To Mason Weinrich:
 
>...Two days ago I noticed a lump right at the sternum area of Slinky that
>appears to move around, and disappear when he is stretched out. It doesn't
>bother him, and there is no noticeable scabbing.  Any ideas.
 
        Well, it's a bit touch to diagnose a "lump' with only the location to
go on, but there is a condition in cats, and to a lesser extent ferrets, known
as "pectus excavatum", a congenital curving of the sternum that causes the end
to point outwards from the skin, and this can be a lump.  It's simply a
cosmetic defect of little clinical significance.  If it really bothers you,
surgery can be done to snip off the end, but I've only seen that done one time
in fifteen years....
 
        Of course, there are some subcuatneous tumros to consider - but only
one would disappear when you stretched him out - a lipoma - a soft tumor of fat
which also is of little clinical significance.
 
--
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Department of Veterinary Pathology
[log in to unmask]               Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]             Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
(202) 782-2600/2602
[Posted in FML issue 1179]