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Hard lump on rib


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Our old dog Ness, who's living out her dottage with us, has a hard lump on the last rib on her right side. It's about 1.5 inches in diameter and not movable. We noticed it day before yesterday, but we're fairly certain it hasn't been there much longer than that.

 

We know that it's quite possible that it's some kind of sarcoma but are wondering if any of you have ideas of what else it might be. We're going to get her into the vet this week, but in the meantime, of course, we'd like to scour the Web to see what kind of information we can gather.

 

We don't really know how old she is, but probably 9 or 10 (maybe older). The lump is not at all painful and she's acting totally normal--eating, drinking, running around the same as usual. She just finished a round of metranidozole (7 days) and Panacur (3 days) for giardia, but otherwise, there's been nothing wrong with her.

 

Thanks in advance.

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At this point, there isn't enough info to do more than speculate wildly and that will probably only serve to worry you. Your vet can do a needle aspirate of it and send the sample out for analysis. That can often provide enough info on the type of growth to make a decision on what, if anything needs to be done for it.

Fingers crossed here, hoping its nothing serious.

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I agree. The vet will probably biopsy it. We had a scare with Scooter a few years ago. Luckily, it turned out to be nothing. Waiting to hear is agony. :D Sending good thoughts your way. And be careful about trying to find out what it is on the Internet--you'll scare yourself silly. :rolleyes:

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Thanks for the good wishes--we'll keep you posted on any discoveries at the vet and also keep our fingers crossed that it's something relatively minor. This girl seems to have had a pretty long time of living the low life that we'd very much like to let her have at least a few years living it high.

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Well, the news is as we worried. The lump is a sarcoma--basically it's wrapped around the rib and attached to the skin and not likely to be operable. So, we're going to keep watching it and using supportive nutritional care (going after free radicals). This is our first go-round with cancer, so we're definitely happy for any advice.

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So sorry to hear this. If she's an older girl, I'd probably go with conservative treatment. If she isn't suffering, she doesn't know a thing's wrong. You'll know if it becomes time to do something. After watching my sis aggressively treat her aging rottie girl (leg amputation, chemo, radiation), I'm pretty sure I couldn't do that to my dog. Praying you have many more happy days with her.

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Oh, I'm really sorry the news wasn't better. What a blessing they don't know what we do. As with everyone else, we'll keep paws and fingers crossed that Ness will have plenty of good time left to enjoy. Sending positive mojo from down on the bayou...

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I'm sorry to hear this news. My only experience with cancer and dogs was very brief and many, many years ago (my first dog). I would second the suggestion to consult a vet oncologist, though. Meanwhile, we will keep paws crossed for you and Ness.

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