# Protrusion on Ribs



## CavePaws

Cole's (my boyfriend) dog Pooper, my dog Indi's sister, has a protrusion on her ribcage. It looks to me like swelling, when I feel it she doesn't wince or cry. From what I'm reading it could be so many things. It looks to me like she bumped it really hard on something and now it's just swelling up. It seems to have gotten bigger within the last hour or so, we hadn't noticed it until she was laying down on the bed a few hours ago. This dog is pretty skinny naturally so any little bump like this is really noticeable, but again, it's worrisome. 

The lump is located towards the back of her ribcage sort of centered in the middle. 

Cole is obviously freaking out because this is his baby. He's taking her to the vet in the morning.

/sigh

My dogs just keep getting hurt. UGHH.

edit: taking pics now.




























And here is a cute one, no lump involved. I caught them asleep on the couch and woke Poo up with the flash on accident.


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## Nani

Could be an abscess from who knows what? Maybe a spider or bug bite or sting? I'm sending lots of easy fix healing vibes your guy's way!!!!!!!


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## CavePaws

I can't be sure what this thing is...I'm feeling it and it's soft, not hard at all, when you feel it it's not particularly uniform, as in it's not like a ball of anything. It feels like swelling of the tissue on her ribs, I know what abscess' feel like generally, this doesn't really feel like that...But I am no veterinarian. And I know it's impossible to tell what the heck this thing is online, we'll have to have it felt and biopsied probably.


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## Ania's Mommy

What does it feel like? Is it kinda firm? Or does it feel like it's filled with fluid? If it feels squishy and fluidy, it could be an infection. Ania had something similar, and it turned out that she scraped her leg in the woods and got a little bit of dirt or something in it. It got infected and swelled up a LOT by the second day. Here's a picture of what it looked like AFTER we had it drained:









This was from a little tiny scrape that got a little tiny bit of dirt in it. Ania was good as new within days. Hopefully Pooper's swelling is from something just as minor!

ETA: looks like I took way to long to reply, and you already answered my question.


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## CavePaws

Yes! It feels kind of squishy, not really squishy or filled per se, but definitely more squishy than the rest of the tissue around there. Thanks for the pic of Ania's leg, it really helps! Were you able to see the scrape under her fur at all? I can't see any scrapes or anything on Poo...


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## Ania's Mommy

We could see a tiny scrape. It was, like, half an inch long. What we think happened is that she scraped it on a sharp rock when she went barreling down a hill. SHe likely got the injury on Saturday. Sunday she was fine. Monday, she started swelling. She was in obvious pain, and she stopped putting weight on it as time went by. We took her to the vet late Monday afternoon. Also, the area felt hot to the touch.

Here's some pics of the actual wound:


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## CavePaws

Dang! That small little thing caused so much swelling! Well, today the lump seems to have gone down and has almost disappeared...I don't know what to make of it...I couldn't find any cuts or scrapes either!


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## Ania's Mommy

Well that's great to hear! It's likely that Nani had the right of it and it was a bug bit or something. I might take him in to the vet anyway, just to be safe and for some piece of mind. Especially because, if I remember right, you and your vet are quite friendly.

Yeah, all of those pictures were taken AFTER they had already drained the beast. It was HUUUGE before. We actually didn't see the cut until after the vet pointed it out to us. Dang fur! We thought that she may have torn a ligament or something and we were freaking out. Not that you'd have to worry about torn ligaments in Pooper's ribcage. :wink:

Glad to hear he's on the mend! Keep us posted.


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## CavePaws

I'll be calling our vet and seeing if I can get her an appt. sometime today. I think they'll want to x-ray it...There really isn't anything there any more, it's so weird. I'm thinking she could have really bumped it or something playing at the lake yesterday or in the house. Could be a bug bite too! I think I'd have to shave the area to see something that small.

Wow! That's crazy all of that was after the drainage. o_o it must have been HUGE.


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