Who's My Little Benign Growth?

     When I adopted Buffaloo (shhhh, I haven't told him yet) there was a lengthy application process. They checked with my landlord to make sure it was okay. It was not, but I was able to get them to amend the "forbidden dogs list" to something more reasonable than "ones with fur and tails." That's hyperbolic, sure, but not by much. At one point, the person asked, "How much will you spend to keep this dog healthy, should he need medical treatment?"

     I floundered, unable to answer. One thought: What is she not telling me? Another: I have no context to answer this question.

     She quickly followed up her question with the clarification, "All we want to hear is, 'What it takes.'"

     A week ago, as I held Buffaloo (my fiancee was coming upstairs, and as detailed in an earlier post his greeting can be, no pun intended, rough), I noticed something. Inside one ear was a lump. A sort of reddish, bulbous lump.

Just because...PUPPY! Do you really want to see "red lump" pictures? No? Okay then-action shot of puppy-kisses.

     I was concerned, obviously. Googling "red lumps in dog ears" turns up a suite of disturbing images, so I do not recommend it to anyone. We found one (histiocytoma) that looked about right, sounded right, and was benign. So, obviously preferable. And they generally clear up in a few weeks or months.

     But, this is my dog, so I called the vet. For my own health, it takes a fair amount to get me to go to the doctor. "Weird growth" is always on that list. ALWAYS. Once upon a time I woke up to find a lump in my torso (on a Friday). The earliest appointment I could get was Monday. That was a long weekend of searching WebMD.

     And it's nothing, don't worry about it. Or google "lipoma."

     Which is all to say, that stuff scares me. And so I made a vet appointment. The vet is a 20 minute walk or so, so today we schlepped down for our "urgent care" slot (sigh). It's better than last time, when it poured on us the whole way there and back. The vet agreed-most likely nothing to worry about. I need to keep an eye on it (Buffaloo, meanwhile, will keep an ear on it). If it grows, or gets ulcerated, or goes away and comes back-revisit the vet.

     Otherwise, we are back to normal. Which is good, because you can pretty safely assume that anyone who has a blog dedicated to his dog and writes lengthy posts pretending to play games with his dog has what some would call an "unhealthy obsession." Those people, it goes without saying, do not have dogs.

No health care for dogs? Well, THANKS, Obama.