We took Ghost to the vet today because he had been licking an area at the top of his leg, just under his tail, and we couldn't see what was there. The vet shaved him and found a lump It turns out it is a mastocytoma, which is a mast cell tumour (like a kind of skin cancer). He thinks it is grade 1 or 2 on a 4-point scale, but won't know until it has been removed. So Ghost is scheduled for surgery on the 28th.

He has another, different, lump on his leg which turns out to just be some hard skin. The vet will laser that off at the same time.

It's a really good job we took him to the vet - given the location of the lump, rather close to his anus, we would never have felt it.

This is terrible news, but at least they found it early. I hope that everything goes well with his surgery!

Oh, the stupid lumps!!! I found one on Mya about 3-4 months ago on her upper left shoulder area. Vet says it's just a fatty deposit, but I've been monitoring it.

Good luck to Ghost! How old is he? Thank god that you took him when you did!

Poor guy! Kudos to you for bringing him in early! Most mast tumors I see at the hospital are open and oozing. I'm sure he'll recover great! I'll keep him and you guys in my thoughts

Thanks guys. We are so glad we took him to the vet.

Melissa, we think he's about 2, but that's just a guess since he was previously a stray.

Sorry to hear that but I'm glad it was caught fairly early. It's sad to hear of all these lumps forming on all our dogs. Faith has a lump too, our newest vet said it's nothing to be concerned about but I'm trying to find a way to get her back to my old holistic vet in FL to get a second opinion.

i hope the removal goes well and he stays lump free. it is sad to hear all this stuff, but its just a reminder to always check out pets and take them in right away cause you just never know.

Val, I'm sorry Faith has a lump too and I hope it stays as nothing to worry about. Ghost already had one lump removed about six months ago. It wasn't suspicious but was bothering him so we had it taken off as a precaution. It seems there are lots of different types of lumps!

Ghost is home from his surgery. He's still very sleepy but it went well. We have to wait a few days for the biopsy results.

We've got four syringes of pain meds for him for the next few days. Anyone know if these need to be kept in the fridge? We forgot to ask.

I found the answer to my question. It doesn't have to be refrigerated.

Here's hoping that Ghost is sleeping well and pain free... poor baby.

He is doing pretty good today, mostly sleeping but he has eaten and drunk a little bit. I'm glad we got the extra pain meds as they made a difference. He has to have minimal exercise for the first 7 days, and then get back to normal over the following week.

Good news from the biopsy. It was low grade and it was all removed. It was actually a spindle cell tumour. It should not recur. We are so relieved!

That's great news! How is he healing?

He is healing nicely and is much more like himself today. We have taken his cone off while we can watch him and he isn't making any attempts to lick the wound. He has a lot of energy and I think it will be hard to keep him to 'minimal exercise' for a whole week (but obviously we will because of the stitches!).

So much for 'healing nicely' ... he had to go back to the vet this week and have his stitches redone. Poor thing. We got them to remove another lump at the same time but that one isn't suspicious. Can't wait til he is well again!

Poor baby. Thinking of you and Ghost.

Thanks

Just read your post now, hope Ghost is on the mends. Lumps are always scary as you dont know what they are. As per my post I found a basel cell tumor on Laska so if anyone knows about these let me know on my post to.