If your hippo has a bump you’re concerned about, I highly encourage you to get it checked
Bianca had a small bump suddenly appear on her left shoulder. At first I thought it was a bug bite, but it persisted for weeks. I took her to vet last week for unrelated matters, and mentioned the bump. Our vet was swift and immediately performed a test to capture some cells from the bump to have them tested for mast cell. She said these types of tumours are common in bully breeds.
We got the results the next day and they were devastating. It tested positive for mast cell. From thinking it was a bug bite to accepting that my sweet little girl had a cancerous tumour was very difficult to process. However, I’m grateful our vet moved so quickly. We ran a health panel on Tuesday and she performed surgery to remove the tumour Wednesday. We are still awaiting the lab results to see if the margins around the tumour are clear of mast cell or not. If they’re not clean margins, she will need to undergo another surgery. All we can do now is hope that we have removed it all and try not to think of the worst.
I share my story to encourage you to get any suspicious bumps on your hippos tested as early intervention can catch these tumours before they have a chance to spread. This is really a “better safe than sorry” situation.