Gracie is an 8 year old Pitbull who was adopted by her current owner when she was around three years old from a local rescue. Sweet Gracie loves nothing more than a day of relaxing on the couch with her owner and enjoying the sunshine in the park.

One day her owner became a bit concerned when he saw a small lump behind her right ear, and became even more concerned when it ballooned up, almost overnight, to approximately 9cm in width (about the size of a large peach).

When Gracie arrived at Fern Hill, Dr. Blanchard performed a comprehensive exam and determined that a cytology by fine needle aspiration (FNA) would be an easy way to determine what kind of mass this was.

After the fluid from the mass was collected with a syringe, it was examined under our microscope, and Dr. Blanchard’s suspicion of a large abscess was confirmed.

Gracie reported for surgery with Dr. Downes the next day to repair the abscess and have a drain placed to aid in healing. Gracie and her owner came back a while later to the clinic to check in and get her stitches and drain removed, and her owner is happy to report Gracie is back to her normal, happy couch-potato self.