Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Teri

My maltese has a small puffy node on her left eye, just slightly left of bottom center. It was not there yesterday. Is this a sty? What do I do? Will it go away? Thanks for your help. I know I came to the right people!

DISCUSSION:

Have not seen this in my dogs, but if I did, I would be off to the vet.
-Marsha A.

Teri, If this is on the eye lid, it may be a Histiocytoma/rapidly growing button-like tumor. These occur in young dogs and are mostly found on the feet, ears or face. Sometimes they disappear on their own in a few weeks. Sometimes they must be removed.They are NOT cancer! They are very scarey looking and this is a very delicate area even for a biopsy. I would consult my Vet. Hope all goes well. Keep us posted.
-Doreen

Rastus developed a small cyst, about the size of a pinhead, on his lower eyelid. It grew to about the size of a peppercorn so we got the vet to take it off, but it came back again several months later. It got bigger again, but then it inexplicably got smaller and eventually all but disappeared. If you think it might be a sty, you could try rubbing a gold ring very gently across it (no joke - I know several people who swear that this works on humans) and it should go away in a couple of days. If it doesn't go away and it is getting bigger, or if you are really worried, I would have it checked out by the vet.
-Deanna

Teri, I don't know if this will help, but when I was a kid we had cocker spaniels and a couple of them had problems similar to what your are describing. We had to take them to the vet to have the "thing" removed. I don't know what it was because I was just a little girl and wasn't really involved with the health care, but I do recall the circumstances. Also, I believe that whatever these "puffy red things" were, they got larger over time. So, I would take your baby to the vet to be checked if I were you.
-cathy brown

Go to the vet. Not just for your dog, but for yourself. It is so nice to have that professional consultation when you are concerned about something of this nature. A few months ago my Clancy had a red bulb (thing) appear between her claws on her paw. We had surgery to remove it. It was sent to the University for analysis and it turned out to be a heptocitoma (horrible spelling I'm sure). It was cancerous. A form that is agressive locally, but will not spread to other parts of the body. The vet said that if we had not caught it right away there was a possibility that we would have had to amputate her leg (scared the heck out of me). Anyway, since then I noticed a tiny pimple sized mark on her head just above her ear and it naturally made me nervous. I brought her to the vet and he confirmed that this was a normal growth and was not worrisome. He also rechecked her paw and was impressed by how it has healed. If she was going to have any further problems they should have shown up by now. It is really nice to have the vet confirm that you little darling will be fine. Either way, good news or bad, it is best to know.
-Carina

Thank you all for your help. I just wanted to let you know that the small lump on the eye was an infected hair folicle and it is almost gone now. Thanks again!
-Teri