Beagle Bump Blues
beagle with lump
7-Year-Old Beagle Sports Leg Lump
Bailey might be the cutest beagle ever. Short, roly-poly, friendly, and well-loved, Bailey fears nothing and eats everything! But the other day in the vet’s office, she was a little apprehensive.
“When did you notice this lump?” asked Doc Truli.
“Just last night,” said Bailey’s mom. Uh, oh…
If a lump goes from zero to this…..in one night???! What on Earth is it?
Oval, raised, firm red lump on the forearm of a Beagle
“A lump this size on a leg concerns the veterinarian because this location does not have much extra skin in order to close the defect that a lump removal will leave behind,” says Doc Truli. “Special plastic surgery techniques for dogs must be employed to make a safe, beautiful skin closure.”
Bailey underwent surgery to have the lump removed and tested at the clinical pathology laboratory to find out what cells make up the lump.
The red color and fast-growing nature worry the veterinarian.
Beagle Bump Differentials
Your veterinarian calls a list of likely possible diagnosis, the differentials (not to be confused with the stuff in the car that makes the transmission and the wheels work.)
This bump might be:
hemangiopericytoma (tumor of the pericytes, cells surrounding blood vessels)
hemangioma (tumor of the blood vessel cells themselves)
nerve sheath tumor
other connective tissue tumor
hemangiosarcoma (tumor of the blood vessels that spreads like crazy really fast, but usually does not grow in a neat oval package like this)
Beautiful Beagle Bones
After the lump removal, and the fancy closure pattern to make the skin come together without extra tension to pull at the stitches, Bailey’s leg looked like this:
A nice modified
Bailey’s stitches will heal in about 10 days, give or take 3 days. She will need to wear the Elizabethan collar (the cone) to prevent her from nibbling at the stitches!
Bailey’s bump came back as “histiocytic sarcoma.”
Histiocytic sarcomas can be nasty cancer. If signs of spread are present as abnormal chest radiographs or lumpy organs on ultrasound, that will be bad news for long life for Bailey.
The good news is, a histiocytic sarcoma on the skin and nowhere else has a chance of being an isolated tumor. If it can’t be found anywhere else, then microscopic cancer is unlikely, and Bailey could live a normal life. Let’s keep our fingers crossed!
P.S. (May 2010): Check out the “Bumps” tag or these posts to see other “bump” stories:
When a Fat Bump Goes Bad and Cocker Spaniel Belly Lump and Bichon Suffers Bump Under Tail
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