Just wondering if anyone has a similar experience........

My 8 year old lab girl has a lump on her lower hind leg, it came up about a year ago relatively quickly. I had the vet look at it when she was vaccinated, he offered to take it off as being lower on the leg (just above her foot) apparently that means it is a higher risk? I considered it but decided to wait and see if it grew rapidly, because she is a nervous aggressive dog, very anxious in the vets and just freezes up, an op where she had to be left there would be very traumatic for her. Also I had recently had a similar lump off of her mother, that time and also another time when she was operated on it was terribly hard to heal.

Anyway, I have kept an eye on it and it has only grown a little, it is maybe the size of a grape now. It is under the skin, feels like there is fluid around it. this morning I noticed that it has a tiny hole and was oozing blood and a few dollops of a gooey substance. I've cleaned it up and dressed it to stop it getting knocked again until it has settled down. It seemed too thick to be pus BTW and had no smell.
I'm obviously concerned, but all my main reason for not operating on her still stand, it is in a horrible place to take off, right on to the foot so there is no spare skin and I think would be incredibly traumatic for her. If it was a different dog I would possibly do things  differently, but it seems that if it is benign, it is not a problem, and if it is not there is a high risk of it re-occuring so I would be unlikely to operate on an 8 year old. I will always try to put quality of life over quantity regarding any treatment of animals, but of now I'm really worried about her and undecided!

Id really like someone tell me they have had this and it setteld down and caused no trouble afterwards!!

I'd get the vet to have another look at it. If it's become infected then a course of antibiotics should help. I expect the vet would do a Fine Needle Biopsy of it to check the cells to give a better idea of what it comprises.

My GSD had one which went away, it wasn't cancerous though, it looked and felt like a huge blister, it never leaked, just slowly disappeared.
He did have numerous cysts, which I would allow to ripen, and then squeeze, lovely thick pus would come out like toothpaste out of a tube, which sounds a bit like what your describing, although none of his squeezy cysts were very big.

Celli. Those sound like the sebaceous cysts my GSDs used to have. As a breed I think they are prone to them. Some it was noticeable when the gunk came out, other small ones not always noticed. Several vets over the years said to leave them alone as they would go in their own time whereas if they were surgically removed they were more likely to come back

How I miss those cyst's, it was the highlight of my day when one was ready for a gentle squeeze

Thanks all

Unfortunately I don't think it is a cyst. Or at least, it doesn't look anything like the ones on google images, (not to be recommended at mealtimes! )  It it completely covered with sound healthy skin, I did have a dog with a  histiocytoma once before and that was much more like a warty cysty thing, it ulcerated slightly and it was like the entire surface was breaking down (it went away on its own BTW). This is a mobile swelling totally under the skin. I don't think it is/was an infection because there was no entry point, rather than it 'bursting' I suspect she caught it on something (possibly a vizslas tooth) and the substance the oozed out was part of the lump. It now has a small wound (not deep) that seems to be healing.

I will keep a close eye on it and consider if it need more vet treatment, my thinking is though (and my vet agreed at the time) that if I am not going to operate it is pointless, and for this particular girl a very stressful experience.

Thanks again for the input, I am slightly less panicky now she's stopped oozing!!

My old girl has exactly what you describe on her front paw and she's had it popped several times and drained with a needle and yes it is a cyst :) I just leave it alone now as it just keeps filling back up and there is not enough skin to remove it and for it to heal nicely.