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I have a twelve year old Lab-mix with a tumor the size of a kidney bean on her lower eyelid. It has grown very slowly over the last five years. The tumor hangs off the outside of her eyelid and is only attached by one little spot, almost like a stem. It does not touch her eye. The problem is that recently the weight of it has started pulling her eye open while she sleeps. My regular vet recommends surgery, but general anesthesia scares me a lot so I said no. And he can't remove it with a local anesthetic because it's near her eye.

I wonder if there is something nutritional or a topical application I could apply myself that would work. (I can keep her still and hold her eye closed, but obviously nothing that would be catastrophic if it did somehow get in her eye) Shrinking the tumor or removing part of it would be good enough, as I really don't think dogs care about cosmetics.

I've already tried vitamin C and pancreatic enzymes with no effect, although if you think they should help I would like advice about proper dosage, maybe I'm not giving her enough. She weighs about 65 lbs.

Do you know anything about a supplement called Vital Pet? I'm wondering if it's safe or not. The active ingredient is something called procaine HCI. I don't even know if that's the same as procaine HCL or not, or if either is safe. The website that sells it claims it shrinks tumors, but of course that doesn't mean much.

I hope you can help. And thank you so very much for your time, it's really great that you'll answer questions for people.

The simplest solution is to have your vet ligate the base of the growth, which means to tie suture material around the base of the growth at the narrowest part. This will cut off blood to the growth, causing it to dry up and fall off. Due to its location, near the eye, it is best to let your vet do this. ZIt should drop off in about a week.

I am having trouble finding a vet who is willing to ligate the tumor. Here is what has happened so far:

My sister had her puppy in to be vaccinated and saw our other regular vet, not the one I saw before but the other vet at that same clinic, so she asked him about it for me and he said that he'd rather not actually be the one to do it because it isn't an officially approved method, but that he didn't think there were any risks involved. He recommended I tie it off myself with a piece of dental floss.

Then I sent an email to another area clinic explaining the problem and asking if they would consider that treatment and they sent the following response: "We do not recommend tying a suture material around the base of the Tumor. We would be concerned with the quality of life and discomfort your dog would be experiencing because of this practice."

So my questions are:

1. What do you think the second place meant about "quality of life and discomfort"? Have you actually used this method in the past with good results?

2. Why did you say I should have a vet do it? What would be the risk involved in tying it myself like my vet recommended?

3. If it grows back, as I assume it is likely to, will it just grow in the same way? I would hate to risk causing a tumor of the kind that is embedded in the eyelid or on the inside to form by removing this one.

4. I'm not sure if the "stem" is actually part of the tumor or maybe is made of healthy eyelid tissue that has been stretched to form a short stem by the weight of the tumor hanging on it. The skin looks normal, not like the skin of the tumor itself. Would it still be okay to tie it there?

Thanks for all your help. Hopefully I won't have any more questions after these.

Tying a thread around the stem will cause a small pinch for a short time, possibly for up to a day. If the stem is normal body tissue, not tumor tissue, then the tumor will not grow back, as it will dry up and fall off. If you are tying off only part of the tumor, it will likely grow back in the same spot, but will not seek another outlet. The reason I suggested letting the vet tie it off, and the reason the vet did not want to do it and wanted a specialist to do it, is that it is very close to the eye, and if the dog is not very cooperative and won't stay still, the use of instruments or sudden movements could injure the eyeball if you touch the eye. If, however, the tumor is hanging on a relatively long neck, and you can avoid touching the eye, you can tie it off yourself. If you don't tie it off at the base, there is a chance the tumor will grow back, but at least the weight will be gone for now.