I'm hoping that this is going to turn out to be a really daft question, as opposed to anything serious, so please be kind and don't laugh. i'm a bit worried about the shape of Floyds head, he's got this sort of lumpy bit at the rear of his skull and it's made his head look very odd. It only appeared about 2 days ago and felt sort of squishy but now it feels more like grissle, is this a normal part of their growth or something else? I can prod it about and it doesn't hurt him (sounds cruel but I had to make sure).
So please tell me ,am I being dim or do I need to get down the vets first thing Monday?

One of my 4 year old bitches has had a similar sounding lump since she was about 14 weeks, its just a small fatty lump & I see no point in going thru' GA to get rid of a cosmetic blemish. Occassionally a judge will say something, but it has no effect on her showing.

Thanks sam (glad you din't laugh!)
I really hope it is just a sort of fatty harmless lump ( ooh sounds like hubby ) We don't intend to show him so if thats all it is theres no way he'll undergo surgery, unless we get him castrated and they can remove 3 lumps instead of 2!

roflmao, ppor hubby ;)

dont think its a normal growing thing, have a word with your breeder about it, its not a sting or anything is it?

Don't think it's a sting or anything as theres no heat or soreness, it's quite big though, goes right across the top of his head between his ears but goes kind of pointed at the back of the skull.

now you have described it a bit more, it doesn't sound like my bitches lump, which is about 1.5" wide and half"high....yours sounds bigger. Why not get your vet to take a quick peep?

:D :D :D Philippa

Hi Julie, Is it hard enough to be the Occiput? My Wolfhound pups always seem to suddenly develop these odd shapes overnight, quite worrying if you dont know what they are!!

Phil,
thats what I'm hoping it is but I'm really not sure, it's not like any books have a paragraph that says ' by the way at 4 months your dogs head will look its got a deformed egg on the top but don't panic!'
I think I'm going to have to pop him to the vet just so that we can stop worrying, I've got to get some stronghold anyway so I'll take Floyd with me and do a sneaky 'while I'm here can you look at this' !

Julie, can you take Floyd back to his breeder or another experienced Rottie breeder in your area. They could tell you if they've seen it before. All breeds have strange things occur sometimes and an experienced breeder may have had it before or heard about it from her many contacts in the breed.

lol, Julie, thats just what I do.sneaky huh!! "Oh by the way, as Im here, can you just have a peep at..............." We are not daft are we;)

Well we've been to the vet and the diagnosis is it's a heamatoma(sp?) and will go within a week, probably caused by one of the others getting a bit rough while playing. The vet certainly doesn't see it as being anything sinister so hubby can now stop worrying that his precious baby has got some awful head mutating disease! And I thought us women were supposed to be the worriers :)
Didn't quite get away with the sneaky 'while I'm here...' bit as it's a Sat but never mind, did get their Id tags ordered at the same time so time well spent I'd say. Now we just have to wait and see if vet is right and said lump disappears, if not we'll be back to square one and back down the vets!

Julie, Im sure your vet is right, and they are nothing to worry about. Its a bit like when you bang your head yourself and a lump comes up. Now hubby can breath a sigh of relief again :)

:D :D :D :D :D

Phew thank heavens for that:D
Anita

My Grandson , Ben , had one of these after he was born ...a quite large lump on the side of his head bless him. My daughter was , quite naturally being a first time mum , worried. She was told it woold slowly go down ..and it did , after a few weeks you would never have known

:)

Melody

Thanks guys :) the little chap is worn out with all the attention he's been getting and has curled up with Lucy! Now theres a first, the old girl must be going soft :D
Between the dogs and the kids I'm worn out but it's nice to come here and be-able to get your little worries off your mind and be certain that some one else will know what you're on about!
julie :D

Talking about rotties, (one for Dizzy this one) what does' nice dry head mean' in showing terms please ??
PS Hematoma is bruising where fluid has gathered aka 'a lump'

Lorraine

the difference in a correct Elkhound head compared to an Akita, lol!

Belgian shepherds have dryer heads than a lot of GSD. It normally menas tight fitting skin on the head without a lot of flesh! Clean lipped too.

I can tell you what 'nice dry head' means in Floyd terms! it means that he hasn't ran underneath one of the other dogs when they're having a wee! :D

Many thanks ! Julie have you thought about a hat for Floyd !
Lorraine