Another Lump To Be Removed!!!

[Kazz's Boxers]

Hello Boxerworld, I hope everyone is having a wonderful holdiay season. I know I havent been on the board in a while, but i am hoping for some help.

Magic had a lump removed from her leg back in May, it turned out to be a fatty tissue build up. All was well untill about 3 weeks ago, when Matt & I noticed another lump on her, this time on her ear. At first we thought it was a scab because she had ripped her ear all up running through the woods. It healed, and the skin grew back, then about 10 days ago, this lump showed up on her ear, its just below where the ear folds, it almost looks like a wart, so i called the vet, and they werent able to get her in untill just this past tuesday. Needless to say, my vet is extremely worried, and there is a possibility it could be a cancer lump. :( And as she is in the vet Magic had to have her anal glands expressed. I felt terrible when Matt called me at work and told me what the vet thought, and the worst part is they want to take the whole bottom part of her ear off!! (she has natural ears).

I am terrified that this could be cancerous, i dont know what i would do. Has anyone else's boxer had this kind of problem?? I contacted Magic's breeder and let her know what is going on. I dont know how much more my bank account can take. I have $4000.00 in vet bills in Magic and she just turned 3 years old, (thank god i am caught up on them)

Please, if anyone has gone thru this, or knows of someone who has, PM as soon as possible. I would really appriciate it.
edited by moderator -- please see rules regarding posting personal information such as email addresses. Use PM feature.

Melanie & Matt
Magic Girl's Mom & Dad
Reverse Brindle Bundle of Joy

 

[Kazz's Boxers]

Update

Update on Magic, Matt & I gave her a bath last night, and when we were drying her off, the lump on her ear was bleeding. It was pretty bad, so being the wonderful mr. fix it that matt is, we put neosporin on it and but a scooby-doo bandade on her ear, she looked pretty goofy, buy it stopped the bleeding. I have never seen a dog who willingly will keep a bandage on them. It made us smile, but nervous at the same time.

The lump on her ear is pink in color, but has a wart like texture to it, and its hard as a rock. Its on the edge of her ear, but its on both sides.

Any ideas? I dont know if i can wait 3 weeks to see what the vet thinks. I would like to get some ideas so i can do some research on it and be prepared for the worst. Any help would be great!

Melanie & Matt

 

[MyGirlHeidi]

I don't have any answers for you but, I wish all the best for Magic and I hope the outcome will be a successful one. Keep up posted.

 

[boxers4life2001]

Did the vet do a fine needle aspirate (FNA) of it when she was their. It sounds like it could possibly be a histiocytomabut I really don't know. It is really hard to say what it could be esp. since boxers are prone to various different types of tumors. One thing I have learned with Chance (who has had 4 or 5 mast cell tumors removed) is you can never really be 100% sure what it is until it is removed and biopisied. Can the vet do anything sooner than 3 weeks? Why do you have to wait 3 weeks? Is it looking any better since you but the band-aid on it?

~Carrie~

 

[lmyhand]

Matisse had a lump on his forehead and we had the vet do a fine needle aspirate, which was pretty inexpensive compared to the biopsies from other vets we visited (only $250). And-it came back benign. Yeay! Now, it's healing on its own. BUT-now the vet says Matisse may have a torn ACL, which could cost upwards of $4000 to fix. Has anyone ever known of a boxer having this surgery and the results? Thanks!

 

[Kazz's Boxers]

Sorry, Should have been clear!, my bad

Magic goes to the vet on Jan 6th, thats when they will remove the lump, but we wont get the results of what the lump is for at least 2 weeks after the surgery! Another vet bill totaling $234.00 :eek:

Magic's last lump turned out to be a scar tissue build up, and it was benign(sp?) So we're really hoping its the same.

Melanie & Matt
Magic Girl's Mom & Dad
Reverse Brindle Bundle of Joy :p

 

[Rowdy Boys]

Melanie...

It seems like we are always having growths removed off the boys. Every one of them have been ok. They get two kinds of growths - the ones that are pink and warty looking like you're describing and small purple ones that almost look like a nipple (that's what we called Omar's because he had one near his nipples so it looked like an extra nipple).

Magnum also has a growth under the skin on his back leg. He's had it for over a year now and the vet has checked it twice with a FNA and each time it's come back ok. He's determined it's just fatty tissue build up and until it grows or the FNA comes back funny, he said it would be safe to leave it be.

Magnum recently had a huge wart-like growth on his lip and the vet injected it with something (a steroid I think - I can't remember) and it has completely gone away. The vet rubbed it on a slide first and looked at the cells under a microscope - our vet said the majority of those growths are completely normal - almost like acne and sometimes they go away on their own (Omar recently had a huge one on the side of his head that went away by itself) and sometimes they need to be removed (or injected to see if it will shrink, if not, then surgical removal is necessary).

Omar has natural ears and it seems like when he gets an owie on his ear, it's harder for it to heal because everytime he shakes his head it reopens the wound.

Something that might ease the cost for you is not putting Magic under anesthesia. I don't know how Magic is temperment-wise, but my vet has given me the option of putting the boys under or just giving them a local (and maybe a sedative) and removing the growth (depending on the growth and it's location as well). Plus, if there is a state vet school in your area, maybe they can do the biopsy for you. It takes a little longer to get the results, but it's a lot cheaper.

Good luck. I hope Magic is ok. I know how it feels to worry about your baby.

Brenda

 

[Lively]

My Kona had a similar sounding benign(sp?) tumor between her toes when she was younger. We had it removed at what cost I don't remember. She also had one on the top of her head when she was really young. Had that one removed too. Lets just hope that's what your baby has. We eventually started calling Kona the Money Pit:D . Keep us updated.

Ali

 

[Cindy Creel]

I wish you all the best. We have had lumps and bumps removed too. Thankfully they were not cancer. My vet scared me to death also. But it turned out ok. Keep thinking positive. I know how hard it is to do. Healing vibes on the way.

Cindy

 

[Kazz's Boxers]

Something that might ease the cost for you is not putting Magic under anesthesia. I don't know how Magic is temperment-wise, but my vet has given me the option of putting the boys under or just giving them a local (and maybe a sedative) and removing the growth (depending on the growth and it's location as well).

Brenda, I never thought having them use a local, that may just save me some $$ that i dont have The debt we go into for our furry children. The estimate that the vet gave me included the price for sending the lump out to get tested.

Omar has natural ears and it seems like when he gets an owie on his ear, it's harder for it to heal because everytime he shakes his head it reopens the wound.

Magic does the same thing, just when it looks healed, she will shake and the blood will fly all over :eek:


All in all, i would say i have a 30 year mortage on my dog right now, So Ali, you and i share the same money pit,

Melanie & Matt