Fat Lumps on Dogs

Hi I am new to this forum and I came across while searching for info regarding fat lumps on dogs. Recently one of my dogs died, her name was Beauty and she was only 8 years old. At the age of 5 years Beauty started to develop a lump on her left side and so I took her to the vet. We have and we always had several dogs, small fat lumps are common but this one started growing out of proportion. I therefore decided to consult my vet. She told me that it was better to operate and remove the lump and so was done. When the lump was removed I was told that it was full of fat. After a short period of time the lump appeared again and it reached the same size it was before in an extremely short period of time. I informed my vet and she told me that we will have to remove it again, in the meantime a friend of my mother told her that her dog had the same problem and that her vet told her not to remove it because it is even worse so I decided to consult another vet for a 2nd opinion. After telling this vet what happened his suggestion was not to remove the Lump and in his opinion each time we removed it would grow faster and larger. I decided to reduce the diet of my dog and to take Beauty for longer walks so she could do more exercise however although the dog was getting slimmer, the lump still continued to grow. The lump continued to grow but Beauty seemed to be healthy although the lump was of discomfort to her. In the last 2 weeks she started to have problems to walk and she used to start crying due the size the lump had reached. I took her to the vet who removed the lump the 1st time and asked her whether it was a risky operation and she told me that it was not. The vet operated Beauty last Friday at 16.00 hrs , Beauty died in my hands at 18.50 hrs. I still cannot believe that she died as according to the vet during to the surgery everything went ok.

Had you been in my shoes what would you have done ??? I would especially like to hear from the experts in this matter. One other thing I was told by my vet just after the 2nd operation was that it would be necessary to repeat the whole operation once every 6 months or so.

oh honey, thats jsut awful, im so sorry for your loss :(

what breed was beauty?? i have a germ shep cross who is 9yo and she has had fat lumps. i have only ever had one removed as it was on her back and i was worried about her spinal cord, the vet has suggested we leave the other big one as he does not feel its a problem unless it grows too big, its about the size of a milk bottle lid.

so did the vet give an explanantion??or anything??

again im so sorry for your loss, my heart goes out to you and you have our deepest sympathies :(

Thanks Melanie for your sympathy. Beauty was a cross breed too, her mother was a Cocker Spaniel ( Her name was Linda) and her father was a German Pointer. Beauty was a medium sized dog as she was slightly smaller than a German Pointer.

I called the clinic the next morning however they passed my call to another vet. He asked me what happened and when I told him he told me to call next Wednesday (Tomorrow) and talk to the vet that operated Beauty as he preferred not to comment.

I will let you know the outcome tomorrow.

Well today I managed to speak to the Vet. She was extremely sorry for Beauty and told me that during the surgery all went well, she could not explain exactly why Beauty died however she confirmed that if we had not opted for surgery at the end of the day she would still have died a slow painful death as the growth was malignant and when removed still would have grown again.

I am sorry for your loss, I know how painful it is. However, I am happy that you have received closure and you actually KNOW your decision was the best one. Perhaps the anesthesia caused complications- or most probably was just her time to go. It's better off than having her hold on suffering and end up having to make the desicion yourself. You had 8 wonderful years with Beauty and did everything in your power to make her life special... be happy you had that instead of being sad that is it over. It won't be the last time you ever see her... just a long time until you do.