Bump on Pacino's head

[AnnaZ]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask if anyone had a similar case with your mastiff. Our bullmastiff, Pacino, developed a bump on the right side of his forehead. Initially, it was pretty flat and you had to feel it with your hand to actually notice it was there. Since he loves hard play with other dogs we thought this was just a bump - which didn't surprise us in the slightest (and his behaviour didn't change at the time). Then after about a week it grew pretty quickly to the size that you can see on the attached photo.

At the first visit to the vet he had his head examined and the biopsy showed that it wasn't bone. After a few days he developed high fever and you could tell he was in pain - stopped eating and drinking, had problems yawning so with the obvious signs of an inflammation the vet put him on antibiotics.

This has helped reduce the body temperature and also improved his mood. The antibiotic therapy is still underway but we can only see a very slight progress in terms of the bump reducing in size. He sleeps a lot, is quite picky with food but he does eat stuff that he really likes (no kibble thought!! ). We need to remind him to drink water, though.

For now, the vet has ruled out a possibility of it being a tumor and the most likely diagnosis is that it's granulomatous inflammation (GI). So we'll finish up the antibiotic but aren't clear about the next steps.

Has anyone experienced this?

By the way, Pacino is 6 months old right now.

Many thanks,
Anna

 

[Penelope's Mom]

I have nothing positive to say other than your boy is beautiful and welcome.

 

[Sharrielynne]

Sorry I can't help either, hope he gets well soon, he is gorgeous!

 

[DMikeM]

I have seen this once before and sorry to say I do not remember where but I do recall it was a Bullmastiff the lump became bone hard and the dog had no lingering side effects except some manipulation of the jaw seemed to cause discomfort.

 

[DMikeM]

Ahh I found it.
This is a common occourance in the BM and Boxers. Best recommendations are to use Prednisolone. (steroids)

Idiopathic hyperostosis of the calvaria in five young bullmastiffs.
Abstract

A new calvarial hyperostotic syndrome (CHS) in young bullmastiffs is described. Calvarial hyperostotic syndrome clinically resembles canine craniomandibular osteopathy (CMO) and human infantile cortical hyperostosis (ICH), but it is unique in that there is progressive and often asymmetric skull bone involvement, and the population affected appears to be only young, male bullmastiff dogs. Characteristic radiographic findings consist of cortical thickening of the calvaria with irregular, bony proliferation over the frontal, temporal, and occipital bones. Histopathological examination shows that the trabeculae of the calvarial diploë are thickened and contiguous with a sunburst-like pattern of subperiosteal trabeculae composed of woven and lamellar bone tissue, accompanied by loose fibrovascular tissue and a variable inflammatory response comprised predominantly of neutrophils. In 80% of the cases presented, the lesion was self-limiting. The etiology remains unknown; however, traumatic, neoplastic, and degenerative conditions do not appear to be primary factors in the etiopathogenesis of the syndrome. It may be that this syndrome has a familial component, similar to that described for CMO and ICH.




Juvenile cranial hyperostosis - Dog

 

[musicdeb]

I'm sorry to hear about Pacino's medical issue. Please keep us posted on his progress. Titan and I send healing vibes to Pacino.