My girl will be 8 years in May. In Sept this year my vet noticed that in back of her "udder" behind the last nipples there was enlargement of some kind of mess/tumor or some kind of swelling (we didn't take any sample). When she was doing a palpation my girl squeaked and obviously was hurting. My vet thought it didn't feel like a tumor and also said that if it were a tumor she wouldn't be hurting in it.. so she thought it might just be some kind of swelling and gave us a antibiotics and med to reduce the swelling. After this everything looked good, but I noticed this "swelling" again and from what I can tell it's a bit larger than the last time. Of course I will take her in to the vet to check it out and probably take some sample of it but I wanted to ask if anyone is familiar with this?
TIA

It sounds as if it might be an infected tumor, mass or cyst near one of her teats or breast. My first thought is a Granuloma. If antibiotics helped and then it re inflamed perhaps it's not the correct antibiotic needed to fully treat a possible infection.

Malignant growths normally don't come down in size unless there is an infection also. I would think you want to rule out any type of malignancy too obviously.

Maybe your vet can do a needle biopsy or make a small incision for tissue to be sent out. She might try treating with a different antibiotic until the pathology comes back. If they can find out what type of bacterial infection *might* be in a mass, they can choose the correct antibiotic to treat it. A biopsy would also rule out a malignancy and tell you the type of cell is within the mass, tumor or cyst.

As you're going back to your vet, that is the person you would want to make the most educated suggestions.

I hope your girl is treated with the correct medications or other treatment needed and gets better soon. I would imagine she must be unconformtable if she let out a cry when the mass was palpated.

As she's 7 1/2 now, did your girl have a litter within the past year or so? If so, perhaps during pups nursing something happened to infect the area. Any chance she ever had mastitis in that spot or area and has she been spayed? Is she your oldest labrador?

Hi and thank you for your respond!
Yes she's my oldest Labrador. She has had 2 litters in the past and was her last litter in 2008 when she was 4 years of age. She did not have any mastitis during pregnancy nor when she was nursing the puppies. She has been spayed since Jan 2010.
On daily basis she doesn't seem to be hurting at all... she eats, drinks and play's with the rest of the pack. It's only when you palpate the area that you can feel the enlargement. It feels like a banana+ an kiwi in the middle of it. She didn't complain earlier today when I was doing a palpation but than again I didn't want to touch it hard.

Hi Hildur,
It is probably the mammary lymph node that is inflamed. What your vet needs to find out is what is causing it. Bacterial infections or tumors are the most common cause. If she is spayed, tumor is less likely but still possible.
A biopsy would give you the final answer.

Good luck!

Thanks for the answers!! I sure hope this isn't anything serious!! She's our queen bee and is much loved by all the family members!

There is one malignancy that will seem to grow then shrink, then grow again. Mast cell tumors will do this, particularly when something irritates them, they get bigger because they swell in an allergy reaction. They aren't always on the surface of the skin, can be lumps under the skin too. Just wanted to throw that out there as another reason tumors might appear to shrink.

Hildur, do you have any grasses like cheat grass where you live, maybe she has some kind of encysted sharp grass seedhead?

I too would think your vet would do a small biopsy.

That's pretty much what my vet told me after the fact with our 13 year old girl who had a mast cell tumor removed this year between two toes of a front paw. There was a small puffy soft lump on top of the paw just above where the two toes came together. Then it was gone for about 2 weeks, then came back again. So since our vet clinic is just a few miles from where I work, I dropped her off to be checked out. Doc found a hard core between the toes. She stayed over to have the surgery to remove it and before we got path results back, he had mentioned that it was spider like and was a tough surgery to try to get it all because of the location. Path report came back Grade II Mast Cell tumor, mitotic index "0". I know he usually does a needle aspirate first (at least every time I've been present), so either he didn't do one that time (which I doubt) or it didn't show mast cells, because he told me after we got path report back that he never suspected it was a mast cell tumor, an unlikely location for one.

Valwhalen, I'm sorry your old girl had a mast cell tumor. It's great that the MI is low though. Don't know if you have ever run across this article http://vet.sagepub.com/content/44/3/335.full

Thanks for the link Laurel, I scanned it over real quick but will sit down and read it in it's entirety.

Knock on wood our ole gal is doing good. This was her 4th surgery to remove mast cell tumors, first being at just turning 3 years old (2 close together on flank), then 6 months later on opposite side in the shoulder (at which time we decided not to ever breed her and she was spayed shortly after), then she went 10 years and last year one appeared near the original site on her flank, then the 4th was this most recent one between the toes. This was the first time I was told the mitotic index.

Have you been to the vet and what did she have to say Hildur? Any new medications or a biopsy?

Thank you for asking! No not yet.... everything is closed between the holidays now.. she is not in any pain and she is happy and "looks" healthy, is eating and drinking, BUT I am taking her as soon as the vet's office opens.