ok,my pug has had a lump on his leg for well over a year,its never grown and has never bothered him so i have left it,but after spending far too long on google im now scared its a tumor,
george is nearly 8,the best way to describe the bump is that its prob size of a pencil eraser and is skin colour but does have some black grains on it,sometimes it seems to go flatter as if its going away other times its harder,its not got anything under it or attached to the bone etc.
my fear now is that if i take him to the vet,if it is something bad,thy will make it worse by testing it?
plus as george can not have any sedation unless its life or death i cant risk any unnessisary surgery,and i have promised him that if anything big happened i would let him go with respect and dignity,he has had enough surgery and scares.
so,my question is,shall i leave it,its not bothering him,no other ill health or bumps,or see the vet,also if i see the vet and he says its cancer then i will feel like im living with a time bomb and the decission to pts will be there,
what are the signs of cancer etc in dogs,what happens to dogs who are not treated,do they get ill etc
sorry for rambling,
jo

You really have to take your dog to the vets as soon as possible.  For his sake and yours, you will only continue to worry if you don't!

i am only worrying though because i had been googling,if i did not do that it would not have crossed my mind :(

Hey Jo
firstly give George a big kiss from Olive, then stop worrying too much. If it hasn't grown and you can get your fingers around it (in other words it's not attached), its probably a fatty lump. If it's not bothering him I'd leave it alone. You could always take a pic and put it up on FB for me to see. If it puts your mind at rest take him to the vets. Given all his other problems I'm sure they will say to keep an eye on and would n't do anything too drastic. They may stick a needle in and do a fine needle aspirate and send off. That can be done conscious.

The internet is a very useful tool BUT very easy to scare yourself silly isn't it!

It'll probably be either a fatty lump (if it's under the skin and there's hair growing over it) or a wart (if it's 'naked' with no hair); neither will do him any harm. As it's been so slow growing it's probably nothing to worry about, but best to get it checked out properly.

yep,no hair,its in and on the skin,nothing underneath,i just dont understand why sometimes it seems to feel fuller and harder and other times seems smaller,not groeing in height or width and agree,should not always look online as i would prob have every health prob going lol,xxx

Could be a blocked hair follicle and the sebum[oils] can't get out so the lump gets bigger and then it gets absorbed and shrinks for a while.

I think I would want the vet to confirm what the problem was though.

> my pug has had a lump on his leg for well over a year

But surely your vet had seen it when your pug had his annual vet check?  What comments were made then by your vet?

My Chow has just had 4 melanoma removed and 1 last year, they were all sent to the lab and all came back benign so don't panic if your boy has one.

If surgery isn't an option maybe measure it and put it's size and description on your calandar.  I think the nasty ones grow quick.

thanks for all the advice,no,my vet never said anything,we changed vets as we had a 30 min drive to our vets which in rush hour could be 45 mins plus,i was scared with george getting old and a having a breed (newfie)that can get bloat that we were too far away if anything went wrong,so changed vets,the vets are nice where we are,but they say that with all georges health issues as long as he is happy leave him alone
jo

it is a tumor but the tumor doesnt mean cancer. Take it to the vet and they will remove it before is too big they will send it to the lab if they think it have to and that is all

> it is a tumor

How can you possibly know this without seeing the dog ??????

Also vets don't send things to labs because they 'think' so they do a series of diagnostic decisions including bloods tests and examinations, sometimes biopsies before a tumour diagnosis is usually made and the decision to operate is made. Certainly not from a post on an Internet forum !! :-)