Is It A Cyst or Tumor?

I usually look at the ears, armpits and around the neck of each hound and dog for ticks. I haven't seen but a couple of ticks this year, so it was a shock when I saw a dark object on Henry's tail. It was hidden pretty well under the long white hair. At first I thought I was looking at the largest tick I had ever seen. I've seen hundreds of them in 37 years of having hounds. Looking closer it didn't have that smooth surface a tick has when it is full of blood. Besides that, ticks normally fall off after they fill with blood. Whatever this was, wasn't coming off.

I sent the photo to various friends that have dogs. Only one thought it might be a tumor or a cyst, the others had never seen anything like it.

Of course in "today's world", even if you have a vet that saw you only 21 days ago, that doesn't mean I am going to be able to get Henry in today to have it checked out. Those days are basically over. No matter who you call their first question is not what am I calling about or what is wrong with him or her but "is he updated on his shots". Most of the time my answer is "no". 

It is even different now that you have to go online and choose three dates and times that are good for you instead of calling them, then you wait for them to text you back to confirm the appointment date and time. That might take a few minutes, hours or even a day or two.

Henry is due to get shots and they are not current, so that puts him in a whole different group to get an appointment. They WOULD see him without updated shots BUT "there is an extra office fee". He couldn't get the vaccines until the week of September 26, so I was willing to pay that extra fee if they could see him ASAP. 

My regular vet came back with an appointment on August 26th. 

I did not want to wait that long. I didn't know how long the growth had been there. I normally don't check tails when I am looking for ticks. I had not noticed Henry trying to chew that area and he didn't mind when I squeezed it a little. 

He loves to ride in the car and now he was going alone with me. There was a vet in Fort Branch north of me about 20 miles that I remember took only walk-in appointments. Like all other vets you cannot get an answer when you call so Henry and I jumped in the car around 1pm and headed NE to Fort Branch IN ... expecting to wait however long it took as "a walk in". 

My second option was 15 miles further up the highway from Fort Branch in Princeton IN. They also took walk-in appointments. They also did not answer the phone and I got tired of being on hold. They would have been my backup plan for today if I wasn't given a surprise for Henry.

A couple of years ago when I drove by this vet in Fort Branch on a Saturday, the place was packed. All walk-in traffic. I knew as I glanced at the parking lot while driving by that I would not come to this vet because the wait times have to be very long.

As I pull in today thought, there is only one car parked in front. I wasn't sure the place was even open but the sign on the door said "Open" .. Henry and I strolled in. 

She asked if I had an appointment and I replied no, plus we have never been here before. "Well we only have walk in's on Saturdays now and our regular appointments are booked out to November !!! 

Henry and I remained calm ... their air conditioning felt fantastic. In my head I was on my way 15 miles further north to Princeton to try that vet clinic out.

I was about to turn away when she said "hold on a second, our 2pm appointment just cancelled, can you take that one?" That was only 15 minutes away so yes, we can take that one.

Within minutes we are told to go to Door #2, a tech was already in there to take Henry's vitals and get his weight. I knew Henry was the biggest basset hound I had ever had and I confirmed that today.

The big guy weighed in at 88.4 pounds !!!

At 2pm on the dot the vet walks in and takes a look at Henry's tail, squeezed it slightly without any reaction from Henry. He DID think it was benign "but we can cut it off and send it in to make sure if you want" .... BUT ... "its in an area with some really tight skin and if we cut that out we are going to be taking some of that skin away" ... basically in laymen's terms ... not enough skin to grab to stitch the hole closed after they take off the tumor.

He did not tell me but the vet tech out front told me when I asked her "what do they do if they cannot find enough skin to sew it back?" ... "They amputate the tail from that tumor to the end of the tail." Could Henry handle the white tip of his tail cut off? Around 2" of it?

I guess that is why the doctor sent me home for a couple of weeks to monitor it ... see if it gets bigger or gets smaller. Since it is not bothering Henry it shouldn't be a problem. There is no sign of drainage, isn't sore to Henry and who knows how long it's really been there.

My regular vet is booked out until the week of September 26th for vaccines. So I asked the doctor today if he could give Henry his vaccines so he is up to date with what he needs in case he has to come back for surgery. Within minutes Henry had his 2024 shots, good for a year.

Of course all three that were left behind were excited to see Henry walk in the kitchen from the garage. Ava was still in her crate but all of them gave him a good inspection outside on the deck to make sure it was really him. 

I got a couple of good things out of this. I have a backup vet now that I can use and is a few miles closer. Henry has that growth that does not seem to be an urgent issue and the long white hair hides that black growth pretty well. The most important, he is not in any pain because of it.

Never a dull moment this summer here "in the tropics" of Southern Indiana.