Anuket is booked in to get a lump removed from in between the pads of her front right paw on Wednesday. Noticed she was limping yesterday walking on gravel and found it. Vet (Gordon Vets in Musselburgh) thinks it is a histiocytoma (which is benign), so fingers crossed. Have asked for a sample to be sent to the lab just to check anyway. Anyone have any experience of these? Any tips on post op care for speedy recovery welcome!! Thanks.

Hi Lisa.
We've met three such lumps. They are scarlet and look malignant. However all three have been benign. One disappeared after Celia attacked it .
The other two required operations to remove them.
All were on heads and required very little post op care. I suppose you'll just have to keep the foot sterile until the wound has closed.
Good luck and big cuddles to all three.
Jimmy.

Hi Lisa,

Poor Anuket. I do hope that the problem is nothing more than a histiocytoma. They are not uncommon, particularly in young dogs, and are totally benign. They do look scary though!
Kitty had surgery last year to remove a lump from behind her ear which analysis proved to be one of these benign growths. The surgery took place first thing in the morning, and by late afternoon she was well enough to come home, although still very dozy from the anaesthetic, and not at all interested in food (by bed time this had worn off and she was ready for a small meal).
The vet gave her a pain-relief injection before I took her home, but by nightfall the effects had worn off and she was very distressed and needed a lot of TLC throughout the night. So I took her straight back the following day and they prescribed both a course of pain-relief pills and one of antibiotics. The effect was almost immediate, and she was soon back to her happy playful self again. If this is not offered it might perhaps be worth asking your vet about it when you collect Anuket.
The main problem was trying to stop Kitty from scratching as the stitches were irritating her rather more than somewhat! We tried a 'lampshade' but she could easily pull it off, so I had to watch her very carefully to stop her from doing that. The paw should be easier to deal with for Anuket as you can get dog bootees. I should probably have bought some for Kitty, as this would have prevented her from scratching behind her ear too hard.
On the first night I was advised to give her only a very short walk, but once she had started her medication she couldn't wait for her walkies! I was advised not to let her jump about or to dig, which she loves doing, to avoid infection. She was very cross with me as she was full of energy!
She recovered wonderfully quickly, and the stitches were removed two weeks later.
Sorry, this is rather wordy, but I hope it helps. Good luck on Wednesday.

Best, Jo

Hi Lisa,
Our Billy had a cyst removed from the web of skin between his pads on his front paw last summer.

Billy had a knee length bandage and the paw was well padded even padding between his toes to stop rubbing.
His original dressing was on five days and then was redressed several time to check the wound was healing and to redress to reduce the risk of infection.
The dressing and bandage were on two weeks.

Apart from being awkward for him he got used to the bandage and was not in any pain after his initial painkilling injection had worn off.

The hardest part is you must keep the dressing dry which can be awkward as Billy like most Greyhounds pee's down their front legs. The dressings are stretch bandage which if it gets wet it will contract and get tighter. Our vet gave us used drip bags to put over the dressing (bandage} which looked a bid like a small golf club at the paw due to all the padding when walking him. We also used a lace up boot which could go over the bandage (bigger than a walkers boot with velcro straps to tighten it up.)

Our vet used soluble stitches which take a good few weeks to dissolve leaving we ragged ends which were a bit irritating for Billy.

After the bandage was off, to protect his paw we used paw protectors like Walkers which is a neoprene boot and we steeped Billy's paw daily in a salty water solution in a margarine tub.

The wound heals quickly and once the bandage was off Billy did lick the wound site mainly because of the stitches not having dissolved to prevent that when indoors we put small pop socks on his paw tied with ribbon to keep it on.

Billy is one of these dogs that gets the we lumps which usually disperse them self, however this one did not but the vet told us when it was incised that it turned out to be one of his normal spots (we call him a spotty dog because he gets them all the time) Luckily they are not sinister!!!

Hope that gives you an idea and we hope Anuket gets on ok.

George, Morag

Billy and Lassie

Thanks guys for all your advice. Is much appreciated!! Will let you know how it goes.