My one dog Tynan is constantly licking Peluche's lump. He's not all that maternal usually, just protective of his brothers, but with Peluche he's always watching making sure he's okay. There were times when a foster would be bugging Peluche and Tynan would go and stand in between. He's not a fighter but makes it clear he doesn't like his family being bothered, lol.

When I first got Peluche he had a nasty and angry looking lump on his side. It was very inflamed and red. Tynan would constantly lick it no matter how many times I asked him to knock it off. Eventually it completely disappeared. Would Tynan keeping it clean have helped it heal? I wonder if the same thing will happen with this burst lump.

Well, in the wild all they have is their tongues, so who knows..................there are times of course when the last thing you want is lots of licking, but if it is another dog doing the cleaning up then perhaps they know when to stop, whereas a dog licking itself might keep at it for too long.

Oh I don't know

Peluche had his vet appointment this morning. The regular vet is on holiday's so it was a replacement vet. I wasn't too impressed with her as I am very particular about which vet I use. I am not in a good place financially. I lost my job last year and my benefits ran out, so I have zero income right now. I told her this and she gives me a quote of over $600 for x-rays, blood tests, etc and a $450 quote for a biopsy. I use another vet for certain things so I contacted them and they're going to send me a quote for his treatment. Their prices for these sorts of things are generally more reasonable. Hopefully it will be more within our budget.

I swear, Peluche is going to give me a heart attack. Yesterday he became lame in one of his front legs. Eventually he would walk on it but was favouring it. Last night I fell asleep on the couch and he woke me up a couple of times crying during the night. I felt so bad for him. Turns out it's his shoulder. It's not broken or he wouldn't be able to walk on it. The vet gave some pain medication and if he's still in bad shape by next week, i'm going to get some x-rays done. I'm just paranoid that it could be bone cancer. Not too sure if it's common at all in small breed dogs or not. As for the ruptured lump, they gave him some antibiotics and he will be going back to the vet in a week to see how everything is looking. I want to get a biopsy or a fine needle aspiration to rule out cancer.

Graphic pics of Peluche's ruptured lump. My poor little man.

Oh my goodness, you are really going through the mill with your little dog aren't you

I wasn't expecting to see that sort of thing with the lump - it's certainly not a pretty sight and is much bigger than I imagined, but it does look nice and clean which is something. The ABs will keep infection at bay until further investigations and I do hope that the other vet comes up with a scheme, and a more reasonable fee, so that you can get this sorted out.

As for the shoulder, I have absolutely everything crossed that Peluche has just pulled something and that he is sound again very soon.

A big cuddle for you, because it sounds as if you need it.