I noticed an egg shaped lump near Brooks' underarm area a few months ago. It slides around easily when you feel it, & is very soft.
The vet felt it and told me it was nothing to worry about, that it was just a lipoma and he wouldn't need to do anything about it.
How can he be sure just by feeling it? Shouldn't he aspirate some of it to be tested?

Yes an aspirate should be done to set your mind at ease.
Is it slow growing or fast?

My girl has plenty of lipomas. The vet could tell straight away by simply looking at this new one that it was nasty even though it kinda looked like her other one. This one also felt harder and was more grounded.

Your vet would have taken the age of your golden into consideration. He would have felt lots of non harmful lipomas in his time. Most vets will offer or at be willing to do an aspirate if asked. All of our other times the vet asked if we wanted it done but they did not really urge us to do it until she saw this large fast growing lump. Just remember that even needle aspirates are not that accurate.

I hope that your confident vet is right and that it is just a fatty lipoma. I would watch it carefully and see if it grows over the next few weeks. For us lipomas were just a part of life for an older retriever. Good luck!!

Yes, he should aspirate the lump, put the aspirate on a slide, add water and if they don't mix, bingo.....fatty tumor=lipoma. My vet aspirates all new suspected lipomas just to be on the safe side.

__________________
Golden retrievers think life is a party thrown especially for them

I just found two lumps on Brady, and my vet told me at this point they were too small to be aspirated. How big are Brooks'?

One is on each side of his shoulders, so we are thinking it is from his vaccines.

__________________

I agree with Doug, a fine needle aspirate can be done, but generally when they are right under the skin and feel soft, they are generally benign. If it grows you might want to have it removed just for comfort.

My senior lab mix has so many lipomas, too many to aspirate everything. And cutting them out, he would look like a patchwork quilt or Frankenstein's monster.

Like others said, you can have a fine needle aspirate done to ease your mind. Yes, not all aspirates are correct, because it is hard to get really deep into tissue.

__________________
My boys from left to right:
Thunder Dachsi Toby




http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...is-issues.html

My Toby, my heart dog 3/12/2003 - 3/30/2013, I miss you Toby!


Christa

I don't think it has grown since I first noticed it (weird how just one day I noticed it, but maybe I just never touched his under arm/side in that exact place before? I know when I tried to show it to the vet tech before the vet came in, it took about 5 min of feeling before I could find it again).

To be 100% sure the only way to know is to take it off and biopsy it. Hearing that it is located in the armpit area I might have it removed since if it starts growing bigger it will be harder to take off and may inhibit his movement.

__________________

I would think you should ask the vet to aspirtate to have peace of mind. I'm sorry Brooks is getting to the age where those bumps start to appear. Oakly's vet asked if I felt any bump's on him as he "was getting to be that age". It made me sad.

__________________

Our vet attempts an aspirate if it otherwise doesn't appear to be something else, but we usually elect to have them removed at the next scheduled sedated dental, to prevent further growth that might interfere with movement or quality of life.

We also asked for a dog body map with Barkley and started mapping them, measuring them when discovered, so we could monitor growth.

__________________


Meet Yogi! http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/...tion-yogi.html