Lump

[charlie2012]

So last night I suddenly saw a huge lump hanging from my dogs upper chest, near her neck. It was the size of a baseball and it all the sudden had appeared. I freaked out and took her to the emergency vet thinking that if it appeared that fast it could be serious. The lump sags and is filled with fluid. The vet took a sample and said that all she could see in the fluid was proteins (no bacteria and not many cells) but she couldn't explain how it happened. She said that I shouldn't worry. I asked if it could be a cancerous tumor and she told me that it probably wasn't but even if it was it's not at all connected to deep tissue so it would easily be removed. But she didn't give me any information on how the fluid lump would form if it wasn't cancerous. Anybody have any ideas? Her temp if fine, shes acting normal, the lump doesn't hurt. I'm not going to take her the emergency vet again because there was no other tests she could do. The sample will be sent on monday to a pathologist but she said she looked at the fluid already and it didn't look suspicious, I just wanted a second opinion to be safe. Anyways...no more rambling...Any ideas? it's hard not knowing what it is and how it happened

[fairlight]

So the vet aspirated it and told you it did not look suspicious?....I would do exactly what you plan on doing. Take your dog to YOUR vet. Many times these could be fatty tumors whihc CAN be non cancerous, but I would see the advice of YOUR vet. I do know of a case where one of my forum friends brought her dog in with a lump. The vet aspirated but the owner of the dog insisted that the lump be taken off and sent out for a biopsy. It indeed did come back cancerous. Please keep us posted.

[golden&hovawart]

My 1st leonberger had a non-cancerous mass at the same place and of the same size!.2 vets said to have it removed ,one said to leave it!.We had it removed,operation went well,but the **** vet didn't keep an eye on the wakening of the dog so he puked and chocked to death. If we had left it,alone,he would have had a normal life cos he had that mass for 3 yrs before we did anything(we just kept an eye on it)!.
What I mean by that,is that an operation can be worst than the problem,itself,most of all,if you have a bad vet which we don't anymore!.
If it was my dog,I would have it removed cos of the size of the mass!.Most of all,if the dog is young and otherwise healthy!.

[alimel]

I have seen many fatty tumors in my dogs. Yours sounds rather large, they usually start off small and you need to keep an eye on it. We had two large tumors removed from an older dog, he was 13 when they were removed and was just fine.

[charlie2012]

UPDATE:
This morning I woke up to find that the lump/sack of fluid seems to have disappeared. Her skin is still stretched from where it was hanging but I can't feel any fluid or lump. My vet called today even though the office is closed because he got a faxed copy of the report from the ER vet. He said that he could check it out if I want...but it's not there anymore. (BTW: I guess I exaggerated the size because it streched her puppy skin out so much that it looked larger than it was. The vet report said 4cm) Should I still bring her in or am I wasting my money? I mean, what could he possibly check?
Also, I am still so curious as to what this was. I know it wasn't a fatty tumor because my other dog has one of those and this was nothing like it. I mean there wasn't really any mass to this. It was just fluid. Has anyone ever seen fluid and swelling from a minor injury? My dog is very hyper and tends to do crazy things like get in and out of the car by jumping through the window (I try to stop her but shes so quick) and she excitedly runs around the house without paying attention and sometimes runs into things. I'm wondering if she just bumped her chest/neck onto a table or something and then the swelling went down and the fluids absorbed after a while.

[weezyNollie]

If it's not there anymore.. I wouldn't fret. Sounds like it could have even been more like an abscess, not really a mass. Or at least some sort of pre-cursor. Could have also been a cyst type response. I would keep an eye on the area, if it comes back etc.

I wouldn't worry too much. Some things just dont have explanations.

[jazzy]

two of my terriers do have small lumps all over their bodies. i had them checked but the vet said they're normal for aging dogs. she said that i should just watch them and see if they grow in size outwardly and whether its symmetrical or ragged, if they change in color, and if they cause any pain or not because the vet said those are the signs of a mass or lump either being cancerous or not. but m not sure tho, coz no two vets say the same things nowadays