Both dog's today. I think Jade is a pretty good weight for a thousand year old dog. Probably needs a bath. I'm not sure what that funky ruffle of hair is on her back. It's just sorta like that now. Nigredo is still a TUBBY unfortunately. You can easily sit a dinner plate on his back. I haven't weighed him but he's probably 105 lbs now. Oh well. I bathed him about a week ago. He has mild allergies. Excuse that brown by his tail, he was a tad itchy there and my mother poured PEROXIDE on it, not really realizing that it has a bleaching effect. Both of them need their claws clipped.... Both a nightmare to do. Haven't taken any pics of them in ages.. They're hanging in just fine.
Jade looks great for 1000 years old, though your description of that lump doesn't sound good. Though he is a tubby, I have seen a lot worse than Nigredo. He has a lovely gloss to his coat, and I know that he enjoys life - as well as his food. Is he still donating blood?
Nigredo is still eligible to donate blood, but he didn't like doing it and so I never put him back into that program. Next year he will be too old. The "lump" is definitely not good Carole. It's very large. She is able to move around with it just fine. We have neither the money nor inclination to put her through a removal surgery and at her age, I'm not sure how realistic it is. She's always has mammary tumors. She had a few removed when she was young and tested to not be cancerous. They returned along with others and we never had anymore removed. We have considered having her put down but it doesn't seem right. She's still alive and kicking and its a lump. She's had it for a while now, though it was not always this large, and we just can't see putting her down when this is her only issue. If we had the extra $1200 (or more), we might have considered trying to have it removed... But it simply isn't an option. She has no insurance and its just way too expensive for us to shell out for. She has about 10 other random lumps in random spots... None large though and all external like skin tags. There's one on her foot in this photo. Right in front of the large lump, there's a smaller, rock hard lump. The large one is solid but not hard like a rock. The hard ones tend to be the cancers but she's had that one for 8 years or so and its not ever caused her an issue or gotten huge.
What did your vet say about the lump on Jade? I'd be hugely concerned about that. What if it's causing her discomfort of some kind?
Already said the vet options given about the lump. Already said she seems fine with it. Any discomfort she may have must be very minimal since she can move all right and never bothers the lump nor does she show any sort of reaction when it's messed with. I'm not going to put her down for a lump. She seems okay with it. It doesn't seem right. She isn't on any pain medication because she doesn't seem to need any. At the end of the day, she's an old dog and there isn't much I can do about the lump either way. What would being "hugely concerned" do? Nothing.
But you don't know what it is. Could be cancer, which ultimately will be causing her pain. Dogs are resilient, just because she's not showing obvious discomfort to you doesn't mean she isn't in pain. I get she's an old dog and all that, and quite frankly I wouldn't put any of my older dogs through any serious surgeries either. But at the same time I wouldn't not find out what it is. A fine needle aspiration wouldn't cost much and gives you an answer one way or the other as to it's seriousness.
Really easy to say how much things cost when you aren't the one that has to pay for it nor do you live here or even know what things cost. She's had so many lumps and we have had them tested before (not cheap BTW) and though it COULD be something nasty, finding out won't make a difference. Even if it's a cancer now, I wouldn't put her on pain meds because cancers "might" be painful. She doesn't seem to be in any pain and so I will not medicate her. I wouldn't medicate even if it did seem to begin to cause her pain. She's old and we would have her put down. I can't afford steady/lifelong pain meds for a dog anyway.
You don't know me or the dog or really anything at all. You're just talking, as usual. Truly this isn't even MY dog, I just try to help care for this dog as well as MY own dog. Begone then. There's no point in an argument. I don't need people like you trying to judge others or their situation. Step off your pedestal and maybe you wouldn't have to look down all the time. You can run into things like that. Have a nice day.
