What can this be?

[brenda]

My little J.R cross, female, spayed and 6 years of age has developed over the last few weeks what seems to be a fatty swelling under theskin , just above her shoulder going on to her back. The lump is quite large and fairly soft to touch. She is not in pain when you touch this and is still very lively , we play football together everyday, and she is eating very well indeed. She is sleeping well also and goes for frequent walks, not great distances but enough for us both.

I am nervous about taking her to the vet at the moment because so many procedures are very invasive, and often
very painful.
I am keeping a close eye on her and it, but am really very anxious.

Any help or guidance would be so gratefully received, I am frightened for her.

I feel really lost as to what is my best way forward with her.
I do not want her to suffer in any way , nor to experience any unecessary pain.

Thank you in advance.

[kita1]

Has she been vaccinated recently by any chance? Sometimes they develop a small lump at a vaccination site.

If you take her to the vet be clear about what you want, remember you are paying them. If they advise any procedures it will in all probability not be painful. They may just look at the lump and be able to tell you what it is.

It is impossible for someone on here to diagnose this sort of thing without seeing the dog.

If it is something simple then a quick visit may be all it takes to put your mind at rest. Better than building yourself up and worrying about it all over Christmas.

You are obviously concerned about it so I would book an appointment with the vet - you may well be worrying over nothing. If it does turn out to be anything then it is better caught early. She sounds healthy and age is on her side.

No matter what advice you get on here you are still going to worry - put your mind at rest and go to the vet, they will be able to give you the answers you are looking for.

[tigerlily11]

Your worried so it might be an idea to get her to the vets.
It is always wise to get these things checked out.

[Noweia]

You are not going to get any proper answers on here, even from a vet, because we can't see the dog or the lump - which we need to make any form of diagnosis.

You're best taking her down to your vet and find out what it is - that way if it is anything nasty the vet can do something about it when there's still time.

Differentials include abscess, haematoma (accumulation of blood), seroma (accumulation of fluid) and lipoma (benign overgrowth of fat cells in one particular area.). Lipomas in particular can grow quite large. Nothing is usually done about them unless they are bothering the dog or interfering with movement because they aren't too serious.

If anything is done that is painful, the vet will prescribe painkillers. We take an oath to do the best for the welfare of the animal presented to us - not to make it worse or make it suffer. The most likely thing the vet will do initially is a Fine Needle Aspirate - where you take a needle and put it into the mass, and try and suck some cells up to see what type they are. It hurts about as much as in injection.

[ruthann58]

i would take her to the vets hopefully it is a fat lump or gsd had a large lump and our vet did a needle biopsy while we were there ,like an injection in reverse it turned out to be just fat ,i held her and she didnt even feel it so dont put it off good luck ruth

[LoftyLottie]

Please don't be frightened to take her to the vet. I undeerstand just how you feel. The chances are very high that it's something benign and even if it is not, the quicker you get in checked the better. So take Norweia's good advice.

Our dog had a fatty lipoma at about 7 years. On vets advice we left it well alone and is was quite large - in fact it was in the shoulder area. The vet's suggestion was that it only need be removed if it got in the dogs way. The vet just took one look at the lipoma and knew exactly what it was. So our dog had nothing invasive done at all.

Let us know how you get on.

[blackcat77]

I have an 8 year old labrador who has a fatty lump on her hind leg which she has had for about 2 years. It looks like half a tennis ball. The vet popped a needle in it and found that it was just a fatty limpola. She is absolutely fine, it does not interfere with her abilities to walk, jump around etc and will not need anything doing to it in the near future, the only thing is it looks a bit unsightly but we can bear that. I hope that when you see your vet that he can reassure you - good luck.

[brenda]

Thank you for all your supportive and knowledgeable answers.You are all correct, the vets it is .

I have allowed my own fears to overule any commonsense I have, and would apologise to anyone I have upset by my irrationality.

Thank you all again , will le you know.

[LoftyLottie]

A 'lump' is always frightening because we can't help but think of the big 'C' and with quite of us fear and irrationality takes over (no one more than me!!!).

I'm quite sure you haven't upset anyone Brenda. We are all understanding.

My doc once said to me - fear of the unknown is always far worse than fear of the known. It is far easier to deal with what we know than what we don't know.

I am more than hopeful that your little JR cross (I have a little female JR cross too) will be just fine.

All the best

LL

[LoftyLottie]

'quite a few of us'. My brain and fingers aren't coordinating lately!!

[TrishK7]

My JRT Callie has several of these lumps. A trip to the vet should set your mind at rest. Callie's are just fatty lumps although one on his side feels like it is filled with fluid.
They don't hurt him, they are not harming him, they don't stop him playing and they certainly don't stop him eating LOL.
The vet will only have to feel the lump. You will feel better once you have seen the vet.