Hi folks. I've found three lipomas on Rose, my 8 year old American bulldog. I'm not terribly worried, as I've seen few older bullies without some, but one feels rather hard. None are larger than a peanut and all feel to be just under the skin.

I am thinking of cheating on my vet. I really like her, but I've never seen a lump, bump or growth she didn't surgically remove. AND she is none too thrilled that I don't spay and I feed raw. I honestly think she will lecture me that Rose being intact is responsible for this. And I think an "I told ya so" might ruin our relationship if this does turn out to be serious. But before I started calling vets, I thought I should check in with the experienced folks here. Thanks in advance, this message board was paramount in her training, and therefore being the wonderful companion she is!

Hi Chip

My male Mastiff is prone to lumps, in fact I posted a photo of the one that was particularly bothering me, as it was getting bigger and had a black colour to it, but when I showed the vet, she wasn't concerned about it, and gave it a name that sounded like a Harry Potter spell, pedonculous or something!

The one on his ear worried her a bit more because it was hard, and cracked, and bled on and off, but she said to give it a month and see what happened, and it actually totally shrunk back to nothing, all that's left is a tiny black mark.

It didn't occur to me till much later that this was the ear, and very close to the site of, an Adder bite he got about a year ago, so I did wonder if that was somehow related to the trauma to the ear that did that.

Bulldogs, Mastiffs, Boxers etc seem to be prone to lumps, our 2 Boxers had lumps come and go from the age of 3 upwards, and they both lived into their early teens, never once having had any serious problems with the lumps.

If you are worried, it never hurts to get them checked, just to put your mind at rest, and if your vet is grinding your gears, you are perfectly within your rights to see another one

Maybe a referral to a derm vet?

I don't know ..... that relationship just wouldn't work for me. I'd probably be taking this opportunity to interview vets for a POV more aligned with my own.

But that's JMHO.

Connie, she's the first that was even sort of okay with me skipping vacs! That's as close to my POV as I've found. Is there a term for Leerburg style vets?

I guess I say minimal-vax, OK with raw.

Holistic is great, but they are not thick on the ground. lol

 Quote: Chip Bridges

Connie, she's the first that was even sort of okay with me skipping vacs! That's as close to my POV as I've found. Is there a term for Leerburg style vets?

Maybe it's time for a talk about the bumps, and what in her eyes would rate a wait-and-see approach ..... and putting it on the table that you worry about the relationship when you want to feed raw and either not spay or late-spay.

I would. How can it worsen anything?

And you may end up agreeing with her POV on bumps, or at least learning more about it.

Or vice versa .... well, probably not.

But it's an important relationship for me, and worth working on a bit.

"Holistic Vet" is a term the industry uses for vets that generally are more open to (and trained in) new vaccine protocols, natural diets, titer-testing, etc. Some holistic vets also include therapies like acupuncture, Chinese medicine, flower essences---so it is a broad category of practices.

My holistic vet is basically a standard western-trained vet, that is very cautious about vaccinations, recommends titer-testing, and is a supporter of raw feeding.

Google search and you'll find lists of vets by state, a holistic vet association, etc.

That's not all-inclusive. I'm sure there are "ordinary" vets that are on-board with newer ideas as well.

Also, don't be afraid to just call a prospective vet's office and make a phone appointment to speak to the vet. As a new client, any vet's office that wouldn't accommodate a brief phone call to answer questions wouldn't be a vet I'd want to do business with anyway.

Lumps can't be diagnosed w/o a biopsy which is why vets whose responsibility is to
cure early cancer want to cut them out. If a vet says, "it seems ok, let's watch it" and it goes well then everybody's happy == but if you say that and 3 mos later the dog has some terrible sarcoma you are mad and the vet could be liable for having missed a treatable condition.

An 8 y old dog, a vet will be suspicious of a hard lump. You are suspicious yourself!
The only way to know for sure is to take a piece of it. Or take the whole thing. You just have to decide how badly you want to know!

 Quote: Betty Landercasp

Lumps can't be diagnosed w/o a biopsy which is why vets whose responsibility is to
cure early cancer want to cut them out. If a vet says, "it seems ok, let's watch it" and it goes well then everybody's happy == but if you say that and 3 mos later the dog has some terrible sarcoma you are mad and the vet could be liable for having missed a treatable condition.

An 8 y old dog, a vet will be suspicious of a hard lump. You are suspicious yourself!
The only way to know for sure is to take a piece of it. Or take the whole thing. You just have to decide how badly you want to know!

I'd put a lot more weight on what Dr. Betty says than on what I said.

I have a dog who is prone to lipomas, and the vet has a wait-and-see approach to his. But they are all similar and all soft and all textbook lipoma-like (soft, easily movable, painless). And I show the vet every new one, and she notes its size, etc., and re-checks it in a scheduled re-visit.

I should not have said what I said about "Maybe it's time for a talk about the bumps, and what in her eyes would rate a wait-and-see approach .... And you may end up agreeing with her POV on bumps, or at least learning more about it" with such a casual tone.

Too casual and flippant for a suspicious lump.

Still, I do think this is what you might best do: Talk about it and learn more about what she thinks.

In that same conversation, why not lay it out about the raw feeding and the spaying? The vet may be more open to raw if she knew you were careful and educated, and there are certainly very valid points on both sides of the spay question.
( http://www.naiaonline.org/pdfs/LongTermHealthEffectsOfSpayNeuterInDogs.pdf )

My relationship with my vet is really important to me. It's totally worth some effort on my part.

PS

"I honestly think she will lecture me that Rose being intact is responsible for this."

Well, you don't know that she will lecture you until you talk, right?

And the link I provided does talk about mammary tumors and spaying.