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Ok, here’s the background. In the past 10 years I’ve lost 3 fur babies to mast cell cancer. My precious yorkie trudy and two of my rescue cats kitty boy and Oreo.
My little dolly, the last rescue from my wife’s family’s barn , developed a small lump on the back of her neck. Took her to our vet, fearing the worse, and she said it’s not attached and probably a cyst. Just keep an eye on it. After about 4 months it had grown from about a match head to a large pea. I went back and told her I wanted it removed, again expressing my fear. She reassured me about the mast cell. She couldn’t schedule the removal for two months so I went to my alternate vet to have it removed. She squeezed it and the lump exuded a little pus, no blood. She also said not mast cell cancer and that it was an infected follicle. She removed it but with very large, about two inch incision. All this time, since the lump was discovered, dolly has never shown any interest in it.
Three days after the surgery she tore open one stitch and part of the incision so on went the collar. Now we are two weeks post surgery, we removed the stitches and the incision appears healed. But...if I remove the collar she scratches it all the time so I’m afraid she might reopen it. Called the vet to see if anything looked odd in the cyst when it was removed and she again reassured me it didn’t look cancerous.
I’m going crazy because my other babies acted the same way after surgery the itching and desire to scratch never went away, even a month after. The mast cell tumors when irritated release massive amounts of histamine causing unbearable itching.
Finally to my question: at two weeks post surgery should I be worried about her wanting to scratch the area? The scar looks normal but so did my other babies. Am I just getting ahead of the normal healing process? Or should I be worried.
Anyone with experience please help...I’m just beside myself....maybe just an old mans worry but I can’t help it. Through three mast cell cancers on three animals and no vet seems to even be interested in a possible related cause.
A couple of pictures
My little dolly, the last rescue from my wife’s family’s barn , developed a small lump on the back of her neck. Took her to our vet, fearing the worse, and she said it’s not attached and probably a cyst. Just keep an eye on it. After about 4 months it had grown from about a match head to a large pea. I went back and told her I wanted it removed, again expressing my fear. She reassured me about the mast cell. She couldn’t schedule the removal for two months so I went to my alternate vet to have it removed. She squeezed it and the lump exuded a little pus, no blood. She also said not mast cell cancer and that it was an infected follicle. She removed it but with very large, about two inch incision. All this time, since the lump was discovered, dolly has never shown any interest in it.
Three days after the surgery she tore open one stitch and part of the incision so on went the collar. Now we are two weeks post surgery, we removed the stitches and the incision appears healed. But...if I remove the collar she scratches it all the time so I’m afraid she might reopen it. Called the vet to see if anything looked odd in the cyst when it was removed and she again reassured me it didn’t look cancerous.
I’m going crazy because my other babies acted the same way after surgery the itching and desire to scratch never went away, even a month after. The mast cell tumors when irritated release massive amounts of histamine causing unbearable itching.
Finally to my question: at two weeks post surgery should I be worried about her wanting to scratch the area? The scar looks normal but so did my other babies. Am I just getting ahead of the normal healing process? Or should I be worried.
Anyone with experience please help...I’m just beside myself....maybe just an old mans worry but I can’t help it. Through three mast cell cancers on three animals and no vet seems to even be interested in a possible related cause.
A couple of pictures