Stella

Stella

Monday, February 25, 2013

Skin tags?

Stella had another 6 month check up with the oncologist today - it has been almost 21 months since she finished radiation therapy.  Everything has been "same old same old" with her except that we noticed a small black skin tag (about the size of a sesame seed) on her left front paw.  We asked our regular vet about it back in October when we were in her office for our other Pug, Betty's, abdominal surgery.  Our vet looked at it and said it was "just a skin tag".  Since we were having a check up with the oncologist we thought we'd point it out to her.  The oncologist agrees that it is a skin tag but she does not like that it is pigmented.  She told us that 80% of the time skin tags are benign but given that it is pigmented and Stella has a cancer history we should have it removed.  On a side note, Stella's first mast cell tumor was also black but did not look anything like this skin tag.
 



 
 
On August 1, 2012 I blogged about a fleshy little bump that Stella had on the back of her right hind leg.  The oncologist stated at that time the she believed this to be in the skin tag family and we would watch it for now but she was not too concerned.  At our visit today we told the oncologist that the appearance of the bump had changed somewhat; it was a firm bump in August but now it is slightly bigger and softer and has also shriveled up like a raisin.  Dr. F. is still not too concerned about it and says it may have been cystic and ruptured but since Stella will be under anesthesia anyway we should have it removed as well.
 
 
August 2012
 
 
 

 
February 2013
 

We are opting to have the procedure(s) done with our regular vet which the oncologist is fine with.

So we're off to get the usual pre-op bloodwork and Stella will have her surgery on Thursday (2/28).


7 comments:

  1. Hi Irene,

    I've been searching the net for information and photos on mast cell tumors, and specifically in Pugs. Our boy had one removed from his chest several months ago and we found another one on his neck recently.

    I thank you for posting your updates + photos of the bumps so that others can compare.

    May I ask how your sweet Stella is doing? Thank you.

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  2. My apologies for not keeping you updated. It has been such a busy year. I am updating this blog from the past year and hope to continue on a regular basis. Stella is 10 now (yay!) and is doing well. Unfortunately just this week we found a 4th MCT. She will have this removed next week and then we play the waiting game to find out if the excision was "clean" or "dirty".

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  3. Hi Irene,

    Thank you for the update :)

    I'm sorry to hear that your girl had another MCT. She doesn't even look as if she is 10-years old! Do you know if any of her litter mates also had MCT? Was it a clean excision?

    My sweet little boy is only 5 and he's had 4 MCT removed already. I don't know why he is getting them and why they seem to come back so soon :(

    I wish for continued good health for our Pugs and all the cute Pugs out there.

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  4. Thank you for all of your very helpful information.

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  5. I just stumbled on your blog when I was searching through articles regarding MCT, skin tags, etc. I've been reading a lot and hope that Stella survived it? My sister's dog has skin tags and she is worried that it might be cancerous. We haven't been to the vet yet so that's why I'm breezing through the net to get a bit of information. There's a lot to learn and read, it can be overwhelming. I've seen several blogposts and this one has quite a bit of information on skin tags. Here's the link http://dogsaholic.com/care/skin-tags-on-dogs.html

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  6. My husband was diagnosed with systemic mastocytosis last year and did go to the NIH for  Medical check up .He had already had the bone marrow biopsy and aspiration, as well as the tryptase level test. Basically, they did some blood work there and took extensive medical history from my husband. They told us to go home and our local physician could follow up with him since there are specialist doctors to see locally. We made a research on local herbal medicine and we found out there is a permanent  cure with natural herbs and roots medicine.Of Dr James the great herbal doctor from west Africa, on how he uses his herba mix medicine to cure several diseases like Alzheimer's disease,Lung diseases,Leukemia, Bipolar,Schizophrenia,kidney diseases, Valvular heart,  pulmonary hypertension,  SHINGLES,WARTS,ladder cancerBreast cancerColorectal cancerKidney cancerLeukemiaLung cancerNon-Hodgkin lymphomaProstate cancerSkin cancerUterine cancerParkinson's,Alzheimer’s disease,Bechet’s disease,Crohn’s disease
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    Syndrome Fibrodysplasia Ossificans ProgresSclerosis,Seizures,Alzheimer's disease,Adrenocortical carcinoma.Asthma,Allergic diseases.Hiv_ Aids,Herpe ,Copd,Glaucoma., Cataracts,Macular degeneration,Cardiovascular disease,Lung disease.Enlarged prostate,Osteoporosis.
    Dementia.,Hiv_ Aids,Herpes,Inflammatory bowel disease ,Copd,Diabetes,Hepatitis B, MASTOCYTOSIS,and we proceeded and contacted him on his email Drjamesherbalmix@gmail.com..and he said he will help us. 2 days later He told us the herbal medicine is ready and he sent it to us.After 3 weeks of the usage as he prescribed to us.believe me my husband was totally cured of Mastocytosis.You can reach  Dr.James on his Email  Drjamesherbalmix@gmail.com He is a good man and he's gonna help you

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