hard, pebble like bumps on stomach

I noticed a tiny, pebble sized bump under my naked girl Bean's skin about a week ago. I first felt it when I picked her up. You can see the bump under the skin, it feels very hard and almost pointy. I can move the skin around it so I *think* it's attached and not movable.

Today I noticed that there are now two, and strangely enough, both are in line with her spay scar, though I can move the skin and the scar moves, but the lumps remain in place. She was spayed probably a year or so ago, so it seems late in the game for them to be related, but the location seems suspicious.

They feel quite strange to me as well. If you pick her up or run your fingers over them, it really does feel like she's got little, hard, pointy pebbles under her skin. I have no other way to describe it.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I see no incision marks to indicate abscesses, and although a second one has now popped up as well (possible a third, but Bean wont sit still long enough for me to really feel them), the first one hasn't appeared to grow/shrink much.

I wasn't as worried when it was just one bump, as I thought perhaps a small tumor that we'd remove, but it doesn't feel like the standard tumors I've dealt with, and how quickly another pebble sized bump has crept up has me quite worried.

I figured photos might be best. Each photo has two lumps inside the orange circle, one higher and one lower:

Could it possibly be scar tissue or spots where the stitches didn't dissolve and the tissue has grown over them?

I've never seen anything like that. Time to get her checked out. I hope that dspch911 is right.

I wondered the same about either scar tissue, or Shelagh mentioned via email possible internal sutures. However, she was spayed at least 9 months ago, so it seems strange that I'd only be feeling these bumps now - especially with her being a nakie with nothing to hide these things.

It also seems strange that only a week or so ago I'm certain I only felt one bump, now there is at least two. Definitely time for a vet visit but I was hoping perhaps this might ring a bell for someone.

one lump to me said hernia, cause our nakie Tucker had one, but two through me off.

My Spot had something similar to this very recently, which ended up being a cyst. The first one was larger than yours, about the size of a plump blueberry maybe. I had this removed, but it immediately came back. When it came back, it killed and hardened the skin over top of it, and it split open along the incision line. I was worried about how to clean it or when to take her back in to have it drained out again, Spot Spot, being the tough b!tch that she is, chewed it off and I suppose ate the cyst inside. I could see it beforehand, it was like a firm white thick sponge, and a bit of whiteish bloody discharge came out too, thats when the stitches split at first. But anyways, that big one is gone and healing fine now, its just a little scab, but there's like, definitely one maybe 2 little tiny bumps almost exactly like yours nearby it, and it's the same texture and everything. I'd talked to the vet about it at length, and she said that the original cyst looked like it'd grown on a chain of lymph nodes. If she requires further removal of anything there, I think I'd probably want those removed and just bandage the area, not stitch it...or leave it so it can drain somehow so it doesn't cause that icky dead skin. Spot has also been spayed, about 6 months ago. Dunno what might be causing this, but in my case is was certainly a cyst type infection.

The first thing that jumped into my mind was internal sutures too. If the body had a reaction to the suture material, then it could have encapsulated the sutures, and they are only now working their way out. Just a theory... I'll be curious to see what they are.

Thank you both for some additional ideas. It will be nice to have a list of things to consider with the vet.

For my own reference, when I take Bean to the vet, how would they normally go about diagnosing those tiny bumps for the possibilities that have been mentioned (internal suture issues, cysts, etc)? Fine needle biopsy? I'd just like to be prepared in advance for what the options are.

If it turns out to be an issue with the internal sutures, I'm assuming they would need to come out, correct? Forgive me if this is an obvious answer, but I've never dealt with something like that. Also, I had to look it up, but it looks like Beaners was actually spayed in March of this year - so, only about 6 months ago. For some reason it seems like much longer ago.

If they are some form of a cyst, how is that usually handled/treated?

Our Clark had an issue with the stitches they used for his neuter and eventually they did end up just going back in and removing them all.

Spot's cyst was removed and stitched up, in the future Iwill opt for it to be "lanced" and packed or bandaged, to be able to change dressing and maintain cleanliness of the wound inside and health of the surrounding skin, preventing further infection.

Personally I would watch and wait. They aren't threatening, they are just well...there. The scar tissue or possibly the abscessing of a retained stitch are all possibilities and the body will do what it always does, take care of it.

This was Tawnie...she had many bumps, and they never affected her. They stayed the same all during the rest of her life (she didn't live long but she was also very elderly)

@Lilspaz: When you say the body will "take care of it", do you mean simply encapsulate around the internal sutures and that will be the end of it? I'm assuming it would be a case of those bumps getting no better/no worse, just remaining shielded off from the rest of the body, correct?

My plan was to watch the bumps for the next week to see if they got worse or more popped up. I've got two cats lined up for vet visits again this week as it is, so unless the bumps worsen, next week would be much better for taking her in if needed. She's behaving normally, though I'm still battling numerous respiratory sounds between the rats/mice and I'd honestly be a bit hesitant on a surgery for her right at the moment.

I would watch and wait at this point. The pictures are great because they will give you an unbiased comparison when you check things later.

Sound good. With her being a nakiebum, it's also *very* easy to feel for growth or additional bumps. They are definitely very strange feeling, pokey bumps for sure - I'll be curious to see how this one pans out.

Kona had a stitch that appeared (out of the incision site) about 8 months after his surgery.

oh wow. that would be a sight to see. Did they go in to remove it or simply trim it back?

violet976 said:

oh wow. that would be a sight to see. Did they go in to remove it or simply trim it back?

Click to expand...

Just yanked it out!