# What is this thing? With pictures...



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Just saw this on Bella today-not sure how long it has been like this-but I noticed she was licking at it today. It is pretty obvious so I am thinking I would have seen it, but maybe not with my schedule lately. Weird. Anyway, was thinking maybe a wart was attached to it and fell off. Or something else. She has an appointment tomorrow at 2:40 to get it checked since she's also had weird vomiting episodes and that one thing (KW) where she was all wobbly. 

Perspective shot:









I sharpened this up a bit so it is a little more clear than it is in person actually: 









And while we are at it, this has been on her leg since August and I've just been watching it-no growth. She hasn't been really well enough to consider having it taken off. 









She still has 4 sessions left with theravet-I've been waiting to be sure she recovered from her illness-which I was thinking (and I guess hoping) was all because she gets SO stressed just riding in the car and I'd been taking her a lot of places and doing things with her-she's almost like an agoraphobic. At her last vomit session this month she had x-rays and bloodwork and a shot of Cerenia. Xrays and bloodwork were normal. She was on abx, carofate, and pepcid for 5 days. KW, doing well since. 

I just emailed Ava's shelter lady last night saying that Ava has some little lumpy cysty things but not red, not irritated looking so I was going to wait until November probably to take them off-then icky red and irritated shows up on Bella today! 

Thanks for any ideas. Figured I'd get some thoughts on questions to ask tomorrow.


----------



## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

I hope it's nothing serious and that she gets better soon, poor girl.


----------



## allieg (Nov 4, 2008)

Is it raised or indented? Can't tell on the pictures.Hope it's nothing catchy...(


----------



## GSDinOly (Apr 19, 2009)

Wow, that's a good photo. I am not in any way an expert, but learned alot because of Briggs recent staph. That looks like it could be acne, and more irritated because it is in the easy to lick zone. That's going to be my guess since they get acne on thier faces like we do. The one on her leg? I can't tell too well in the picture, but becuase of it's dark color, looks almost black maybe that could be a melanoma, another thing our dogs get that we can,and might not show growth over such a short span. Could be a wort too, but they are usually not dark like that. Skin scrapings or biopsy will be able to tell for sure. Again, no expert here, but those are going to be my guesses, if I had to ask my vet about them on my dog. Possibly thrown the wort idea in there too for safe measure...can I also ask how old she is? ( you probably said so elsewhere and I have overlooked it).


----------



## SunCzarina (Nov 24, 2000)

Looks like spots Rex used to get. It was an immune system problem and I'm sorry that I can't recall what it was called. He's been gone many moons now.


----------



## littledmc17 (Apr 9, 2008)

poor baby


----------



## Virginia (Oct 2, 2008)

I don't know what the leg thing is, but my mom's old dog used to get a ton of them when he got older, on his head, legs, everywhere. I found one or two on Bodie a while ago, but they don't seem to be getting bigger or doing anything.


----------



## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

In the bigger (and grosser) shot it looks like an abscess. It could have been an ingrown that got infected. I hope that's all that it is!


----------



## GSDLVR76 (Aug 6, 2007)

The black thing looks like it could be a cyst. Shilo has one on her back hip that has been there for years. We had it tested and it is nothing to worry about. It is just ugly to look at. I hope everything goes ok today at the vet.


----------



## kshort (Jun 4, 2004)

That little black thing - Murphy's had one on her back hip for years and years. Vet checked it early on. It's changed maybe a tiny bit in size over the years, but nothing to be worried about. It's almost like a mole looking thing.

The other on her face looks like one Sammy has on his bottom lip right now. His isn't quite as big yet, but looks the same. Max used to get them also. Sammy is licking a lot right now and I think that can do it. He also licks carpet if there's one iota of a morsel there and I think the roughness can cause that to break open. If you look at them closely, at least in Sam's case, he looks like he has bumps there - kind of like enlarged follicles. I think any irritation or abrasion can break them open.


----------



## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

I hate all these mystery lumps and bumps. Let us know what you find out...Max gets some weird things that aren't anything


----------



## JenM66 (Jul 28, 2005)

Gracie has an identical one over her eye of the one under Bella's nose. With it being so close to the eye, I put opthalmic cream on it (that I had from when she cut the corner of her eye). It's betting better. Maybe come magic calandula?!!!!

NO idea about the one on the leg.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Isn't it gross? It looks less oogie today-glad I took pictures because I like to show the "I am not crazy it looked worse when I called" evidence to the vet. 

We go this afternoon. I am so glad to have a huge list of things to ask when we play the "Could it be..." game. I like a lot of the ideas too-very mild things. Thank you!

She's 7.5 years old. 

Thank you again!


----------



## jesmagmisty (Jul 13, 2001)

So what did the vet say? My Jesse gets sebaceous cysts that come and go. Had several removed years ago but now they come, grow, sometimes burst then go away or just go away. If they burst we keep them clean and watch very closely.
let us know.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Hi-thanks! He took a smear/slide of it. He found eosinophils
"The numbers of eosinophils in blood often rise above the normal range with allergic reactions and parasitic infections as with worms."
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=3268

He did not see any mast cells or a cell that looks like a fried egg, which I can remember, but do not remember the actual name of it! 

He did say it was weird looking and that he didn't really know what it was, particularly the little white Spaghetti-O. 

Bella of course was a good girl, but get this, she gets so nervous that her pupils dilate HUGE and he could see her retinal vessels! I couldn't see them because I wasn't sure where to look (couldn't remember which was the retina-lol-whoops) because him saying that made ME nervous-I thought something was really wrong with her until he just said it was nerves. She's so sweet though-and is curled up next to me right now after all that stress. 

So I am supposed to watch it for 2-3 weeks and let them know what it is doing. He said not to put anything on it-one to see what it will do and two because it's right in tongue range and she's just going to lick it off. I think it winked at me earlier. He thinks it will go away. I am going to believe him. 

Thanks again-and I will update when it goes away.


----------



## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

> Originally Posted By: JeanKBBMMMAANI think it winked at me earlier.










and







all at the same time!!

_*fingers and paws crossed in the E house for a speedy recovery*_


----------



## BJDimock (Sep 14, 2008)

Fried egg cells would be lymphocytes?
Perhaps its a hystiocytomia. They aren't cancerous, and they do go away. I can't remember the exact mechanism right now, but I believe they are an "allergic" reaction in the immune system. This would certainly explain the eosinophils, which are the histamine releasers of the cell system.
They are pretty common in pups, but we saw a case about 6 months ago in a 7 year old Mastiff. (He was covered in them. It was kind of scary to see, and then one day, they just started to go away. No idea what caused it!)


----------



## sunnygirl272 (Dec 10, 2003)

Hopefully Mariele doesn't think it's an eye staring at her, like the malted milk balls box!


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)

Spaghetti-O.









Jean, Lilly is the queen of lumps. She has had what looks like that on her back. They go away, but I still use my trusty bottle of Vetskin to speed it up.

As long as no mast cells were found, you're in good shape. 

What did the vet say about Bella's vomiting?


----------



## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: M&JAs long as no mast cells were found, you're in good shape.


There's always more to worry about, especially with all the weird things out there









I knew a person whose cat had eosinophilic granulomas as a response to vaccination. I think it's more common in cats, usually benign, it can look a variety of different ways:

http://www.vetmanual.org/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/72400.htm


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)

Oh, I thought cancer was the concern. Sorry!
Lilly has had every kind of lump imaginable. Once they say, "no cancer" I know I can deal with anything!


----------



## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: M&JOh, I thought cancer was the concern. Sorry!
> Lilly has had every kind of lump imaginable. Once they say, "no cancer" I know I can deal with anything!


I'm with you. What I meant to say, was that having mast cells is not the only way that the lump could be cancerous. Only mast cell tumors will have that proliferation of mast cells. Other tumors have different types of cells.

I guess I didn't say that because I didn't want to make it sound like I thought that this lump looked like cancer, if that makes sense.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

I have been avoiding this thread. Nice huh? 

So far Mariele hasn't caught it staring at her. Good thing because that would make for a lot of chaos (Mariele thought the cross-section half of the Malted Milk ball on the container was staring at her-and had a fear scream/bark session at it). I love my Mariele! 

Something like that on her back? OMG. Was it huge? And how long did it take to go away? I am afraid to put vetskin on anything without knowing what it is (what the thing is). For the vomiting, we just fixed it, without knowing what caused it. I think it may have been stressed. She just wants to be home-until it's time for me to pick someone to go for the ride-then she wants to go until she realizes we are actually leaving!

Lymphocytes! Yes-thank you. So could this be autoimmune. She has the plasmoma. She just wants to be more like me.














Tired! 

That other thing is weird-talk about being like me-my thing is a granuloma thing! I hope she's not like me! 

So I think it's getting bigger/weirder. I made up this little comparison-there is a week between the first two (Wed-Wed), and then the last one is today (Friday). If it is she'll have it taken off and sent to Cornell on Thursday. If it isn't getting bigger we'll wait and the tech said they would pick on me for a while. But without seeing her today (I had Rocco in for a weigh in and belly rubs) they didn't want to let it stay if it's changing. 

So here it is! 









I am not talking hugely different, but changing? 

And today. I heard it say, "I'm ready for my close up..."


----------



## WiscTiger (Sep 25, 2002)

OK, my non Vet opinion is that is healing from the inside (underneath), I don't see the indentation and it looks less thick (deep).

Val


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)

Looks like it's drying up and healing. The vet told me they usually take a couple months to go away.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

I am glad it looks better to other people. To me it looks like it is bubbling out and expanding. But I am not a fan of it so I may not be very objective!

I have no patience for this kind of thing. I just want it gone. Yesterday. I will try to slow down a little, but would really like to know what it is. 

I don't like Bella's weird episodes over the last half a year and things like this just get me more uneasy. I still wonder if the stress of no Kramer is making her sick. She really stuck to him from day 1 with me-I thought she was less attached as he got older but maybe not. 

I am sure I will post more of beautiful pics of this (maybe with a halloween costume?) before Thursday. 

THANK YOU.


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)

Any progress??


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Thanks, Mary! She's at the vet right now-it's being removed, probably the little leg thing, and she's getting her hips x-rayed to see if that information all together might help figure out if there is something going on with her if it's inflammatory. Or if all of these things are just weird and unrelated issues that hopefully will taper off as long as I don't stress her too much. 

I wanted to wait, but I didn't. If it's something that other animals or humans could catch, I wanted to know that too. Especially since Bella sticks her face in mine 100 times a day! 

I can call later.


----------



## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Hope all goes well for Miss Bella, Jean.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Thank you. 

I called, the thing is gone. They went back to check on her and I guess she's just sitting in the kennel looking around. I am sure she's gorked. On the list I wrote for them I said I think she's kind of a narcotic ligthweight so I am betting they took it a little easy on her. The receptionist said she stared at her like...who are you, where am I...










The other dogs want me to go get her now, but I have to wait until after 4. Good thing they can't drive! 

I will let you know the results when we find out. Thanks again!


----------



## shilohsmom (Jul 14, 2003)

I'm so glad its gone and looks like all is well. My Shiloh boy has a big bump on his head, I've had it checked out, its nothing. The Vet said if they removed it it would likely return. Since it doesn't bother him I've left it alone thinking at some point he'll need something done and I'll have it removed then. Unfortunately, I feel the need to explain the bump to everyone that meets him because they feel it when they pet him-some folks have actually looked at me like 'He needs to go to the Vet!'...like duh, as if I don't take care of my dog...


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

Isn't that weird? That it would grow back? What the heck! EEEK.

Bella is home and resting in the big bed, on a nice comfy mattress. They didn't give her the buphenrol or whatever it is ater surgery(that she seems to take forever to come out of) so she's pretty alert but tired. She did really well though, other than ripping off her first bandage. Looks like she got in a knife fight because there's blood all over the one she's got on now. That comes off in 2 days. 

Her stitches from the Alien come off in 10 days. Not many, tiny ones. It looks a lot better. There is not a lot of skin there without give her perma-pucker, so hopefully it's gone for good. It should take about a week for the biopsy. The vet and tech both said it didn't look like anything they'd ever seen before when they got it out. 

Her hips are, I think, pretty good news. Her left hip is beautiful. All nicely put together-I couldn't believe how nice it is. The right is mild HD with some arthritis. So helpful information for now and the future. 

I'll let you know what galaxy that thing is from.


----------



## Barb E (Jun 6, 2004)

Glad to hear she's home and resting well


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)

Results back yet?


----------



## LadyHawk (Jan 19, 2005)

Looked like a lick granuloma or an abscess that she was keeping clean from the outside - and was starting to heal from the inside
......Maybe an insect bite that became infected?????

Can't wait to hear what it acually is...


----------



## M&J (Nov 16, 2002)




----------



## Mandalay (Apr 21, 2008)

Did you hear anything? It did look pretty gross...worse in the close ups, but kind of neat at the same time. 

My Beardie used to get fatty pockets all the time that would sometimes get pretty gross and resemble that, but I could not tell how high up off the skin that thing came, so it may not be the same at all.

I am also glad it is gone, I think if it had been on Mandalay I'd have just sat there staring at it all the time. LoL


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

I was staring at it a lot. And it was staring back! And it is fascinating, to me too!

Still no results. She went today with Anna, who was going for her yearly appointment, and actually got the stitches taken out already. She was SO good, he was able to take the stitches out just him alone, not even me holding her head. He said she is so tolerant.







my Bella! Then for her leg stitches, she gave him her paw...she really loves being futzed with. They cut her nails last week while she was under, and so they are really nice and short, but she sees me get the nail clippers out and wants hers done too. The mixes...not so much...

I will let you know as soon as I hear. I am guessing tomorrow...

And Anna did really well too.


----------



## JeanKBBMMMAAN (May 11, 2005)

It was a furunculosis! So I feel stupid having it removed, but after all the stuff Nina had, I didn't want to get behind on it and have it blossom to a point where there was no skin to stitch together. On the message he said they said it was not the GSD type that Nina had. I am truly hoping it is not. Hers were on the chin, ankle, buttocks. 

So now we've seen that it can look like an alien...if anyone else ever sees one on their dog...hopefully not!


----------



## sunnygirl272 (Dec 10, 2003)

yay!!!!


----------



## LisaT (Feb 7, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: JeanKBBMMMAANIt was a furunculosis! So I feel stupid having it removed, but after all the stuff Nina had, I didn't want to get behind on it and have it blossom to a point where there was no skin to stitch together. On the message he said they said it was not the GSD type that Nina had. I am truly hoping it is not. Hers were on the chin, ankle, buttocks.
> 
> So now we've seen that it can look like an alien...if anyone else ever sees one on their dog...hopefully not!


The last thing I had removed on Indy, because it was so concerning visually, to both the vet and I, was something very benign. But the alternative, the "just in case", is always very risky! 

I'm glad that all is well!


----------



## Qyn (Jan 28, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: JeanKBBMMMAANIt was a furunculosis! So I feel stupid having it removed, but after all the stuff Nina had, I didn't want to get behind on it and have it blossom to a point where there was no skin to stitch together.


Now you can concentrate on her beautiful eyes rather than the "alien".

You did good!!


----------

