Skin Tags -- need advice

[clopez]

My boy, Sundance, has a bothersome skin tag by his upper mammory gland. He removed it himself about two weeks ago (and the night before I was to take him to the vet) and I took him to the vet anyway to give it a look over. Vet said just to keep clean. Unfortunately it grew back within 3 days to about the same size. It's all dry. Doesn't seem to be bothering him. Took him to his other vet and they said that it could be removed and that it would require a local and a couple of stitches and the awful Elizabethan collar for about 10 days. The other option was to find a doggie dermatologist to freeze it. Turns out not too many vets do the freezing and it requires a specialist. The freezing appeals to me because no stitches. A vet tech overheard my conversation and she suggested to use human wart ointment to freeze it. She has had success with her dog. Anyone every try this? Yet another method would be to tie it and cut off the blood supply till it eventually falls off. Anyone ever try this? The removal or the freezing by the vet of course is quite costly. I'm willing to go this route if necessary. Just thought I would get some feedback back from boxer parents that might have gone through this.

 

[samsons]

Sam also has a skin tag on his front 'arm pit" area ... doesnt bother him . my vet said leave it , unless he needed some other procedure done & we could remove then. BUT if the wart remover would work , i would be willing to try. I will give the doc a call in the am & see what she thinks .

cant wait to hear other thoughts !

 

[clopez]

Skin tag turns out to be hemangiosarcoma

Got the labs yesterday and I was devasted. He had been to two family vets and then the oncologist and all seemed to think it was a benign skin growth. I had it removed by the family vet and this was the result. He's going back to the oncologist for further tests and to review with me my options. Please don't ignore those skin tags, especially if your dog is licking, biting them, etc. I'm praying that it is not the the heart or splein.

 

[Cami]

So sorry to hear the news.
This is yet just another reminder that some things are not what they seem.
I am glad you were proactive and made sure to get a definitive diagnosis.
Nothing but good thoughts being sent your way.

 

[hurleygirl]

I used to work in the newborn nursery as an RN and the doctors used to just tie off skin tags on the babies. My Hurley had a bunch of them, but didn't seem to bother him so I just left them alone. In the nursery they used what almost looked like fishing line and tied it off very tight--after a few days the tag would just fall off and you'd never even know it was there. Hope this helps.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

My girl, before she passed, had quite a few skin tags...but the ones that were filled with fluid we had aspirated and checked. They were all normal, just said to watch them to make sure they didn't grow rapidly and if they did to bring her back in. We had her for almost 6 years and never had any issues with her skin tags. I definitely would have them checked, but don't panic until there's a reason to panic either. For her, they never bothered her, so we just left them there.

 

[Tuff Love]

I'm so sorry. Try not to worry just yet- from what I read, dermal hemangiosarcoma (which is what what that sounds like) is the easiest to cure if caught early. Hopefully it was removed early enough and hasn't spread to any of his organs.

My boy had a "skin tag" once and I had it removed immediately because of his history of lumps and bumps. Cancer is the great imitator and can show up in any shape and form. It's always best to have any lumps and bumps checked out by your vet- especially ones that grow rapidly like that (or re-grow in this case).

((((Sending positive vibes your way)))) Keep us posted on how things go with the oncologist.

 

[ekggraphics]

Bumps and lumps and tags etc.

My grandpuppy had a huge creepy scaley ball of a tag on her ear and they were looking at removing, along with part of her ear. I had some pure melaleuca oil (the trademark kind) i put on it with a q-tip. The thing fell off by itself a few days later. Now whenever my boxers have wierd things like that show up I just get out the melaleuca oil and dab some on and things start happening.