Question:
I have a six year old black lab. She has had a lump on her head (with a tiny hole) for about a 1 1/2 yrs. I can also feel a thin tube coming out if it. It becomes full of pus every few days. I gently press on it to get it to come out. Today I barely touched it and pus oozed out. Then a clump of hair (about 2 in long) came out & now there is about a 1/4 inch hole in her head. There is still hair deep in the hole. Vet has looked at it & drained twice but hasn't done anything else about it. What is wrong and what can I do?

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I would suggest taking your dog back to a vet, either the one you used before or a different vet, and ask for a more defined answer as to what it is, (tumor, cyst, abcess) and see if the lump can be removed. There may be a foreign substance imbedded deeply or or an overgrowth of tissue...there are so many if's...sounds like something that needs removal if possible.
You are due an answer as to what it is in any case.
Good luck and please let us know!

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The lump with the hole has been there for over a year? Wow. That's not good. Has it been producing this puss the whole time?
Definitely sounds like it's getting worse though.
What's the thin tube you feel coming out of it? That peaked my interest.
Wonder if an xray would show anything?
What did the vet say when they drained it the first two times? Whatever they are doing, it doesn't sound like it's solving the problem.

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The thin tube feels like it is going from the mass down toward her head. The mass is on top her head. The vet said he thought it was an abcess and that is pretty normal. We're going to try and get her in this week, esp. after today's occurance. I can't tell how deep the hole is but like I said it's about 1/4 of an inch across. There is still hair coming up from it. I can just see the tip of it. She's doing well. She's tired of me messing with it and trying to clean it though. I'll keep you posted.

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Originally Posted by Bill & Bob
The lump with the hole has been there for over a year? Wow. That's not good. Has it been producing this puss the whole time?
Definitely sounds like it's getting worse though.
What's the thin tube you feel coming out of it? That peaked my interest.
Wonder if an xray would show anything?
What did the vet say when they drained it the first two times? Whatever they are doing, it doesn't sound like it's solving the problem.

The "thin tube" comment made me think abcess.. still festering with a foreign body. (guess work)
Rads to the head area are hard due to density..and this is soft tissue that needs to be viewed, it may or may not show up, more on the not side. An aspirate would benfit greatly as would excise and examined by the vet, could be sent off to a lab for further study.
Not knowing where it is located and history leaves me with the question as to why the lump was not addressed after all this time. If it is a tumor the owner should have been told but I doubt it is.

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Can u take a picture of it and post it here for us to see, it may help.

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Originally Posted by Luba
Can u take a picture of it and post it here for us to see, it may help.

Good idea!




I miss viewing abcesses with my morning oj & toast!


Only thing missing will be the aroma...lol!

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Very unusual description. Have you owned the dog since it was young? Surely if something this major happened and a drain was installed you would have been advised by the vet. If this isn;t the case and a foreign object is embedded and festering-I'd be at the vet's and get Xrays or find a new vet pronto.

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You would think they would open it after a few months to clean and drain it?
Please update this post ok?

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Very good point about the shunt!!

If this dog was a rescue/adopted from a shelter there's no way of knowing.

The vet should prob do a local and cut into the sucker to see whats there
IMHO!!


Rolling eyes at Karen re 'aroma' lol
Well .....just imagine!

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Where did you get the dog? If it was gotten from a shelter, maybe it is a shunt. The dog could have had something happen to it, the people paid the vet bill, decided the dog was no good, and dumped him. No telling what these people will do nowadays.

Good thinking about the shunt.

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The vet said it was an abcess and totally normal in labs. But it scares me to b/c I just keep thinking it's something worse. My father is taking her back to the doctor next week. We've had her since she was about 6 wks. old. So I'm not sure how much could have happened to her before then but you never know. I gently squeezed the area when I got home from work to see if pus came out and hair (about 10 strands) came out as a clump of the hole. Hair rose out of the hole a few times last night as well. So I'm not sure what's happening there. I had thought in the very beginning that it might have been an ingrown hair. I keep checking on it every few hours or so but I have to lure her w/snacks so she'll let me check it. Luckily, she's very easy going and lets me clean it out.

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The poochie is obviously pretty comfy with you to let you check it so often. That's great. I'm having trouble picturing what this thing actually looks like. You mentioned there is hair coming out of the hole. Do you mean that hair around the hole is separating from the skin and falling out, or the hair is actually exiting the hole itself.
Normally I would agree about the foreign object thing being a possible cause, but if they've owned the dog since six weeks they would know about something bonking her on the head or embedding itself in her head.
1/4 inch hole is pretty big too.
Anyhoo, I hope the vet gets in there to figure things out so you and your poochie can play again rather than worry about this.

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Be very careful, danger of infection there!!

I did ask if you could post a picture, not because I wanted to grosse everyone out but because I've had wounds and puss filled bumps on my older dog before... may be able to help as can the others.

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Originally Posted by Luba
Be very careful, danger of infection there!!

I did ask if you could post a picture, not because I wanted to grosse everyone out but because I've had wounds and puss filled bumps on my older dog before... may be able to help as can the others.

Lmao! Abcesses are cool, or they are to one co-worker I once had! She wanted to be called in on her day off if there was a "neat abcess" that needed squeezing! Just about every hospital has one like her..I wanna do it,I wanna do it!

I wanna see the picture myself.

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I tend to lean to the idea it is an overgrowth of tissue, started by a small abcess. Subcutaneous injurys can heal over and then fester again, only to heal once again as tissue grows. That could be the reason for the hair growth. The "tube' described sounds like the center of the abcess giving way, necrotic tissue ...I would have it removed..and post pic's please!

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What's got me bamboozled is it's been in for a year? I wonder why? I'm so curious about this one?

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GET A SECOUND OPINION asap. my girl has lumps that are ok to leave as the vet said they were not ATTACHED to her, they just float under the skin and they are closed, there is no hole or puss ect. and also the infection idea, well it is pretty close to the dogs brain so i wouldnt leave it there. secound opinion is my advice. the vet said if any of my girls lumps opened they had to be removed. so i would double check if i was you.

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Originally Posted by melanie
GET A SECOUND OPINION asap. my girl has lumps that are ok to leave as the vet said they were not ATTACHED to her, they just float under the skin and they are closed, there is no hole or puss ect. and also the infection idea, well it is pretty close to the dogs brain so i wouldnt leave it there. secound opinion is my advice. the vet said if any of my girls lumps opened they had to be removed. so i would double check if i was you.

Actually Mel... I would get a second opinion on yours too... My mother had those types of lumps removed from her dog last summer because the vet felt it would be better safe than sorry - appearently some of those types of floating lumps can be very dangerous - My mother also did some extra research on that type of canser (sorry I can't remember the name - I'll try and get it for you if you're interested - PM me)... depending on the type of lump (hopefully your dog's is nothing) if and when it does open up... it may be too late. Now if your dog is older, it may not be worth putting the animal through the surgey for a "just in case", but I would get a second opinion if I were you.

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Good grief! Fatty tumors are rarely of concern unless they grow, which is rare. Oval shape and move freely. Dog lumps...
Keep an eye on them and if you really want to spend the money and put your dog through the surgery most vets will do it. Cosmetic surgery..
Talk to your vet about the lumps...Labs, boxers and just about any breed are prone to them...Ciara has had one for two years and I am not concerned at all.

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I just want a picture

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i had 2 removed a few years ago, she had them for about 6 years without any changes, the vet said it wasnt necessary (different vet to now), but they were close to her spine and i didnt want to cause any problems, although the vet said they were fine im glad i did it, jsut in case and all that. but it caused alot of grief as they shaved a large area and she got really itchy. the ones she has now they say are fine as long as they dont change shape or open up, they are lumps of fat apparently. but i watch them closely for changes, i would prefer not to remove them as they are in a difficult spot that she can get at easy (and she will), so i will avoid it as long as it doesnt change, but we are going to the vet just for annual checkup next week so i will have them looked at again. i did check out different cancers and the vets say i am fine but i keep a real good eye on things anyway, just in case, yeah cancer is my big worry but so far i have been told by seperate vets that it wont happen as long as i keep an eye on her. i would love to know the name of that cancer, i think it is improtant to have a wide range of info to keep one aware nd as informed as possible. but it is really expensive to remove them and i dont care what she looks like as long as she is healthy, it cost $200 australian last time for one, i will spend the money if necessary though, anytime. thank you for your advice, i really apreciate it.

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Fatty tumors are nothing to worry about as long as you keep a good eye on them....no growth, and as Melanie stated in an area where the dog can irratate the situation..rubbing and itching.

These lumps are very common, I have seen many people who have surgery done at the first small one to appear, even though their dog just had the procedure done 6 months before! I would never put Ciara through this.

Some people actually opt for the surgery countless times because they want their dogs to alway's "look good"? I can agrue this one and have...we remove the lump but there will be a scar...what ARE you looking for?

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That's good that your are on top of it... My mother is a worry wart with her dog and she was sure they had changed size... they didn't and it wasn't anything serious... just the fatty lumps like you mentioned, but in her travels through the internet she found the name of a cancer that worried her - sounded alot like the lump on Milly - but it wasn't.

I'll ask her the name and let you know what it was.

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*Note. I can be very bad with remembering names. I also hate avatar icons
but made an exception in this case.

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I'm wondering how the OP's dog is.. have you found out why the "hole" is there?

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