Lump on his Side

Hey everyone.  I'm new to the forum so hello!!! My Ryder has a lump on his side.  He's had it for probably 9 months ago.  He was at the vet 6 months ago for something unrelated and the vet figures it's not malignant and it's just a fag mass.   The lump is slowly getting bigger but still moves relatively freely and is more soft than hard. Any suggestions on what it is and what I should do. Don't really have the money for the vet right now.

Forgot to mention he is a 14 year old blue nose pitbull.

Hello!  With lumps you basically have three broad choices.  You can do nothing, in which case they might just sit there or they might develop, depending what sort of cells they're made from.  If they're cancer, the longer they're left then the more opportunity they have to spread / cause problems.  Or you can cut them off, with or without sending them off to be tested to see what they were or whether they were spreading.  Or you can take samples and try and figure out what sort of cells they're made of from the outside (I would argue that you can't know for sure what a lump is without a biopsy).   However, you're not just treating a lump, but a patient.  In a young patient I'd want to know what the lump was nearly every time.  In an older patient, if I knew that I wouldn't get it removed even if it were sinister, I might opt to leave the lump well alone.  There is no single right answer with lumps, but it may be that one answer suits a patient and client better than another.  I do believe in owner choice. As long as you and your vet have talked through the scenario and the possible consequences of any decision, then its up to ypu to do the best that you feel for your pet.   I had an old dog myself with a lump that I never investigated - he had bad arthritis and I'm sad to say that I put him to sleep because of that in the end, so I never found out what was going on with the lump.