Vet Visit Part 1

 I took both the boys to the vet this past Friday.  I will cover each one separately, first up is Dutch.  

He is just happy to be out doing things.

Since about Feb/ March, Dutch has had a  growth on his face, just along his tooth line next to his cheek. It is hard, not moveable, and doesn't seem to cause pain - but it is growing.

See his face bump!  It sticks out as far as his check and is right where his noseband sits.

After a quick exam, the vet thinks it is a benign tumor in the skin of his cheek.  It does not protrude into the mouth at all (a big worry) and so should not impact his ability to eat.  We had three options:

1. Do nothing.  Eventually, it will get big enough that something will have to be done, but wait and see is a valid approach.

2. Inject the bump. The vet injects with a mixture of antibiotics and steroids to see if that softens or shrinks the bump at all.  This is what we ended up doing because...

3. Surgery.  This would need to be done at a full surgical clinic.  Basically, the would sedate and excise the bump and stitch him back up.

We went with option 2 because it still gives us the ability to go back and biopsy or remove if needed, but it also offers a bit more non-invasive insight as to what may be growing on his face.

He was so good he didn't even need sedation.  I held his halter and the vet jabbed him.  There was no drainage and it was very hard to push the meds into the lump, so the vet does not expect that it will do much.  

We also got an update previcox script to help his old man hocks.  The vet was happy with his weight and condition for the work he does.

Happy boys headed home.