Info / Advice on benign fatty tumors. Here I go again with my 4th CT. Very shaken.

[Dogband1]

Here I am again seeking advice from you dear CT owners. I am just so sad and nervous--I love this dog waayyy too much. 

I just found our first benign fatty tumor on our Reilly, a male CT age 7.  A super healthy dog.  It is about 1" in diameter, 1/8" thick, near the back of his left ribcage, mid body. Unattached.  Just feels soft.  What causes these and more importantly ... how can they be prevented?  Reilly is doing minor surgery Tuesday for a BB size bump that might be a low danger skin cancer, so I was examining him now to prevent exactly this --------- discovering something immediately after this minor surgery.  I'll see the vet tomorrow to see if she wants to needle biopsy this lump on Tuesday while he is out during surgery. 

Background: Our two prior CTs, litter mates had these all their lives, and we had these removed as necessary before they got really big. Several surgeries for each pup over their lifetime. I so hated to put them thru these surgeries.  One fatty lump on the female got to about 2" diameter x 1/4" thick.  The female eventually died of cancer at age 14, and we overfed/grieved/gave treats---to her brother and got his stomach sick, forcing a switch to Science Diet Sensative Stomach.  This food switch actually was a monster blessing, as a tumor we were watching on him went away, and he never got another tumor, living just a bit past 16. 

Any thoughts or advice welcome. 

Any links to a totally home made, real food diet welcome.  I may switch to Science Diet Sensative Stomach or I may make his food going forward totally from scratch--but I don't want to make his health worse. Only better. 

Bless you all for your time, expertise and willingness to help. 

[bradl]

I know and appreciate the feeling of loving them so much that we sometimes get overcome with worry. It's good to be alert on their behalf, but hopefully not to the point it causes you distress. Easy for me to say from thousands of miles away, I know. 

I don't really know what causes lipomas so no clue as to how to prevent them or if there is even anything actionable. If a vet has evaluated them and believes them to be benign then by definition I (personally) would not worry about them at all.

p.s. Great photo. 

[calypso]

We’ve seen them in our Cairns, too. Although it’s a shock to discover a lump, we’ve learned that they’re pretty common and harmless. Kind of like some of the interesting  things that show up on humans as we age. I like to get them checked, just to be sure.