Lipoma???

[Sam1]

I found a lump on my Chesapeakes chest just below the rib cage. It is about the size of a golf ball cut in half. We are headed to the vet tomorrow, but i am still a little nervous. He is almost 9 years old and is in great health. After doing a little research, it sounds like it could be Lipoma but obviously not too sure. He is acting fine and it does not seem like it is a sensitive spot. Has anyone had experience with this?

[DUCKAHOLIC]

Our dog (female) had two of these they were just fatty tissue nothing to get alarmed over. Ours was around the same age and because of the age our vet was scared putting her under was more risky than leaving them. She was fine with them and lived to be 13 until we had to put her down do to age..................

[donia]

we've got cockers that have them. vet told us that as long as it didn't grow abnormally or out of the blue, it is just a fatty tumor that is harmless. we've had them removed on younger dog, but old dog we just left them (didn't want to put him through the anesthesia) and told the groomer to be aware of them when she clips them. if it has been there a while and not grown any, i wouldn't get overly worried, but do get it checked. they will most likely take a biopsy (aspirate it) to rule out something more serious.

[cwink]

Same with my old mutt.. She has a few...

[biggs]

Going to the vet to get it checked out is a good idea. Most of the time it'll be a lipoma, but in my Boston terrier's case it turned out to be a mass cell tumor.

[thomdjohn]

My dog HRCH "The Pheebster" (Ret.) has had lipomas for years with no adverse affect. We had one that was deep in her groin removed at MSU because we couldn't tell what it was. It seems to be something older dogs get. Phoebe will be 15 in November.

[Sam1]

the more i look at it, the more worried i am getting. the lump feels like it is almost on the rib. it is not noticeable by just looking at his chest. you really have to feel down to tell it is there. definitely under the skin

[7ducks]

We've had two mass cell tumors removed from Sara..one on her chest and one off her back....she's nine and we not going to put her thru that again....get it checked out ASAP

[Odis]

My lab has one on his chest about half the size of a golf ball, had it since he was pretty young. Vet said not to worry about it unless it gets bigger. Doesn't seem to bother him. I would let someone look at it for peace of mind, good luck

[Sam1]

I greatly appreciate all the feedback. I have had an incredible 9 years with the meathead with no problems, so finding this lump kind of rattled me. I have called the breeder, researched, internet diagnosed no telling how many times, and worn myself out trying to figure out what it could be. My vet is back in the office today so i will let yall know what the real diagnosis is. Keeping my fingers crossed.

[Deltaquack]

I had a large lipoma removed in my left biceps about 10 years ago. It never hurt but my muscle would snap around it when I lifted weights. It started growing fast.....too bad my other bicep didn't look like that....ha. Hopefully, it's a lipoma.....they are fairly common in animals of all types.

[Sam1]

The good news is the spot on the chest was a fatty cyst. Bad new is my doctor found a growth in the dog's mouth. He cut out the spot and sent it in for biopsy. Test came back positive for malignant melanoma. I took the meathead in yesterday to have some more tissue removed for additional testing. The chest x-rays were luckily clean so the cancer has not metastisized to the lungs. Doc did an aspirate on the lymph nodes and we should have results back in a couple of days. He also removed another spot from his lower jaw to have tested as well. Canine melanoma is an ugly cancer. Traditional chemo has proven not to be very effective, but there is a new melanoma vaccine that has had some good results. However, the doctor said the dog has to qualify for the vaccine and it seems to be very costly. Hopefully we get some favorable results back. I know all of you know this, but if you see something odd on your companion...get it checked out. I can't say i would have caught this had i waited.

[donia]

....Canine melanoma is an ugly cancer. Traditional chemo has proven not to be very effective, but there is a new melanoma vaccine that has had some good results. However, the doctor said the dog has to qualify for the vaccine and it seems to be very costly. Hopefully we get some favorable results back. I know all of you know this, but if you see something odd on your companion...get it checked out. I can't say i would have caught this had i waited.

yes it is very costly. we had it done at vet school - initial injection, plus another at 2 weeks (i think), then about every 6 weeks another injection through the course of the treatment. dr. told us same, canine melanoma is a rough/aggressive cancer. told us that since she was at stage 4 of 5, it would prolong her life for about 6mo up to a year, tops...and it did.