5/6yr Male Alaskan Malamute w/lump on his side Get it removed? Get another opinion?
My male Alaskan Malamute is about 5/6 yrs. old. He has had a lump about silver dollar size on his side for about 3 years or so. It has never seemed to hurt or bother him. It started out a little smaller then it is now and there isnt anymore on his body anywhere. It seemed to appear after he had gained some weight. He weighs 91 lbs. I touch it all the time because I am always petting him & he never whines or yipes or anything. We have kept an eye on it but we thought it was probably just fatty tissue. This was suggested to us when we first discovered it by friends of ours who have alot more experience with animals then we do.
Two days ago my stepson combed him with a pet wire comb & yesterday I noticed that he was licking that lump alot. Now it is really red, swollen, & wet from him licking it. It never was like this until yesterday. Maybe my stepson irritated it with the comb? Well I freaked out so I took him to the vet. Prince has never really had any illnesses or injuries so he hasnt been to the vet very much at all (knock on wood). So my first reaction was to take him right away. It made me feel a little better that Prince was jumping up & down and all excited like usual when I grabbed his leash.
Anyways, the vet said that it wasn’t fatty tissue & that it was a tumor. Just by looking at it & touching it. I asked if they were going to take xrays and he pretty much said he could but that he didnt really need to. He said he is pretty young for it to be malignant but he could only be sure if he sent a sample to the lab for testing. It’s going to be about $575-$600 to remove it which he said he was giving me a deal because Im currently unemployed. I was going to go ahead & have him remove it but skip the lab testing. Which would have been done today. Except after I got home & I wasnt freaking out anymore I started thinking about it all. I thought to myself, "If it were me I wouldnt just let them do surgery on me without getting a second opinion on the diagnosis." I've heard to many horror stories of people & animals getting worse & dying because they had the surgery.
To be completely honest I got sort of an unsure feeling from the vet. Like I said Prince hasn't been to the vet much and my fiance has taken him for his shots. The vet's assistant did mention to me that there was no rush if I needed time to make a decision on what I wanted them to do. So if I was understanding & that Im not sure of. It wasnt life threatening at the moment but it could be if not treated. Prince is not in pain and the only time he seems to be in discomfort is when he is licking it which isnt continuous.
Now at this point I am making phone calls to other vets in my area for estimates and possible appointment times. Ive been researching online to try and gain a little bit more knowledge about vets, pet injuries, & symptons. Which is how I found this website. Thinking maybe someone has gone through something similar & maybe could suggest things for me to look into or ask the vet. Money is extremely tight although more often its non existent. But if surgery is the only way to keep this from becoming a bigger problem in the future then I won't steal but I will beg and borrow if I have to. In the meantime should I keep him from licking it? Or is licking it healing it like some say? Is it ok to give him a bath?
I'm sorry for the lengthy post but I figured too much detail was better then not enough if I was asking for people to give me suggestions and advice on the situation. I tried to break it up a little to make it easier on the eyes. This is my first post besides introducing myself so if the length is an issue please let me know. Thank you for taking the time to read this I really appreciate it.
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