I was doing research last night and ridgebacks came up quite a bit. Im concerned about the possibility that it will be connected to his spine but then the specialist should know this and know what he's doing I guess.

Just really hope insurance agree to pay and don't quibble about him having bald patches since birth as I dread to think what it will cost.

I am so glad it is nothing to serious for poor Monty and hopefully you can get the insurance to pay out!!

All fingers and paws crossed from me and Monty!

oh so glad to hear it isnt anything too bad and can be removed!

I'm glad to hear that you know what it is, and that it can be removed, fingers crossed now that your insurance will pay up.

Wasn't really sure whether to put this in dog health or not and didn't know how to title it for dog health so mods please feel free to move/rename accordingly.

We've had the quote through for removing the lump on Monty's head and it ain't pretty. It would need to be done by a specialist and based on his medical history and pictures they have seen they are estimated £3000

The quote covers removing the lump, re-structuring the skin on his head and bringing skin up from other area's and upto 5 days in a dog hospital to be able to monitor and drain any excess fluids.

I'm at a complete loss of what to do, in an ideal world insurance will pay out but the vet is suggesting they won't as he's had the patches since birth and they've developed into a lump over time. We never declared them to the insurance as a pup as we were told they were birthmark type patches and nothing untoward.

The vet is also telling us that we could leave the lump but there is a good chance it will continue to grow or cause him problems later in life so he is advising we have it removed as soon as possible but if insurance say no then I just don't know how we'll find the money.

My mentality says that we could leave it and see what happens but if it does get worse and we have to have it removed then next year it could cost £4000 or more because of growth etc.

At the moment i want to see if insurance will pay out for the biopsy he had done to diagnose as if they pay for that then technically they should pay for the treatment that has been advised as a result of that but knowing insurance companies (and my luck) they won't.

I just don't know what to do. I'm sat trying to work out what we could sell in the house to raise the funds or whether we could afford to borrow the money if needs be.

Sorry for the long rambling post and sorry if it doesn't make much sense, i'm just in a bit of shock at the cost and now worrying about what to do.

I feel like I have to do whatever it takes to get him that op as i feel like i've neglected him by not insisting something was done sooner or not thinking myself that it was more than just a birthmark type lump.

That is an incredible amount of money.
I have absolutely no idea of your financial situation, but that's not the kind of money I'd be able to spend on my dog. God that sounds so harsh.

Don't feel guilt- you were told it was nothing to worry about.

I have everything crossed for you that the insurance pays.
This is exactly the sort of thing we get insurance for!!!

we're not hard up but we certainly don't have £3000 readily available.

I'm wondering if there would be ways for you to fundraise towards the costs of the op. Not sure where to start on things like that though. Perhaps others on here would have experiance.

So sorry to hear of this.

hi
when was the first time in montys medical history that any marks/lumps were mentioned? and do you know what was written?

Hey layla, i saw his notes when they were sent off for the claim for the biopsy and they said that the lumps were there from a puppy. I don't think they said from birth but can't be sure