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Last night after eating her dinner Shadow came into me for lots of pats. As I was patting her and massage her I felt what I thought was a lump near the back of her neck, more down near her shoulder blades. 
I did panic, but I thought perhaps it was the angle I'd been patting her, so I move to a different place and checked her out again. Yep definitely a golf ball sized lump. What the...!!!!!! I'd been patting her all day in that area, we'd even just bought her a back pack so I think I would have noticed a lump that size when I was fitting the pack to her.
Needless to say we were going to the vet, the only vet open at that time would be an ER vet and it would cost a fortune. I rang the vet first, I explained to the receptionist what I'd found. The receptionist told me the prices, then asked if Shadow was acting any different, No Shadow was the same no behavior change at all. She asked if we wanted to come in the next day (today) because it would be cheaper, I checked with my son, no he wanted answers now!. I said no we would come in now, becuase it wasn't there earlier when we pat her and it's huge.
We were worried that it was a bite of some sort, or even something more sinister.
When we got to the vets office it was about 8.30 last night. The receptionist was a (insert impolite word here) She says" this clinic is for emergencies only". Umm yeah as far as we are concerned this is an emergency, our dog has suddenly developed a golf ball sized lump at the base of her neck, it wasn't there before, yes she seams fine now but do we know that it isn't going to get bigger and start restricting some vital organ? I also stated that I rang before coming in and explained why we wanted to see a vet and was never told don't bring her in, had I been told that we would have gone else where. in a very smug tone she then says But if you see the vet tonight it will cost you $100.00+ as opposed to $40.00 tomorrow (today). "We were told the prices when we rang, Shadow has private health insurance, we don't want to be waiting until tomorrow afternoon when we don't know what we are dealing with, thank you". So she made us wait for about 2 hours before we were seen. That's ok, other more serious cases were coming in and if things deteriorated with Shadow at all we were where we needed to be.
We finally got in to see the vet. The vet felt the lump then stuck a needle in it to get some fluid out. Turns out our big scarey lump is probably a now very expensive bruise :blush:. The vet asked if she had knocked her self today? No we'd been with her all day, apart from a quick trip to the shop to try on a back pack and a little play in the new pool/pond we'd just bought her, she had basically been laying in front of the air con all day because it was so hot. The vet then asked us what was in the back pack, I got the impression she didn't approve. Nothing, she tried it on, we bought it, but it's had nothing in it yet. The lump wasn't there when she tried it on, I would have felt it.
The vet then says I don't suppose she plays with any other dogs. Ahh, yes she does, she is very social. Vet's facial expression=:blush: Hmm so much for thinking german shepherd= unsocial. She was playing with my sisters Lab yesterday, they hadn't seen each other in about a month and were both very excited, so it probably happened then and has just taken awhile to come up.
The whole exercise ended up costing $124.50 to find out it's a bruise, we will get back $24.50 on our insurance, but the peace of mind knowing this thing isn't sinister, shouldn't get any bigger is priceless
I said to my son in the car on the way home, how good it was to find out it's probably just a bruise. His response was "yeah, $124.50 bruise".
I did panic, but I thought perhaps it was the angle I'd been patting her, so I move to a different place and checked her out again. Yep definitely a golf ball sized lump. What the...!!!!!! I'd been patting her all day in that area, we'd even just bought her a back pack so I think I would have noticed a lump that size when I was fitting the pack to her.Needless to say we were going to the vet, the only vet open at that time would be an ER vet and it would cost a fortune. I rang the vet first, I explained to the receptionist what I'd found. The receptionist told me the prices, then asked if Shadow was acting any different, No Shadow was the same no behavior change at all. She asked if we wanted to come in the next day (today) because it would be cheaper, I checked with my son, no he wanted answers now!. I said no we would come in now, becuase it wasn't there earlier when we pat her and it's huge.
We were worried that it was a bite of some sort, or even something more sinister.
When we got to the vets office it was about 8.30 last night. The receptionist was a (insert impolite word here) She says" this clinic is for emergencies only". Umm yeah as far as we are concerned this is an emergency, our dog has suddenly developed a golf ball sized lump at the base of her neck, it wasn't there before, yes she seams fine now but do we know that it isn't going to get bigger and start restricting some vital organ? I also stated that I rang before coming in and explained why we wanted to see a vet and was never told don't bring her in, had I been told that we would have gone else where. in a very smug tone she then says But if you see the vet tonight it will cost you $100.00+ as opposed to $40.00 tomorrow (today). "We were told the prices when we rang, Shadow has private health insurance, we don't want to be waiting until tomorrow afternoon when we don't know what we are dealing with, thank you". So she made us wait for about 2 hours before we were seen. That's ok, other more serious cases were coming in and if things deteriorated with Shadow at all we were where we needed to be.
We finally got in to see the vet. The vet felt the lump then stuck a needle in it to get some fluid out. Turns out our big scarey lump is probably a now very expensive bruise :blush:. The vet asked if she had knocked her self today? No we'd been with her all day, apart from a quick trip to the shop to try on a back pack and a little play in the new pool/pond we'd just bought her, she had basically been laying in front of the air con all day because it was so hot. The vet then asked us what was in the back pack, I got the impression she didn't approve. Nothing, she tried it on, we bought it, but it's had nothing in it yet. The lump wasn't there when she tried it on, I would have felt it.
The vet then says I don't suppose she plays with any other dogs. Ahh, yes she does, she is very social. Vet's facial expression=
:blush: Hmm so much for thinking german shepherd= unsocial. She was playing with my sisters Lab yesterday, they hadn't seen each other in about a month and were both very excited, so it probably happened then and has just taken awhile to come up. The whole exercise ended up costing $124.50 to find out it's a bruise, we will get back $24.50 on our insurance, but the peace of mind knowing this thing isn't sinister, shouldn't get any bigger is priceless
I said to my son in the car on the way home, how good it was to find out it's probably just a bruise. His response was "yeah, $124.50 bruise".
