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Lump On Dogs Neck


thommomac
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Hi all

Last night we noticed a reasonable sized lump (like a marble, maybe a little bigger) on our french bulldog (18 months old) neck. We tried to get into the vet today, but there were no appointments. He didn't seem to be in any pain (even when we touched lump), he's still eating and running around like his usual crazy self so they said to bring him in tomorrow. I've been stressing all day. Husband came home tonight and it had got to the size of a golf ball. Since we are going to the vet first thing, we thought it would be ok to wait. I've been keeping an eye on him and in the last few hours the lump has doubled in size, now very noticable and spread under his whole chin. Dr google (I know, bad idea) keeps bringing up lymphoma. But surely it couldn't grow that fast? It's 1am and I know it's ridiculous, but just hoping someone on here might have a similar story with a simple(ish) result. I'm contemplating driving him to the emergency vet now, but I should probably wait till later in the morning. He still seems happy as larry (is trying to play right now) and not in any great pain.

Hoping to hear someone has had a similar experience and it's been resolved..and hoping this might help me to decide whether to drive to emergency vet now or wait till first thing tomorrow morning?

Thanks

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I'd at least call your nearest emergency clinic to see what they say and decide from there.

My dog does get sudden facial swelling sometimes, as a result of some allergy. It comes on very rapidly and is accompanied by drooling, head shaking, sneezing etc. The first time it happened I rushed her to the Vet and they gave her an injection, but since then I just keep anti histamines on hand and watch her closely to ensure she improves once medicated.

I'm not sure in your case though, that hearing other people's stories of similar sounding things that turned out to be not life threatening would be beneficial to you because the fact is you don't know what it is and it may be something that needs to be treated ASAP. I wouldn't panic at this stage either, but because I'm not a Vet I'd at least be making a call to one, just in case.

I wouldn't think that lymphoma would be an issue in such a fast onset, but you need to consider the fact that something like an allergic reaction, or a spider bite for example, could be more life threatening at this stage if it is not treated promptly.

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I rushed one of mine to the vet for a lump on his neck and was sure it was going to be lymphoma but it turned out to be a burst salivary gland. It did require expensive surgery and never did find out the cause, the vet said it would always be a mystery. Not that common but not uncommon either. Unfortuantely in my dog's case, the surgery was done and then the lump came back so surgery had to be repeated within the month.

One of the PAWS foster dogs had lumpy glands recently and again we thought of lymphoma and it turned out to be an infection.

Good luck with your little chap, I'd be trying to find a vet out of the area with an appointment available or you will just sit worrying all weekend and the sooner you catch these things the better.

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Lymphoma is a type of cancer, and yes whilst it can be fast growing, you couldn't watch it increase in size. The kind of increase you seem to be describing would be indicative either of a burst saliva gland, or some type of infection. Either way, the dog needs immediate medical attention.

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Thanks for the replies, support and advice.

We took him to emergency vet early this morning. They shaved him and took a small sample and put him on IV antibiotics and and anti inflammatories. They're not really sure what it is still (could be grass seed, saliva, a bite, a haematoma (spelling?!) or even cancer - at which point I was in tears).

They said to see what it is they would need to operate (at great cost at emergency vet) and suggested that we take him home, keep a close eye on him and keep giving him antibiotics, anti inflams and keep him quiet with no pressure on his neck. There seemed to be no danger to his breathing but they said if he swelled up any more to bring him back. Otherwise, just take him into our regular vet first thing Monday morning and they can reassess and then operate and investigate further (or perhaps it might have gone down by then). He also now has this huge red lump on his lip - it was there at emergency vet, but has probably doubled in size since this morning (we did point it out to vet). This is worrying me. But, his original lumps and swelling have reduced (since going to vet) so that makes me feel better. I'm quite stressed, and for once Monday morning can't come soon enough!

Fingers crossed that this is just an infection and goes down even further overnight.

Thanks again

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Good to hear he is ok to be home for now. Fingers crossed that when you get to the Vet on Monday it's just a grass seed or something much less sinister than Cancer, which would have to be much less likely!

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My boxer had a similar sounding lump on his lower neck/shoulder area that seemed to come up in two days we had photos from ten days earlier at the beach which showed nothing even when he was wet.

It had actually opened up so I took him straight to the vet who took a swab which showed nothing, because it was so big and also the fact that he is 13 we chose to put him on anti biotics and see if it went down,two days later it burst open when I was bathing it with salt water,huge amounts of pus and clotted blood came away but there was no sign of pain, the vet wanted to wait a few more days.That night I also googled and found an article about insect bites causing histamines which create an enzyme which causes this type of lump I gave him some phenergen and the nexr day it was heaps smaller and healing up,it went within a week but then started to come up two weeks later,I gave him phenergen again and it went down and so far hasn't reappeared,this may be a coincidence but it might be worth a try,

good luck and hope all is well soon

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