Hi
On behalf of a dear friend who has a ridgeback boy about the same age as my eldest RR girl (15mths) our 2 are great mates, she got her RR from a mass breeder who has since moved so cannot trace any family history...

He has developed a sort of lump below his nose like a hard pink pea, it started off tiny like a pin prick but over 5-6 weeks has grown to pea sized. We both thought it was a wart based on its appearance but seeing how fast it grew she took Kif to the vet and he has said he would suspect hystiocytoma BUT they are quite predictable and this lump has not followed a HC type path, so he suspects a mast cell tumour and he said that where it is located on the muzzle makes it concerning if it is a mast cell tumour?
Vet said doing a needle biopsy would be usual course but as it was on the muzzle he would need to knock Kif out to do it and seeing as it seemed likely the lump would have to come out anyway he'd like to just do the one GA, plus Kif was booked in for castration on the 15th so vet has said do both procedures together to save doing 2 separate ones.
Friend wants to postpone the castration until she knows what this lump is for sure and get lump taken out earlier

vet has said he hopes it is nothing but he suspects otherwise given the nature of the lump?

Any experience of such a tumour that I could use to reassure her?
She has googled mast cell tumour on muzzle and thinks he is going to die, anything I could find out from anyone that I could relate to her would be gratefully received

TIA
Jane

One of my dogs had a lump the same size on her muzzle which the vet took off. It turned out to be a mast cell tumour and although the vet said it might come back it never did.

She was left with a slightly lop-sided face for a time (think Elvis) but she was fine, and was pts 4 years later aged nearly 13 when her back legs gave up.  She was the 4th generation of my breeding and there was no history of this type of tumour, or with her pups to my knowledge.

She won't know until she finds out what grade the suspected mast cell tumour is.
As Grade three's are the nasties. Grade one isn't and grade two's can go either way.

My Boxer has had ops to remove grade 2 mast cell tumours last year.
She's still here :)  She'll be a 9yo in July.

Her mast cell tumours were on her head (top of her forehead near her ear), on her shoulder
and on her front leg, near her elbow.

I'm now very vigilant and she gets checked every few days when I'm grooming for any other lumps.
As she's had grade 2's MCT's any lumps will need to be aspirated and removed if results come back that
they could be any nasties.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences
I've emailed her the responses, thank you

One thing I wondered is if it turned out to be something benign and they operate on that part of his face, I mean it is virtually next to the wet part of his nose and muzzle, they say to clear at least 1cm or 2-3cm for Mast Cells from what I have read, does this mean his nose will be cut?

She wants to push for an aspiration first then the removal once she knows
So many questions I am sorry but I've no experience with this (touch wood) and neither has she

Jane x

I had mast cell tumours taken off two of my girls last year.  Daisy had one on her tummy, but poor Kerry had one removed from her chest (massive incision), one from her leg and had her tail amputated as she had such a large one on her tail (I hadn't  ignored it but had been told by a previous vet that it was just a sebaceous cyst).  It's always traumatic putting them through surgery but it will be forgotten in a few weeks.   They all came back as grade II but the way I deal with it is just to assume that is the end of it, although obviously I keep an eye out for more.

Good luck to your friend.

She has rung the vet back to ask for it be brought forward and will leave the neutering for another time when she knows things will be ok.

She is also worried about the cutting of his nose but that's an unknown I guess

She is in a proper state about this, so the sooner it is sorted the better I think

Your poor friend :( Fingers crossed for her boy.