WWYD re this for 11 year old DDog?

[Ecrire]

We have a very nearly 11 year old Shih-Tzu x Bichon dog. She is the quickest runner in our household and the feistiest, cuddliest, quickest, greediest thing. Bless her - she always never fails to get a remark at the park along the lines "What?! She's how old? 11 you said?! 11 years or months?". Bless her. Dont want to jinx it.

She has various warts. One of them - the oldest one - was last spotted by us in 2017 - so that was now 8 years ago. Cauliflower top, DH says looks like a brain (yuk), and pink. Various vets have seen it and have said they are happy to remove under GA. Freezing has not been offered. It is biggish - as in the size of a fat pea, and she does lick it after a groom for a few days. If removed under GA, they would then need to test it etc.

At this point we are very very torn. She is 11. She is fine. Should we now begin to poke prod and test an 8-9 year old growth? Should we subject her little 7 kilo body to GA at her age? Or should we ignore "the brain" like growth for the next hopefully few years still of her life?

Clearly we have not done anything about it and he 11th birthday is this August. But then a voice in me says - what if it has been cancer all along? Right from when we saw in 8-9 years ago? What if it transfigures into cancer?

What would you guys do? So torn :/

DMums dog is about 75% wart at this point. All are 'brain-like' and all are completely normal. She's had them for years (pre-Covid) and is absolutely fine. Old dogs get warts and if your vet isn't worried I wouldn't put a dog through an operation for a cosmetic reason - which a wart is.

You know what it looks like so you'll know if it'll change. Although, as far as I know, warts don't just become cancerous after years of being benign.

I think at this age I'd be inclined to just leave it.
But maybe you need to work out why you're suddenly worried about, when you presumably weren't 8 or 9 years ago, when you first noticed it.
Is there something else in her behaviour that is causing you to worry? A change that you are subconsciously aware of which is causing this anxiety...?

My old girl had a couple of fairly big warts
vet said they’re just warts so we left them as they didn’t bother her

If it's not bothering her, bleeding etc and has been there that long then I'd leave it alone. If it's a problem you can get it removed but you don't have to test it. I'd only test it if you would then put her through possible chemo etc if it was cancerous. Else what's the point in running the test. If it's been there so long it's more than likely nothing sinister

Warty growths are very common on small older dogs, some dogs have dozens. They are typically benign/not cancerous, and don't need to be removed if they aren't causing any bother. However, occasionally a warty growth can split, crack, bleed or become infected - if any of these things happen, or if the wart is annoying your dog in any way, then it's best to have it removed.

For warts, surgery is usually super quick, super simple, and the GA won't bother a healthy little dog in the slightest.

You don't have to send the lumps to the lab when you remove them - that is up to you. If your vet advises that the growth looks suspicious in any way, then testing is a good idea to get more information. However for a long standing typical warty growth, I wouldn't bother.

If the growth is annoying her for a few days after grooming, then it is annoying her and for my that crosses into "whip it off and be done with it" territory. But you won't be a bad owner if you decide not to.

(Caveat for other readers that I am discussing warts here... not all skin lumps are the same, some are aggressively cancerous, always have new lumps checked and listen to your vet!)

Thanks all. We aren’t suddenly worrying it’s just a topic we think about every time she has a birthday coming up - which was useful to realise so thanks for the PP who asked.

I think we will leave it and then if we are lucky enough to still have her for her twelfth birthday I’m sure I’ll again ponder it :/