Off To The Vet We Go

Last weekend, I realized that Reyna had a lump on her right rear leg, between the foot pad and the ankle. I had noticed her licking at that spot earlier, and then on Saturday afternoon, I realized she was limping a bit and she would sit in a way to keep that spot off the ground. When I examined the area, she was pretty sensitive about it, and there was a noticeable swelling. Not something easily seen, because of the fur, but definitely easy to feel.

Monday afternoon, we went to the vet’s. It was nice to realize that the last time we were there for a problem was back in November, when Reyna got caught in Duncan’s collar. We’d made it almost three whole months without an incident.

The vet took a sample of the lump and was able to tell me that there were no cancerous cells, which was a HUGE relief. He did see inflamed and infected cells, which made sense. He said it looked like an acral lick granuloma, but the problem with that theory was that dogs don’t get acral lick granulomas in that particular area. But, this is Reyna. We both agreed that, with her obsessive-compulsive personality, its entirely possible that something scratched her, she licked the spot to make it feel better, and then just couldn’t stop. I hadn’t noticed her licking the area all that much, but this pesky job thing does keep me out of the house a good bit.

So, for the last week, we’ve been treating the area like an acral lick, and I’m to call the vet tomorrow and update him. Thankfully, the swelling does seem to have gone down over the last few days. Unfortunately, since we started messing with that spot, Reyna’s been licking it more than ever, so I’ve had to really keep on her about that. She has this funny habit of licking really fast as soon as I tell her to stop, almost as if she knows I’m going to make her stop and she has to get in as many licks as possible before I get to her. It would be cute, if it weren’t so darn annoying.