Histocytoma

Assassin saphir

My beautiful 10 month old doggy has what our vet believes to be histocytosis. He has a red lump on his head that has grown over the past week. He is being operated on tomorrow and we will have the tumour analysed to see if it benign or malignant. I'm so anxious about how he'll cope under anesthetic and the results on the tumour. Has anyone else gone through this with their dog? He is the child in our house and we would be devastated if anything happened to him.

mosi

My terrier boy had a histiocytoma removed last year. It was on his nose and, like with yours, grew quite rapidly. He had another lump on his back at the same time, which was also removed. Both were analysed and the results came back benign.
My boy was right as rain when we picked him up that evening. I wouldn't worry about the anasthetic too much. Since having him, he's been operated on three times (neutering, the histiocytoma and a foreign body removal). The op to remove an external lump like that is relatively minor.
Regarding the results, bear in mind, that your boy is very young, which would make me suspect that the chances of the results coming back as malignant are very low.
I know it's easy to say not to worry, especially as every case is different. However, if your experience is any way similar to mine, then your doggy should be just fine.

Assassin saphir

Thank you Mosi.
He came home this afternoon. He had some water and a rest. He is cuddled up on the couch here with me, sighing and shivering.. I will have the results of the lump on Wed so fingers crossed.

mosi

Ah poor boy, he should be grand tomorrow. My terrier boy never seemed to have a feather knocked out of him after anasthaesia (except for the foreign body removal when he had to stay at the vet for almost a week). My large guy was a bit subdued after his neuter, and my terrier girl was quite sorry for herself after her spay. She was sighing and shivering after that and I reckon it was a combination of the op, and her spending time in the vets (she's quite nervous). Fortunately, the recent Lassie film was on the tv the next day and watching that cheered her up no end (of all the dogs, she's the biggest tv fan!).
Try not to worry too much about the results (although I couldn't help but worry when I was waiting). He's a young dog (the majority of benign histiocytomas occur in young dogs) so there's a good chance that it is nothing more than that. Fingers crossed for you and keep us updated on the outcome!

aonb

Poor little chap, he is young and will soon recover from the anasthetic. As someone said previously, he is very young, so hopefully the test will come back negative. Try not to worry - easier said than done I know - our beloved horse just had a lump removed, results not 100% conclusive, but positive enough.

If you have to go back to the vet for the results (rather than phoning) it might be an idea to bring your puppy, and give him a couple of treats/fuss in the vets, so that he doesnt associate the vet with only negative experiences (Ive got 1 dog who HATES the vet, tried this process with young dog - brought him to vet even when it was the other dogs getting seen to - and the young dog has no prob going to the vets now - even tho hes a very anxious/stressy personality!)