Ben81 Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Last night I discovered a lump on the rib cage area of my 16 months old Labrador. As usually happens with this sort of thing it always comes up on the weekend (even worse a long weekend!). Here's some background info on him. Five weeks ago he had TPO surgery on his left hip so he has been caged since then (two weeks to go). He had a check up 3 days ago and had his annual vaccinations. He is on carprofen. He is not over weight and has never been (with his joint problems we have tried to keep him light. Any ideas? Of course I will talk to our vet as soon as possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhara Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Hi, I had a Shepherd bitch I bred quite a while ago, She developed a lump in her neck. When she was due to have her hips xrayed I asked the Vet to remove the lump if her hips looked OK. Hips looking good, lump was removed. It happened to be a Calcium lump or some such thing. As my previous litter had hip problems, I was worried that perhaps I didn't add enough calcium Sandoz to their meals, so with this litter I was a litle heavy handed. As it turned out, I found out that one of the Boys from that same litter had a lump on his ribs, and it was diagnosed as the same sort of thing by a different Vet in a different town. So my suggestion to you is, don't panic until you know the facts! It may be something as simple as what I experienced. Zhara Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rappie Posted March 22, 2008 Share Posted March 22, 2008 Depending on the location, it may also be a lump from one of the injections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulp Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Depending on the location, it may also be a lump from one of the injections. Seems like a strange place for an injection but sometimes dogs have a reaction to a vaccination. My lab developed a golf ball sized lump at the site of a booster shot about a week after the shot. Hot and cold applications (on the advice of the vet) morning and night had it gone in a week with no ill effects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben81 Posted March 23, 2008 Author Share Posted March 23, 2008 The lump is not at the site of his injections. It is just above elbow height in the middle of his ribcage. There are no other lumps where his injections were done (between his shoulder blades). After the hip surgery the vet advised us to feed him a good quality puppy dry food because they are high in calcium. Could this be the cause? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puggy_puggy Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Could be a reaction to something. I would watch it. If it gets bigger then straight off to the vets but if it reduces then leave it. Don't panic. Wait till Tuesday to go to the vets if it hasn't improved in the mean time. The vet can put a needle into it and do a biopsy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffyluv Posted March 23, 2008 Share Posted March 23, 2008 Depending on the location, it may also be a lump from one of the injections. That was my first thought too.. Just wait until the vet is open and get it checked out - ask for it to be aspirated. It only takes a minute and it could make all the difference in diagnosis (only speaking from experience, please don't just accept that it is probably a fatty lump)... J Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
staffylover81 Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 My Staffy has the same thing, last Monday after obedience training she came up with a lump the size of a golf ball on her side just down near her back legs and rib cage, I took her to the vet and they put her on antibiotics and anti inflamatorys but it doesn't seem to be going away so i'm going to take her back down to my vet to get her checked out again, my vet said it was an unknown infection of some kind and should go down but hasn't so i'm thinking it could be something else and she may need surgery I'm starting to worry as some of my friends dogs down at my obedience school have had to be put down due to cancer but i don't think that's what it is, but we just can't think of what else it could be at this stage. So it's off to the vet this week again to get it checked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffyluv Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 The only way you can tell what it is or is not is to have it aspirated and the contents checked. Feeling a lump is completely inconclusive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tilly Posted March 24, 2008 Share Posted March 24, 2008 (edited) Our GSD got a small pea size lump on his side - it was firm but didn't seem to be attached to anything. It seem to suddenly appear but didn't grow in size once I had found it. It turned out to be a fatty lump which was removed when he was under getting stitches (for a cut in his leg). I was very worried about it and feared it was cancer. I told the vet not to tell me if it was anything bad - so when he had removed it and didn't mention it ... I naturally started to worry it was bad news. I lasted two days before I rang to find out exactly what it was ... only to be told it was a fatty lump and harmless. Hopefully it isn't anything too bad. Edited March 24, 2008 by Tilly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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