Lump on left side. Cancer?

nkbapbt

Hi, I am new here and I just wanted to see if anyone else has ever dealt with what my dog and I are currently going through. I noticed a few days ago that my 6 year old, male, Presa Canario/Rottie/APBT mix (Brooklyn) had a lump on his left side, behind his front elbow area. The lump was really red, sore, it bled without reason (wasn’t bumped/he can’t reach it to lick/itch it) and it was about the size of a marble. To me it didn’t feel attached to anything. He was also panting a lot, which is not normal for him. He is a very dark chocolate/black colour and he lies out in the summer sun (all day if allowed) and that’s about the only time he will pant. He barely pants after running 2-3km, so you can see why his panting was of concern.

He was also crying sometimes when he was laying on the ground/bed/couch, I hate to admit I never thought much of it at the time. Because when I checked him over, he didn’t appear to be sore or injured. Now of course I feel horrible, because it was probably the lump (or the beginning of it growing) that was causing him pain.

Before this he was generally healthy, I take him to vet regularly, he eats special Fish & Potato dry food/canned from the vet’s office because he has food allergies. I make both of my dog’s homemade cookies, and the only store bought things they have are bully sticks. I also believe he might be allergic or his urine in the winter irritates him between his legs, and right before his ‘area’, because it gets red and itchy. And the only logical explanation is that when he pees in the snow his urine splashes on those areas and it bothers his skin. We thought it was food allergies, but it happens every winter and only if there is snow. I could be wrong of course.

He sometimes also regurgitates his food after eating, like he will just be walking around or sitting, and boom without heaving or any physical straining to ‘throw up’, his food/water comes out. The vet has never been able to figure this one out.

Other than that, he is also mildly being affected with age. His hips and knees are getting stiff and sometimes he limps after hard exercise.

He is still very active, and wrestles with my other dog almost daily. He isn’t overweight what so ever, and he is good shape (muscles/coat).

So I took him to the vet yesterday, and they removed the lump under local anesthetic. The vet said that once he got inside, the lump actually went quite deep into his side (about 3-4 inches). And when he got it all out and cut it open to see what was inside, it wasn’t full of puss. It had thick white stuff inside of it (I can’t remember what exactly he called it). So he has sent it away for testing, and I should know by Friday what it is.

Today he is moving really slow. He woke me up at 4am crying and needing outside. I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing outside, but he really didn’t seem to want to come in. And it’s -14 outside and there’s almost 3 feet of snow.

Where they removed the lump, he has four stitches and it’s about 4 inches wide. Is swollen about 4-5 inches down from the wound, and it’s clearly very sore.

Normally he will get up and watch out the window as we leave for work, but today he didn’t even move from the spot he lay down on when he came in from outside. And he didn’t eat either.

I am so freaked out its not even funny.

Has anyone ever dealt with this before? Any advice? Anything?

Thanks in advance.

cshellenberger

Get him to your vet ASAP. I'm sure he's sore from the surgery, and the cold probably felt good on the area. He could be having a reaction to the anesthesia, or there could be an infection starting from your description. Get it checked. Better to be a nervous nelly and take him in too much than to ignore it and have a blood infection that will be a nightmare to treat.

nkbapbt

I called the vet and he said it wasn't anything to worry about just yet. He said if it's like that when I go home from work, then I should bring him back in. He said anything that was that deeply 'rooted' had to be very painful and it might even swell.

Hopefully it's normal. I wish work was over right now, I can't even work. All I am thinking about is him. Actually I keep picturing him laying on his side today and not even raising his head when I left for work. It's so not like him to be like that.

my2bullies

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_histiocytoma.html

Sounds maybe like Histiocytoma. It say it usually goes on it's own in 3 months.

nkbapbt

I looked into that. However, all the pictures and info I've read it doesn't look or sound like what it looked like.

This is sort of what it looked like (it's a mast cell tumor in the picture), however it was bigger and redder:

http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/images/mct1.jpg

rik

A lump which contains a creamy substance is likely to be a follicular cyst which is benign. A histiocytoma is not usually cystic and occurs in younger dogs. Mast cell tumour, again do not tend to be cystic.

It is rarely possible to identify a lump from its gross appearance. Careful microscopic exam of a fine needle aspirate or ideally a core biopsy of the lumpo will give a more reliable result. The best is therefore to wait for the pathologist's answer.

I am surprised that your dog was operated under local anaesthesia only. Are you sure he did not receive even a mild sedative. This would explain his lethargy.

Finally I would be very careful not to let the dog out unsupervised following an operation, he might try and rub the wound, creating more problems.

Let's hope it is the benign follicular cyst.

Good luck with everything

Rik

nkbapbt

I believe he was sedated. He wasn't this lethargic yesterday even when we first picked up, could it be worse today?

I know it's possible for the pain to be worse today, especially if the growth was deep.

I hope it's follicular cyst or something less serious. I don't think from reading about mast cell tumors that it was one, but looks wise it did look like one.

I will just have to wait for the test results. I just HATE worrying. The results cannot come fast enough.

Well things went from hopeful to awful in the span of eight hours. I feel so guilty and terrible right now, all day yesterday I kept thinking I should be at home with Brook. But instead I just stayed at work. When I got home, my worst fears were confirmed. There were about 10 spots of diarrhea and puke in my living room. And Brook was beyond sore; his stomach was sucked up as far as he could possibly hold it. He was stiff, and so sore. He barely moved, but he wanted to go outside to pee. So he went outside and then he couldn’t make it back inside. I had to go and get him, and lift him up on to the porch. I noticed he had a like 6 inch long and 3 inch wide strip of swelling on his rib cage. He was panting really heavy and his gums were white and the colour didn’t come back until about a 4 count.

I knew he was in grave trouble, so I called the vet. And rushed him back. Even they couldn’t believe what a changed dog he was. He went downhill so fast it’s incredible. They took his temperature and he had a very high fever, his heartbeat was really faint. They didn’t have a clue what was wrong. But they said whatever it is, it’s serious.

They started an IV on him, or tried. They couldn’t find a strong vein at first. But finally got one started. They took blood and said they would do everything they could. And sent me home, where I did not want to go.

Later on that night the vet who had removed the lump called and said he couldn’t believe how bad off Brook was (Ok I know they mean well, but hearing this again…was hard). He said that they looked at his blood and his white blood cell count was almost non-existent and a normal dog should have between 6000-16000 and he had 3000. He said that something was either destroying the white blood cells or he wasn’t producing them. But if he had an infection, he wouldn’t be able to fight it in the state he was in. The vet said they would need to x-ray his chest, but if there was anything in his lungs there would be nothing they could do.

He still had no idea what was wrong. But he seems to think it has nothing to do with the removal of the growth, but he isn’t even sure of that. He said the swelling on his chest was leakage from blood vessels. And it was getting bigger.

I asked what he felt his chances were and he said without knowing what was wrong, but he did not like the look of the blood work. Especially in such a big dog.

He gave him antibiotics, muscle relaxant/pain killer and something else, but I can’t remember (I’m sorry I’ve heard so much the last few hours).

He called me through out the night until about 11pm, and there was no change. He still had no idea what was wrong.

Then this morning he called and said there was still very little change, he was still very sore and the swelling was even larger than before. He said he is going to reassess him and decide if they are going to x-ray or what they can do. And he would let me know what they are going to do soon.
I feel so guilty. I keep thinking how long he was like that yesterday. I can’t believe this is happening; he is only 6 years old. He was seemingly healthy three days ago, aside from the panting.

I can’t believe I might lose him.