Not a tumor - gloves!
My dear friend's daughter Jeni has an old "big loveable mutt" that's getting on in years. Bandit hasn't been in the best of health, and arthritis has stolen his ability to go on the backpacking trips...
Forum Discussion
brewjaz wrote:
Happy her and her pup--but I agree with others--the vet should've known the difference. I wonder how many times this has happened and been misdiagnosed by a less than efficient vet....
It's not always that easy. Cloth is not radio-opaque (like metal, stones, etc.) and appears like all the other soft tissue - including tumors. Location of the mass might help differentiate and further X-ray studies (like barium) could better light up what's going on (but that's more money). Then an ultrasound might be useful in differentiating tumor vs. foreign body.
Most of the time we go with a list of possibles in a differential diagnosis and base the plan on the most likely.
I've had cases like this where I suspect tumor, but couldn't rule out a foreign object. Often times we have done an exploratory to make sure there was nothing that could be done and euthanize on the table and not let them wake up if the situation could not be corrected. It's always another option.
Glad things worked out.
Doug, DVM
