calliecritturs
Posted : 8/1/2008 5:57:07 PM
Yep, Foxy had one once. Because surgery near the eye is tricky (and tricky to heal as well) my vet preferred to see if it would just 'go away' or stay unchanged. Over the course of a year it really didn't change much but grew a tiny tiny bit. But eventually it began to bother the old guy and he'd wipe his face on everything and try to rub it and at that point we had it removed.
The vet had to actually cut a -v- shaped slice out of his eyelid, and sewed that together (they don't just remove the top of the skin -- that would generally leave the root of the tumor to re-grow). Dr. B did an awesome job of the surgery -- but it takes longer for an eye surgery to heal because it's 'moist'. So it was a big two weeks before the stitch was removed.
ALSO **CAUTION** if you have it removed, put an e-collar on Buddy and be ruthless! DO NOT let him talk you into removing it because you feel sorry for him. Healing stitches itch -- and they'll scratch it with their paws and can rip open an eye or at the very least the lid -- so do be careful.
When my vet was a new vet, someone had this same surgery done and the woman was all "ohhh my poor baby HATES that cone thing" -- but they cautioned her to leave it on. Nope -- she went home and took it off but within 24 hours the dog had caught a nail in the stitch, panicked, and gouged his eye and lost the entire eye over it (and then he DID have to wear a cone anyway plus he lost the eye and it was horrible trauma).
So not to terrify you -- but simply do **exactly** what your vet says. It was my wake-up call that sometimes you can feel sorry for them ... and it winds up being to their detriment and I'd never thot of it that way before.
Good luck!! (but yeah, my vet said the same thing -- almost always benign, unless they become sore, irritated and wind up turning into something else before you do anything about it)