lymphoma????

[TayTay04]

Two days ago, I noticed my dachshund "dolly" had a lump on the side of her neck. It looked pretty bad so we called the vet and asked if maybe we could give her some benedryl in case she had an allergic reaction to something. We gave her the proper dosage of benedryl and checked it in the morning. It had not gone down so we immediately took her to the vet. He said that she could have fluids built up from a cyst and they tried to see if they could get anything out with a needle but nothing came out. Then he said that it could be an abcess and that he would put her on antibiotics. He gave her a shot of antibiotics and also pills. She started taking the pills last night. She's had the shot, and three doses of her antibiotics and so far, there has been no change in the lump. It is only on the right side of her neck and it is a hard lump. We are not sure how old she is because we found her about three years ago. She also sneezes all the time, when she plays especially and she will sneeze several times, and also has had really bad breath. I'm not sure if this could be related but do you think this could be cancer? What should we do if it is?

[TayTay04]

Thank you so much for your advice. She has only been on the medication for a day and a half and i'm already freaking out. I'm  just really worried because I'm  not sure how old she is. My mom loves dachshunds (she has 7) and Dolly ran out in front of her on a very stormy day about three years ago and almost got ran over. She had no coller and there were no houses within miles so my mom decided to take her home. She has been so spoiled and we love her a lot. We are all hopeing that it won't be cancer. She has had really bad breath since we found her but I never really thought too much about it. I will definitely be informing the vet of that when we take her back.  Thanks again! I'll give an update as soon as we find out something!

[Jaybay]

Sure, it's possible that it's a cancerous growth, but the only way to make certain is to have it biopsied.  If the antibiotics don't help in a few more days, ask your vet about having the biopsy done.  It may just be a benign cyst, but may need to be surgically removed in either case.  

Did you notice any decrease in the sneezing once you got the benadryl on board?  

The bad breath actually concerns me more than the lump.  Can you tell if she has puffy red gums (gingivitis) or a lot of tartar buildup on her teeth?  She may just need to be knocked out and have her teeth thoroughly cleaned to get rid of the bad breath.  If that isn't the cause of the halitosis, you'll need to consider more serious problems like diabetes, kidney or liver failure.  Don't forget to bring this issue to your vet's attention.

I'm so happy that you took responsibility for this little girl when you found her.  Congratulations on being a great doggie parent!  Since you don't know her entire medical history, I know it makes it frustrating and difficult to figure out her health issues.  Try not to fixate on this lump being cancerous.  There are too many other things to consider before jumping on that particular bandwagon. So far, I think your vet has provided reasonable treatment.  Just keep after him if the antibiotics don't resolve the problem.