Lumps Popping Out on Sheltie!

C

Chasin Ponies

Forums Regular
Thought I would share this as I have never heard of such a thing before.

After my male Rocky died several months ago, my female Ashley seemed a bit depressed (and still does) ( I'm looking for another one to add to our home)

Last week I felt several lumps on her that I hadn't noticed before. She has a slightly hardened longish lump between her mammary glands and small egg shape lump had suddenly appeared on her lower ribcage. On top of that, she has a rounded lump on the underside of her neck where the collar would go.

I took her to my vet and she took needle aspirations of each one. Amazingly, the two on her ribcage and mammary glands turned out to be fat lumps (called lipomas)and of no concern although she will watch to see if the mammary gland one becomes a problem. Apparently it is right between the two and might get painful if it grows larger. I hadn't realized that Ashley had lost 2 pounds since her last visit and the vet told me that when they lose weight, these fat lumps become much more evident. We both suspect Ashley has lost the weight because of Rocky's passing.

The lump on her neck has some inflamed cells and Ashley is now on antibiotics. Will take her back in 2 weeks for a recheck. The vet suspects that it also may be a lipoma but (and has seen it before) it may have been have become inflamed by wearing a collar recently to go to the groomer. She normally doesn't wear a collar as we have a fenced backyard with a doggie door and never leaves home (except for those awful vet/groomer visits!) so she probably pulled too hard on the leash at some point. We are both hoping that this was the case.

I had myself convinced that she had cancer or some horrible disease but thankfully, the lumps are not uncommon, even humans get them! Hoping for a good prognosis on the neck lump-it seems to have reduced in size already.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/skin/c_multi_lipoma
 
Ashley's neck lump hopefully sounds like it too is a lipoma that may just have had some infection set in...fingers crossed that this is the case.

Probably close to a quarter of the shelties we have owned in the past 60+ years have developed these lipomas...they seem to be very common in shelties. Our 4 year old Sketch (blue merle boy) has one behind his right front leg that has been getting large enough that when he goes in for his next dental we will talk to our vet about removing it as it's location (if it keeps growing) will eventually inhibit total range movement of that leg. But for the ones where location is not an issue (and initial aspiration shows no problems) we leave them, however if there appears to be change in size or texture then we have it checked immediately.

Trini
 
Yes, Bitsy Boodle's had one for years -- the vet just checks it regularly. So far, no problem at all!:fl
 
Funny, I was reading about them on the net and most humans that get them have them taken off with liposuction.

Just hoping the antibiotics take the inflammation away-she sure doesn't act like they bother her. I even have her convinced that her pills are treats!
 
Gavin has had a fatty lump for years by his shoulder..
After he turned 8, he got a histiocytoma on his chest. That one went away after hot compresses. Now he has one on his chin! Will have to try the hot compresses on it. Neither appeared to bother him, or get inflamed. The vet wanted to do surgery, but I am not really up for un needed anesthesia on him now that is older.
 
Fortunately my vet is not at all concerned about the two on her body and we will see if the one on her neck is OK in about a week. She just wants to make sure the one between the mammary glands doesn't start causing Ashley pain later though.
From everything I've been told and have been reading, with dogs it's better just to leave them alone!:smile2:
 
Chasin Ponies said:
Fortunately my vet is not at all concerned about the two on her body and we will see if the one on her neck is OK in about a week. She just wants to make sure the one between the mammary glands doesn't start causing Ashley pain later though.
From everything I've been told and have been reading, with dogs it's better just to leave them alone!:smile2:
Click to expand...

Your vet is giving you good feedback...you can always go the surgery route later if the one between the mammary glands starts to negatively impact Ashley's quality of life. Please keep us posted on the neck one...I am sure it is fine but it will be good to get that 100% confirmation.

Trini
 
Lipomas

There was a time that I was familiar with every bump that came up on Lily. When I would find one that stayed longer than a week, I would have the Vet look at it. They were diagnosed as lipomas since they only had a fatty substance in side of them. Of course, I watched them like a hawk. they never seemed to progress further than the size of my thumb tip.
It became common place for me to find one on her. There were certain ones that I watched, especially, since where they were located, but they never became uncomfortable for her that I could tell.
Late in her life she developed an Urinary Tract Infection and an Enlarged Heart. Medications cleared up the UTI, but she was on daily medication for her Heart.
After 13 years, her Heart gave up on her in her sleep. When I got to her, she was still warm, but her gums and tongue were blue , indicating that she was gone. She depended upon me to protect her from harm, which I did on several occasions, yet I did not and could not protect her from something that took her from us. Atleast she left us in her sleep. I shall always Miss Her, and will never forget her, and the things she taught us about LIFE.
She was my first purebred animal in a long time, but I will apply everything that Lily taught me. I will take those into the new creatures that come into my life. I will always check my dog's skin, and keep them healthy, as best I can. I think that skin issues will a interest for me from now on.
 
I tend to start getting nervous and watchful when any of my Shelties approach the age of 14. I've had numerous Shelties over 35+ years and none have made it past that age.
What a shame it is that our dogs have such short lives and cant' stay with us longer.
Ashley is now 10 and I'm getting that watchful feeling again.
Her lumps are still there and if I'm reading my vet's body language correctly, she isn't terribly concerned about any of the lumps except the one on her neck. The antibiotics cleared up any sign of infection but didn't reduce it in size so it's just a matter of keeping an eye on it.
 
oil

My 2nd sheltie got a lipoma right above her tail. Had the aspiration thing done, to check-Vet said just fatty tissue, but it grew bigger, so I did castor oil and hot compresses on the spot, finally it popped, and expelled. Gross but gone. I prefer natural approaches and remedies.
 
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