Lily, our Mondays with Morie money pit.

For anyone who’s got a strong stomach and into really gross things, there’s a television show on TLC called “Dr. Pimple Popper.” I have to admit I watch it and much to my surprise, I don’t find a lot of it to be all that gross. Actually, I have learned some things from it.

One of the things I learned from it is what a lipoma is. The Mayo Clinic describes a lipoma as:

…a slow-growing, fatty lump that’s most often situated between your skin and the underlying muscle layer. A lipoma, which feels doughy and usually isn’t tender, moves readily with slight finger pressure. Lipomas are usually detected in middle age.

Of course, this definition pertains to humans, but the canine variety is the same.

Our nine-year-old Labrador, Lily, has a number of these lipomas in different areas of her body. The one that was most concerning was a very large one growing on her chest just beneath her left arm pit. She’s had this lump for several years, but in the past year, it seems to have doubled in size. It had gotten so large that it was causing her problems in using her front leg and we were afraid with its size, it might be pressing on her rib cage.

When she’d had the surgery for her elbow infection, the vet didn’t mention the lipoma and maybe that was because he didn’t want to treat it because of her infection. But here were are just four months later, on our Monday with Morie, incurring another surgery and another expensive vet bill to have this lipoma removed.

If you watch Dr. Pimple Popper, you’ll know that most times the removal of a lipoma is a pretty straightforward procedure. An incision is made over the tumor area and the lipoma is squeezed or pulled or pried out. Most times the lipoma is encapsulated (how do you like that big word?) and comes out in a big chunk and then the capsule is also removed.

The veterinarian said Lily’s tumor came out fairly easily and ended up being the size of a small melon. I wasn’t surprised and I think even though this surgery was expensive (thank goodness for Care Credit) it was well worth it. I just hope she comes with an extended warranty now.

We love our “girls”.