Advice/opinions re lump on dogs front leg

getthemax

We have a 14 year old female border collie. She's relatively fit for her age, although she was diagnosed with impaired kidney function a year ago. She's on blood pressure tablets and we also watch her diet to keep the stress on her kidneys to a minimum. For a long time she's had sub cutaneous fatty lumps, but we've just kept an eye on them and they've always been very slow growing so the vet's advice was to leave them alone.

Anyhow, down to our problem. We've noticed a small pea-sized lump on the front of her front leg, sort of about midway between her paw and the first joint (what we call the knee). It's hard and has no flexibility to it.

We suspect it's some kind of growth, possibly cancerous (you always think the worst don't you).

We're in a quandary what to do about it. We're not sure if at her age there's any positive treatment course that could be followed without causing her a lot of stress, and we don't really want to subject her to a biopsy because at the end of the day we don't think there's probably anything veterinary medicine can do.

She is due for her yearly jabs in a couple of weeks time, and we obviously will ask her vet (who is very caring) for guidance, but want to get things straight in our heads.

Does anyone else have experience of a similar sort of problem?

Would we be selfish not having her treated, bearing in mind her current age?

ka7e

I have 14 year-old Lab with a few age-related problems. She has numerous lumps and bumps and our vet has agreed that we will not subject her to any invasive or painful procedures, given her age. She probably wouldn't cope well with a general anaesthetic and finds trips to the vets distressing enough, as it is.

I've (sort of) prepared myself for the day when she is obviously uncomfortable or her quality of life is so poor that the vet will be asked to come out and put her to sleep. We've come close a couple of times, but she has eventually rallied and I've not had to make that call.

I accept that we will only have her for a limited time now and think giving her a dignified, painless end is my responsibility after so many years of companionship. I think it would be far more selfish to "keep her going" with lots of treatments.

MrsTinks

I'd take her to the vets now rather than later... firstly because you might be needlessly worrying and secondly because she might be in pain but not showing it...
Once you know what they are likely to be you can THEN decide what you want to do. It may be a matter of just ensuring she's comfortable for the time she has left, maybe with painkillers or maybe without any medication. Or it could be something entirely different which can easily be treated Until you have her checked there is no way of telling.

orlao

I have a 17 year old JRT with a big cyst on her back.....it doesn't bother her and I didn't allow the vet to remove it as it would've involved a GA but it did have cells removed and examined to determine whether it was a fatty cyst or a tumour before I made that decision.

I agree with Mrs Tine that it needs to be seen by a vet sooner rather than later but at the end of the day, you know your dog better than anyone else so it's up to you to decide if it's treated or not.....most vets will support a "wait and see" policy in an ageing animal.

After seeing one of my other dogs after his ops ( which all went well and he is fully recovered now) I made a decision that my older animals wouldn't be put through major surgery without long thought about the trauma they may suffer and whether it would really be worth it in quality of life terms....and TBH i can't think of any invasive treatment that the old dog could have that wouldn't be more for my sake, in that I didn't want to lose her rather than her welfare IYSWIM

In saying that, I firmly believe that every owner must do what THEY think is best for their pet so I would never judge anyone who did decide to treat a pet in those circs.

MrsTinks

orlao I agree that each person must decide for their pets... my mum had a beautiful GSD who had fatty lumps for several of her later years. She also developed cancers towards the end and whilst mum had one removed when it returned a year and a bit later she decided to just treat non-surgically and let the dog live as long as she was not in pain and had a quality of life. When the day came when she woke up one morning and had lost the "spark" mum knew it was time... But throughout she was checking with the vets to decide and advise her if there was any discomfort to the dog. I don't think she was ever in pain but apparently it was very obvious on her last morning that she'd had enough...
She did have many good years though and was spoilt rotten

Krystaltips

I had a large mongrel (rotty cross) who developed a lump in a similar place but the back of his leg... After getting it checked by the vet we were told it was a slow growing tumour and due to the placing of it (where there was very little skin to repair the removal) there was nothing really to be done and to just watch it. Eventually (about a year) it got too large and became an annoyance to the dog. We had a new vet at this point and took him along to be checked out, this time the vet recommended removal and it was sent off for biopsy. Yes it involved a GA but even at 13 he recovered remarkably well and his quality of life improved 10 fold... Sadly after biopsy we were told it would be a recurring tumour and where it was placed it wouldn't be possible to remove it again so we did lose him in the end but I'm glad we had it removed when it became a problem to him...

snowman2_2

Age is not a problem and should never be a barrier to sensible treatment. Your vet needs to look at the lump to assess it individually based on the lump, position and health of your dog. If I was worried about a lump in a healthy 14 year old dog, I would still get it surgically removed and send it for histopath to identify it. Go ask your vet sooner rather than later, there is not much spare skin on a leg and they are easiest to remove small.

getthemax

Thank you to everyone who replied. Your thoughts and advice were much appreciated.

We deiced to go with the consensus and got her checked out this morning. The vet thinks it's nothing out of the ordinary, just a cyst type swelling on a ligament. It'll add to others she's already got along with her fatty lumps.

We'll be taking her back in a couple of weeks for her jabs, so the vet will check it out again, and obviously we'll keep a close eye on it.

foreign_correspondent

that's good news getthemax - a lot of older dogs seem to get fatty lums and cysts, my oldie (Che, a terrier!) had several which never bothered her and she popped off in her sleep, energetic and happy to the last. I am so glad your dog has such a loving caring home and is comfortable and happy.

I just read on another forum about a very elderly (owners said twenty years old!) collie found as a stray - when the owners were contacted they had shut her outside and assumed she had gone off to die somewhere so hadnt bothered looking for her - poor old dog.

snowman2_2

Good news but all lumps have to be treated individually. Safest to get them checked as some nasty cancers can be quite small and innocuous looking