Advice needed "lump"

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katrid16

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Was wondering people's thoughts on my 13 year old beagle she is perfectly healthy although starting to look her age a little ! Took both her and her son to have their annual vaccinations last week and the vet spotted a small lump underneath her skin by her nipples , she said it could be either a cyst or a tumour and recommend I had it removed , I want to do the best for the dog but am very reluctant to have her under anaesthetic at her age my thoughts are ( and a few others I have spoke to ) is to leave well alone " if its not broken do t fix " if its just a cyst it will do no harm anyway , if its cancerous it may spread more if its disturbed and at the end of the day she is 13 does anyone else have experience or thoughts on this ?
 
i would speak to the vet about xraying for secondary tumours then if she is clear operate, i would however only do this if she is fit, active and well.

mammary tumours can be very aggressive and often will have already spread
 
Get them to do an FNA, conscious if your doggy will sit still. That'll hopefully give you some idea of what it is before diving into surgery. Xx an anaesthetist her age wouldnt be a worry to me, but I'd be reluctant to do surgery without doing an FNA first xx
 
The vet said she would X-ray once she was under so a bit late then my main concern is giving her a general anaesthetic at her age
 
twiglet84 said:
Get them to do an FNA, conscious if your doggy will sit still. That'll hopefully give you some idea of what it is before diving into surgery. Xx an anaesthetist her age wouldnt be a worry to me, but I'd be reluctant to do surgery without doing an FNA first xx
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Sorry what's a FNA ?
 
its a tricky one and often our time with horses makes it more so as small animal vets are reluctant to sedate because they cannot control the animals breathing and a full GA is generally seen as the safer option, of course with horse sedation is done routinely and full GA is seen to be much riskier, its all due to the size and weight of horses.

an GA for xray will be quick and low risk, if its clear they can then proceed to remove lump, request a routine blood screen and discuss fluid therapy to minimise the risks
 
FNA is a fine needle aspirate - it's a pretty non-invasive way of getting a very small biopsy - the vet just needs to use a needle and syringe the same size as the ones used for vaccination etc, gently insert the needle into the lump and draw back on the syringe to aspirate out a few cells which can then be put on a slide and examined in the lab. Definitely worth doing as it will help decide whether the lump actually needs to be removed and, if it does, how big a margin of tissue around it the vet needs to remove. Most dogs tolerate this pretty well without any sedation or anaesthetic.
 
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