Friday, March 30, 2007

Lumpy dog

Poor Bernice, the eldest of our three dogs (at 9 years old), is getting lumps and bumps. A few months back, she got a bump on her head. The vet used a needle to check it and couldn't tell anything from what he drew out. So we let him surgically remove it. He thought it looked bad, but the lab said it wasn't cancerous. We were very thankful for that, although Bernice wasn't thrilled with having gone through that. Not that I can blame her--she didn't know why she had to endure that pain!

So now she has another bump on her head (actually two--one tiny and the other larger). It wasn't cancerous last time, so I only called the vet's office. I'm not rushing her in there this time. After all, he had no idea what it was last time. Also, she HATES going to the vet.

I just feel like there must be something to do for her. She's getting arthritic, too. For that, we give her Synovicre every night. That seems to have helped, but I worry about the future.

If any of my Bernice's issues (bumps of unknown origin, arthritis or anything else) cause her discomfort, I want to be able to give her something to help. So far, the vet has acted like there's no such thing as pain meds for dogs, but there must be something. I'll find it! If my puppy gets really sick and is suffering, that's another issue, but if she has the aches and pains of age, then we'll need something to make sure she has good quality of life in the months and years ahead.

If anyone has any advice, it's always welcome!

And if anyone knows what these bumps might be, I'm all ears. If it helps, Bernice is (as far as we have ever been able to tell) part Doberman Pinscher (or is that Doberperson Pinscher these days?) and part German Shepherd.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Decent short-term pain reliever/anti-inflammatory for dogs available by prescription from the vet - Metacam. It's used here north of the border frequently and I believe it's available in the US, too. May help with the pain from the granulomas (or whatever they are) and do double duty to help the arthritis. An added benefit is that it's an NSAID so Bernice won't suffer the effects of long-term steroid use.

Anonymous said...

Poor Bernice. If the bumps keep coming, you may want to try a different vet for a second opinion. They might spot something the first one missed. I hope she gets better soon.

W said...

My dog was on metacam for about 2 hours until she started vomiting profusely from an allergic reaction to the meds.
The vet switched her to rimadyl, which basically shut down her liver and forced me to put her to sleep 6-5-05....google it, there are lots of stories about rimadyl killing dogs and it is prescribed as a pain med for dogs regardless...

not to be debbie downer...just so you know the bad of what's out there...

Jess said...

Thanks, everyone. We'll do our best for Bernice. For now, she's fine. We just worry a lot. If she aches too much, I've now learned that simple aspirin can be therapeutic. So that may be somewhere to start.

tornwordo said...

It sounds exactly like what sara had in December. The bumps finally went away on their own. I never went to the vet, and now I'm wondering if she had eaten some tainted pet food. I figure the dogs get old and then they die. So I try to make her as comfortable as possible. We're giving sara glucosamine and aspirin every day and she seems to be more sprightly.