Let's hope they've actually preserved it correctly and not just let it sit out in open air.
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