How It All Started

Maya is our 9 year old light colored golden retriever. Her and our older dog Misty are sisters, same parents but from different litters. They are 3 years apart in age and love each other very much.

It was a little over a year ago that we noticed a bump on Maya’s back left leg. I kept an eye on it and it started to get a little bigger. Thinking it was just a cyst or a fat lump (as Misty has been taken to the vet for several lumps that turned out to be just fat) I didn’t take it too seriously. Here is a picture I got of it when it started growing.

After a couple of months it actually broke open and got very infected. We took her to the vet and they treated the infection. At that point we realized it was more serious then just a fatty lump. The vet did a needle aspiration but it came back inconclusive. We asked if it could be removed and the surgeon actually told us that it was unnecessary and the bump will heal…

It did heal but it didn’t stop growing. It broke open and got infected again and it was back to the vet. Again they put her on antibiotics and kept it wrapped up, requiring weekly bandage changes. We got more serious and told them this has to be removed. They finally agreed and apologized for turning us down the first time.

After about 6 months from when it showed up she went in for surgery in November 2014. By this time the bump was about half the size of a golf ball. Here’s a picture I snapped of her before she went in.

After waiting the whole day she got out of surgery and I went and picked her up. Here is sleepy Maya home after her surgery.

Unfortunately we assumed this surgery would solve the problem, and with money being tight we didn’t pay to have the bump sent to pathology.  The surgeon did state that he tried to remove it all but couldn’t guarantee clean margins, as there isn’t enough muscle and skin on the leg to ensure that. He said it could grow back… I didn’t think that would happen though. We, ignorantly, were just happy the bump was now gone.

After several days I was instructed to take her bandage off. This photo is pretty gruesome. As the vet said he tried very hard to remove it all and it looks like a chunk of her leg was taken out.

Although it looked bad it healed nicely. Maya was back to her active self in no time without a bump to worry about!