Hello, just today I noticed that my lab has a big lump on his left hind leg. Doesn’t seem to cause him pain when I touched it. Any help as to what it could be would be very appreciated  ..read more

Hello! – as with all lumps, the main thing is that this is very difficult to diagnose by looking, or even by palpation.  We all tend to be tempted to have a feel during the clinical examination, but the majority of the time vets will reccommend either biopsy or complete removal before giving a definite answer as to whether a bump is sinister or benign.  Rarely, a lump could turn out not to be a lump at all but a hernia or an oddly descended testicle.  This is where palpation (feeling) can help to differentiate.  Therefore your vet may well ask to palpate the lump, then do t ..read more

I wrote a blog about this a few years ago, which can still be searched for in the vet help direct blog.  It’s called ‘My Pet has a lump – what should I do?’   There are also some more recent blogs available if you look for ‘lump’ using our blog search bar ..read more

Hello there; I’m afraid that I have lots of ideas, most of them the names of aggressive or benign skin lumps.  The problem is that ideas are unhelpful in this situation; it would be helpful to understand what is causing the lump, in order that you have solid information on which to base some decisions.  Your vet will be able examine it at close quarters and might help to narrow it down, but most crucially it is sometimes the type of cell making up the lump that is important – not the outer appearance, so they might well ask to carry out tests before it can be identified ..read more

I’m just coming back to say that this could be the remains of the umbilicus (tummy button); if it’s quite central and there isn’t another.  If so, it looks to be herniated slighty and again, needs to be checked by your vet ..read more

Ive noticed this lump on my Lhasa Apsos back leg after she had a hair cut, any idea what this could be ?  ..read more

Hi – it’s ok not to know the answer at this point.  I have a head injury and have never circled or flicked my eyes (nystagmus) either.  There is a massive range of flavours of head injury and no one symptom that can rule a brain injury out by its absence.     However, there are many other medical possibilities including anaemia, liver or kidney disease, low blood sugar, internal bleeding (the fall from the tree could be a symptom as well as a cause).  Pain cause cause a huge range of symptoms in itself.  I would strongly advocate having this one to the vets ..read more

Hello –  and thankyou for sharing this interesting case.  You say that they drained it – was this to such an extent that they are absolutely adament that everything is normal /  there is no extra testicle or abnormality to the bone underneath?  Have they spun the stuff down to see what % blood cells it actually contains?  Heamatomas are full of blood, so should be obvious.  Cysts and hydramoas are frequently clear. Does an ultrasound scan weild anything?  This strikes me as an unusual presentation for a haematoma or a hygroma (the latter are usually associate ..read more

And there’s no dilation in her pupils nor vomiting or any sign of sickness that’s why I’m confused ..read more

It happened 2 days ago and she fell off the cat tree but i’ve never seen her so isolated and lethargic. I’m not sure if she’s in pain i feel like she’s sort of confused she doesn’t want to play with my other cats but she used to be the most active ..read more