Good News and Bad News

In her crate and ready to head to the vet's office

Today Kasha and I took a trip to the vet office to have her microchip inserted and also to update her DHPP vaccination since her last one was in 2010. It was going to be an easy visit - no need to see a vet since she saw one in CA for her health certificate - and then I'd pop her on the scale to see what her weight was.

There's a slight shadow of a waist, starting to form on Kasha

The good news is that this girl who arrived at the shelter weighing 20 pounds when her owner surrendered her is already down to 18 pounds, 4 ounces. Good work, Kasha!  We'll continue her daily walks and her food portioning and the vet said that our goal of 14 to 15 pounds is excellent for her. She said that she'll be a svelte little muscly gal at that weight.

Kasha says "HEY, it's rude to take pictures of a girl's butt!"

While I waited for the vet tech to come and get Kasha for her vaccination she sat on my lap and I noticed a marble sized lump behind the base of her right ear. It was in a section covered in black fur so didn't really stand out well. Crud. Lumps and bumps are always worrisome so I asked the assistant at the front desk if there was any way that she could squeeze Kasha in to be examined by one of the vets. They made room for us and in just about 10 minutes we were back in the room.

Kasha also has a tiny little bump on her left eyelid that I've been watching and thought might be a tick bite. The vet checked her heart (all good) and then felt her all over for any additional bumps. Thank goodness we were just dealing with the two of them. Dr. Vicky was pretty sure they were cysts but said that eyelid cysts that sit on the inside of the lid like hers did sometimes don't resolve themselves and she worried that surgery might be needed for it. Steroidal eyedrops were prescribed that will be given 3 times daily and the cyst will be reassessed in a week.

Applying pressure to the aspirated lump

The larger lump behind her ear needed to be aspirated just to make sure that it was indeed a cyst. So I waited for her in the waiting area and soon they brought her out with some gauze I needed to hold on the ear to keep some pressure on it and stop the bleeding. Kasha was not happy with this and she wiggled and squirmed and groaned and threw her coat so that we were a wiggling cloud of white dog fur. Below is a video of what she sounded like during this ordeal. After the bleeding stopped she explored the office, sniffing things politely but quietly, friendly and interested in her surroundings.

Sniffing what her foster mom calls "junk food"

Greeting a Doodle named Mocha who was a polite gentleman

Then the vet came out to talk to us and unfortunately the news wasn't good. The lump behind her ear is not a cyst, but instead is a mast cell tumor. At this point it is not known if it is cancerous or not but the vet says due to the feel of the tumor and Kasha's age she is pretty sure it is a stage one tumor which has a great prognosis. The tumor will be sent in and checked after it is removed next Tuesday. If the lump on her eyelid has not reduced in size by that time, it will need to be removed at that time as well so think good thoughts for this sweet girl who has had her share of bad luck recently. We'll keep you posted.

If you'd like to learn more about mast cell tumors, here is a great video by Dr. Karen Becker.

Mast Cell Tumors in Dogs and Cats