Pea sized lump.

Dr. Marie replied:

Hi there Jay...any chance of getting a photo? Or are you only able to feel it and not see it?

Is it red? Painful? Hard or soft?


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Dr. Marie replied:

There are lots of possibilities for this. The chances of it being something serious are very small.

It could be a tiny wart or cyst. If this is the case it may get bigger.

It could be that he got a little piece of something in there such as a tiny sliver or splinter. If this is the case it may go away on its own. Or, it might open and drain and possibly need some antibiotics to clear up.

While a tick could possibly bite him, the time of year is not right and you really shouldn't see a swelling with no irritation or no obvious tick after just one day.

I remember that before Max had a little lump at the site of a vaccination. Sometimes we do give vaccines on the side of the chest. It's possible he has had a small vaccine granuloma there for a while and it is in the process of getting smaller.

I would say the chances of it being a cancerous tumor or something serious are less than 1 per cent.

But, if it is getting larger or bothersome then it's time for another trip to his doctor!

Dr. Marie replied:

I wouldn't say it is common for a puppy to have a nodule in an area like this, no.

Hmm...so it feels attached to the rib. That doesn't sound like a wart then. I really don't know what that could be.

It's not uncommon for part of the rib to have a bony sort of knob at the end, but this would be something that would have been there since birth and would be really hard and larger than what you have described.

My guess is that it is a small foreign object (i.e. splinter) that has set up a micro abscess. Most likely it will go away on its own, but again if it's getting larger or bothersome then I'd get it checked out.

I like the term "counter surfing". I've seen some dogs that have gotten into a lot of trouble from the things they have picked up off of the counter - i.e. uncooked pizza dough. I can't see this affecting his hips though.

I have a few ideas to stop it.

One would be to temporarily put some double sided tape along the edge of the counter. Dogs don't like the sticky feel.

The next would be to watch him in secret and every time he goes to do it make a loud noise. An example of this would be a product called the Pet Corrector. Then, whenever you see him trying to get on the counter, you release the Pet Corrector. (I believe it is a canister of compressed air).

You can also buy similar things that are automated such as a ScatMat. These things are pretty neat. They release a very small shock whenever the animal steps on it. It doesn't hurt the animal at all but they really don't like it. The only problem is that if you have lots of counter space you may possibly need a couple of matts on the floor to do the trick.

Dr. Marie replied:

Interesting. While a lipoma is nothing to worry about, it's a little bit unusual on such a young dog. If it is a lipoma he may get more of them later on in life, but they are more of a cosmetic issue than a health issue.

Dr. Marie replied:

Sorry for the delay Jay...I had an email issue. There really isn't a connection between lipomas and cancer. In theory there is such a thing as a liposarcoma which is a cancerous fat growth, but in 12 years of practice I have never seen one...and I see lipomas every day.

I would not bother aspirating this unless it is getting much larger or bothersome.

Dr. Marie replied:

Interesting...a "fibroid mass" is a pretty vague diagnosis though. Wonder why it is there. It really doesn't sound likely to be a bother though!