Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello, I have a 11 year old black lab that has had no health problem untill 4 months ago. She developed a large growth above her shoulder that started to drain. She was put on amoxicillian. They did a biopsy and after many $ to this vet we were told that they could not tell if it was a worry or not. We then changed to a new vet and he continued the amox. for a total of about 4 weeks. It decreased in size at first then became large again while still on the medication. We then decided to have it removed. The Dr doing the surgery stated that there were many "fingers" to this and her tried to remove as much as he was able to/ The surgery site was 3 times the size of the growth(softball size). Less then 3 months later the growth returned and went from about the size of a quarter to softball size in less then a week. I return to the vet and with the examination was told that her lymph nodes in her neck and legs were very enlarged ( they had not been in the past) and do to the soze of the growth and so rapidly they stated that my dog would only have 1-2 months left.

This is very hard for me to believe. She acts the same eats runs, plays with my little girls the same as she always has and show no signs that anything is wrong except for the growth. At this point I do not know what the best thing is to do. Can you offer any suggestions?

Thank you for your time!
Patti

Has any of the vets done a biopsy on this growth? I would be surprised iif this is a cancerous growth, or at least not all of the growth is cancerous, as cancerous growths do not go from quarter-size to softball size in less than a week. I suspect that is an infection that has not been completely removed, and therefore returns. You need to have a biopsy done before doing anything else.

Yes the "first" vet did a biopsy and stated that it was inconclusive. We spent over 800.00 just in lab work at the vet, to find out that they could not tell us anything unless we spent another 1000.00 to have it removed. THat is when we switched vets and the other one removed it. I will call to get a copy of lab work that has been done if this will help.

Did the vet who removed the mass send it in for identification? Any labwork you have would be useful.