Hystiocytoma On Back Leg

[Guest got2now]

Our 3 and a half year old grey hashad this yucky red bump on the back of his hind leg for at least a month. The vet said it was a hystiocytoma and that they're usually benign and go away on their own, but that we should keep an eye on it. It's not attached to the bone, just the skin. A week ago, I took him back to the vet. She aspiratied it and was able to get a small sample to send off, which was sent off to the lab. The small sample she got looked benign, so she said she'd leave the decision up to me

about removing it now or waiting. It's been a week, and it still keeps on getting bigger and redder. ecause of the location, she'll have to put him under anasthesia, which he's done well under before, and it's in a spot he can lick. I'm not sure what to do. Hate waiting. Does anyone have any experience with these?

 

 

[Guest mandm]

My greyhound had one on the tip of his ear. It kept getting bigger & uglier. My kids wouldn't pet him because they said his ear grossed them out. He couldn't lick it, but he would scratch it, and then it would bleed and he'd get blood on things. Because of the location of my greyhound's histiocytoma, the ear being very vascular and likely to bleed a lot, the vet said that removing it would require stiches, which would require sedation. So I opted to let it be. It went away on it's own in about 3 months.

[Hawthorn]

Yes, my two 3 year olds have both had one of these.

 

Sunny's was on his neck and we had it removed because the vet said it was too small to do a needle biopsy and we weren't sure what it was. Sophie had one on her leg which the vet did a needle biopsy of and said it was a histiocytoma. We left this one alone and it went away within about a month. Sunny now has another one on his ear. As this is in an awkward place for removal, we're hoping it will go away on its own.

 

I understand that they do normally disappear within 3 months but not always. I read somewhere that sometimes injecting them with steroids sometimes makes them go, so maybe you could ask your vet about that? I think that if it's growing rapidly I might be tempted to have it removed, as the larger it gets the more difficult it will be to remove it, but I know it's not easy choosing to put them through the risk of an anaesthetic for something relatively minor.

 

Let us know what you decide.

[Guest rippasmom]

Rippa had 2 on her right front leg, one was at the elbow and the other on her paw right above the middle pad. When hers started to look worse I went back to the vet who said that it was bigger but also softer. It cleared up a few weeks later.

[macoduck]

Gracie has one on her rear foot that has come and gone 3 times. She doesn't lick it. The first time it appeared the vet gave antibiotics but I think that was more for me than Gracie. As long as it looks exactly the same it time I don't worry. If you a black discoloration within the red bump, get it rechecked.

Gracie's bump usually lasts 3-4 months.

Edited August 8, 2008 by macoduck

[Guest got2now]

I don't mind leaving it alone for a time to see if it goes away. I'm glad to hear from mandm that some take 3 months to drop off - I had read only a few weeks or a month. I just worry about it being a mast cell tumor, a possiblity the vet mentioned, and if it is, I wouldn't want to give it any more time. Even though the sample didn't show any mast cells, it could easily have missed them, as I understand.

[carronstar]

Aquitaine got one on her tummy a month after she came to me. It appeared overnight and scared the crap out of me. I took a picture and emailed it to my vet the Saturday it happened. He came over on Monday to check her out, did a needle aspirate and said it would go away on its own. It took about 6-8 weeks to go away. She has never had another one in the following 17 months.

[gryhnd_adoptee]

One of our girlies had one a couple of months after we got her. It was in a bad place right between all the pads of her feet, sorta like our palms to us. She was put on two rounds of anitbiotics and some steroid drops which we put directly on it several times a day to help shrink it. It took several weeks to go away, but once it started to shrink it seemed to go away as fast as it came on. The method of treatment worked well, although slow, but if prevented surgery.

[Guest snowberry]

Herbie's had a couple and they do go away - but they can be quite itchy, Herbie would scratch his until they looked all scabby and horrible. Each time, it took a couple of months, but they healed without a scar or anything.

[Guest got2now]

I wonder if anyone has personally heard of or had a hystiocytoma on a fairly young greyhound that was malignant.

[Guest greytmonty]

Monty had a benign one that got big and never went away, so we had it removed.

[Guest RavenRacersMom]

Bernie has a little red one on his inner thight that the doc says is a hystiocytoma. He did a fine needle draw of the cells and said that it should go away. I'm still waiting....

 

It does not seem to hurt him and he did not budge when the doc put the needle in. My boy likes needles more than I do!

[patricia]

Pavé had one on her chin that went away with treatment...but it took quite awhile.

[Guest budsmom]

Bud just had one. It appeared like overnight, on his left elbow. The vet aspirated and send the slide out to be read to confirm it was a histio. His went away in about a month, but it could take up to 3 months is what I found in all the research I did. I also found a reference that there has never been a recorded death due to a histiocytoma, that made me feel a ton better. His did get kind of icky before it finally went away, but it did go away. He just has a little bald spot where it was.