This past weekend my daughter noticed an ugly raised "sore" on the side of one of my boy's front feet. I felt awful because I had not noticed anything. The best word I can use to describe it is a "raspberry." It is about the same size and has all of the little raised bumps of a raspberry. It is positioned so that it looks like an added little toe. It is not painful because I massaged it quite firmly and Chance didn't even bother to look at me. However, I did notice then that he was licking it quite a bit.

Yesterday I made an appointment with my vet and within 30 seconds of looking at it, she was "99.9% sure" it was a histiocytoma. It is a small non-cancerous tumor that is relatively common in dogs under 2 years of age (mine are 17 months old), and, in most cases, will disappear within 3 months. It is especially common in Labs, Staffordshire terriers, Boxers, and Dachshunds. It appears very quickly and the most common places for it to appear are the feet, the ears, and the shoulders. There are two ways to deal with it: leave it alone or surgically remove it. My vet did not want to remove it because of its position on the side of the foot. She said there is really nothing to substantially hold the wound together after the tumor is removed since there is only skin there and no real meaty flesh. And since this is actually the weight-bearing area of the dog, we will wait and see if it goes away on its own. However, it is an option down the road if we need it.

She then gave me some drops to put on the area for two reasons: (1) in some cases, it will cause the tumor to shrink, but not necessarily in all cases; and, more importantly, (2) it is very nasty-tasting and will keep the dog from licking the area, thus reducing added irritation. However, it has a very powerful effect on humans - you must wear rubber gloves to put the drops on because if they come in contact with your skin, you can develop a very, very stong garlic taste in your mouth that will last for days. I forgot to bring the medicine with me today, but I will edit in the name of it tomorrow.

Chance's lump was 1.5 centimeters. If it does not shrink within 3 months, or if it gets bigger, or if it becomes an open wound, I am to return immediately for further evaluation.

I post this only as a reference for anyone who may come across the same thing. This is not intended as a substitute for a visit to your vet. Only your vet can diagnose the problem - I only wanted to reassure anyone who does get this diagnosis, and relate my own experience with it.

My female just had one removed from the top of her nose (about a month ago) cost 750.00 bucks and you can't even tell now, it grew from nothing to the size of a pea in 3 weeks and the location was bad so we decided to remove it, no problems so far,

AL

I have a female Boxer and she had the same thing at about 9-10 months (she's now 12 months) and my vet said same things. Leave it or he could remove it. So I waited and it went away on it's own. I'm sure it will go away.

Chance's medicine is

Synotic w/1cc Bananmine

Synotic - infection
Bananmine - inflamation and pain

Place 1 to 2 drops on lesion 2 times a day.
(For use on dogs only. Avoid contact with human skin.)