Lump On Puppy's Stomach

[Serket]

I've just been playing with my 13wk old golden retriever puppy, and noticed she has a strange lump on her belly. It's about the size and shape of a pea, and feels like its under the skin, i.e. not so much like a welt or a bite.

I was thinking it could be an ant or spider bite, but it doesn't seem like swelling from a bite, and it's not red, but it does seem painful as she doesn't like me touching it much (had to clean the dirt off to see what was there). She seems perfectly normal aside from this lump.

I'm perfectly happy to take her to the vet, assuming they can fit us in tonight. I'm just not sure if I should be worried or not.

Any ideas? It wasn't there yesterday, I'm not sure how long it's been there today as I haven't given her a belly rub until just now today.

Edit: It's at the lower end of her stomach, near the bottom set of nipples

Edited September 28, 2009 by Serket

[ellz]

Exactly where on her tummy? If it is in the area of her umbilicus then I would hazard a guess that it could be a small umbilical hernia. These aren't necessarily a problem but most vets do seem to prefer to repair them. Many do it when the puppy is under for desexing.

[puggy_puggy]

Edit: It's at the lower end of her stomach, near the bottom set of nipples

Her head end or rear end?

If it's her head end and in the middle of her stomach then most likely to be an umbilical hernia.

[Serket]

Ellz & Puggy Puggy - edited to add the location as you were both replying I think. Sorry. Doesn't sound like an umbilical hernia, it's much too far down and off to the left hand side. It's to the right (so towards the middle of her stomach but right near the nipple) and slightly below her last set of nipples, so rear end, near her girly bits.

Tried to take a photo but Miss Wriggles wouldn't hold still long enough. She's now got a major case of the zoomies She just transferred a mouthful of mud onto my arm, and pawsful of mud onto the lounge. Lovely. So she's certainly bright and bouncy at the moment

Edited September 28, 2009 by Serket

[Serket]

You can't really see much, or very clearly, but the slightly darker patch circled in red.

Edited September 28, 2009 by Serket

[puggy_puggy]

Could be a skin irritation that female puppies can have and grow out of. It is mainly seen near their girly bits. I can't remember what it is called off the top of my head.

Otherwise it would be just an irritation to something, maybe the dirt that was on it. I wouldn't worry to much unless it gets bigger, more of them appear or it begins to look more irritated. Just bath it in some luke warm salty water if you want to do anything. If your girl still needs another puppy vaccination get the vet to take a look at it then.

Edited September 28, 2009 by puggy_puggy

[Serket]

She has/had some mild vaginitis, with the small lumps you're talking about Puggy Puggy, but I think this is different. Those ones didn't bother her at all, and they were on the surface whereas this is harder, bigger, seems to be under the skin more, and she's not keen for me to touch it.

She's not due for her next vaccination for almost a month. Since she seems fine otherwise, I might see how it looks tomorrow. If it was a spider bite I would expect other symptoms, it could be an ant bite, although I haven't seen any bigger ants in our garden yet, only the tiny ones.

[Serket]

New pic. It seems bigger than before.

[Serket]

Update:

Went to the vet because I'm a worrywart. Vet seemed to think it could be a cyst or a slight infection via a hair follicle from the previous girly issues. Said that if it wasn't cleared up by 6 months then they'd normally remove it when desexing, although I would hope it's gone by then.

She prescribed some antibiotics - clavulox.