# Buster bumped his head



## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

Yesterday we noticed that Buster appeared to have a bump on the back/top of his skull. It feels like a little ridge out of the back of his skull, and also sticks up a tad. Yesterday during the day it seemed larger than it is now. Tho not huge, it is visible if you look for it. It feels pretty hard, tho not necessarily as hard as bone. He doesn't show any pain or displeasure when your palpate it. Definitely feels different than his 11-month-old sister's skull (or than we can recall from our 2 previous goldens.) 

He is about 11 weeks old. Doesn't seem to show any odd behavior, altho we feel yesterday he may have slept a tad more than usual. This a.m. he seemed fine. Ate well and played with his sister. Napping right now.

We don't recall any specific incident when he bumped his head especially hard. If that is what happened, I expect it happened sometime when he and his sister were going at it. Or could this simply be one of those examples of a young pup developing at inconsistent rates?

It is difficult to look for unusual behavior, since pups tend to be awkward and silly ayway. You don't know if you are seeing normal puppy clumsiness, or being paranoid, misinterpreting normal behavior out of fear. And you find yourself thinking wild stuff, like brain tumors and such.

We thought of taking him to the vet, but aren't sure what the vet would be able to do/say other than instructing us to keep an eye on him - which we are doing already. And we'd just as soon not spend $50 unnecessarily - or more for any testing.

Any thoughts?


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## moverking (Feb 26, 2007)

I *think* that may be his 'smart bump', a normal part of his skull's bone shape.
Can you share a pic to be sure?


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

I'll see about getting a pic.
Just palpated it, and would estimate that it is pretty much the size of a peach pit, right in the center of the back/top of his skull.
What is a "smart bump"?
It is hard to believe we could have simply not noticed this before!


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## moverking (Feb 26, 2007)

I went through my gallery pics to try to find a 'smart bump' pic for you...
Technically, it's called a "prominent sagittal crest".

See right at the top/back of Loo's head, right under the edge of the computer shelf? It's hard to photograph and it's prominence changes depending on head and neck position.










http://www.fragmentsfromfloyd.com/fragments/2003/11/our_dog_has_a_point.html

Think this is what Buster has?


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

I really don't know.
What seems so weird is that we have had him for 3 weeks or so, and only noticed it yesterday. Makes you really wonder how observant you are.
I tend to think dogs are pretty tough and resilient, while my wife seems a tad more concerned...
Felt Clover's skull, and can feel a slight protuberance in the same place, but nowhere near as prominent. 
I'll see if I can get a pic taken and posted this afternoon.


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## allux00 (Mar 2, 2008)

The "smart bump" tends to be more prominent as the puppy grows, it could be that he's just started to show it! It's a normal part of their skull. I remember it took us a while to notice Rusty's, too. I hope it's that and not a real bump!


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## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

Yes, it gets bigger as they age. When Beau was growing up, he had that bump become noticable and I rushed him to the vet thinking he had injured himself and the vet laughed and said "Carol that is a think bump". It will get bigger as he age. Some people say the bigger the smarter the golden. It will become less noticable as he gets bigger.


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## 3SweetGoldens (Feb 28, 2007)

BeauShel said:


> Yes, it gets bigger as they age. When Beau was growing up, he had that bump become noticable and I rushed him to the vet thinking he had injured himself and the vet laughed and said "Carol that is a think bump". It will get bigger as he age. Some people say the bigger the smarter the golden. It will become less noticable as he gets bigger.


That is what I have always known that lump called....very similar...a knowledge bump! I don't notice it in any of my three now, but my previous Golden Jake had one!  Hopefully, that is just what it is!! :crossfing


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## zoesmom (Oct 31, 2008)

Very interesting. Zoe is sitting next to me eating a bone as we speak and I can feel her's...I never really thought of it/noticed it before.
Dinsdale, I hope that's all that it is for Buster.


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## buckeyegoldenmom (Oct 5, 2008)

I had the same thing happen to my last golden when he was a puppy around 10 to 12 weeks. My husband and I argued a few days about it. I said it was normal. My husband the doctor disagreed. Anyway I took Cody to the vet and low and behold he had a hematoma that had to be drained. He had bumped his head while running under chairs tables etc. He was fine after that. And my husband razzed me for years about it!!


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## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

I have two guys here with largest Occiptial head bone that I've ever seen. Tucker's is huge!!!


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

He still seems fine.
I was asking my wife if we could possibly have just not noticed it before. 
She was adamant that she first felt it a couple of days ago, and it got larger over the course of 2 days.
I'm assuming it is just one aspect of how different parts of pups grow at different rates.
Never noticed it on my previous pups, tho.
It is weird, like a sore in your mouth that you can't keep your tongue off of - every time I go to pet him now my hand goes right to the bump!


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## Heidi36oh (Feb 27, 2007)

Little Chloe is almost 10 weeks old and I have not noticed her smart bump yet, Jack and Chewie on the other hand have a Klingon skull plate growing on top of their head..LOL


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

As I headed off to work this a.m., my wife was bathing Buster in the kitchen sink. I took some pics, as the bump was visible when his hair was wet. I'll post them tonight or tomorrow.
Man, if he looked like this when we got him I would have named him Zippy the Pinhead!  I


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

Here are some pics from Buster's bath.
Not sure which is the better name - Zippy the Pinhead or Worf the Klingon!









































This look like what you are calling a "smart bump?"
He still seems fine. 
Put a call in to the breeder and will be seeing the vet for shots on Monday.


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## marieb (Mar 24, 2008)

Wow that is a really big bump, I'm not an expert but I think I would be bringing him into the vet to get it checked out ... but I could be wrong, I just don't think I've seen a bump that big. Keep us updated!


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## buckeyegoldenmom (Oct 5, 2008)

That does look just like the lump Cody had as a puppy that the vet had to drain. I would have the vet check him

Sherrie


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## Loboto-Me (Nov 13, 2008)

I'm with MarieB on this one. That is really large and if it were me, I'd probably get to the vet just to have it checked out to be safe. Keep us posted.


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## My4Boys (Dec 14, 2007)

Baxter grew that sort of bump as he got older (about 5-6 months) but Buster's bump seems unusually large. I would have it checked out...

Baxter when he had his 'bump":


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## wakeangel (Feb 28, 2008)

I agree with a vet trip. That is quite a bump! Deacon had a big smart bump as a puppy and people were always commenting on it...but his looked like this...


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## LOVEisGOLDEN (Jan 4, 2008)

that's about the size of Blush's at one point...it's not a "smart bump" she was always running into things.

It has gotten better (less noticeable) as her head grows around it, but it's still there. Her's was soft at the edges (swollen) but hard all over, now it's just hard.

Our vet said that it can be common in clumsy pups & if it still bothers her (she still bumps it sometimes, since it sticks up) he can grind it off when she's under for something else. He said that it is caused by an injury & then with continued bumps, it calcifies. 

I'll look for a pic, we still call her knot head!


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## LOVEisGOLDEN (Jan 4, 2008)

here's the link to the last page about this --> http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=41362&highlight=knot+head%2C+smart+bump

check out Blush's head in post #20, it had gone down some at that point!


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

Aw man, now you all have me worried. 
Heck - it has been several days, I figure it might as well wait until Monday's appt.


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## kwhit (Apr 7, 2008)

Can't you just switch Monday's appointment to today? I'd want to know what it was as soon as possible. But...I guess that's just me.  I would be thinking..."What if he has a headache from the pressure?" They really can't tell us when they hurt, so again, I'd try to get in before Monday.


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## buckeyegoldenmom (Oct 5, 2008)

I would switch the appointment.


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## Angel_Kody (Feb 27, 2007)

Oooooh...that doesn't look like the "smart bump". If it were me, I'd take him to a vet as soon as I could.


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## LOVEisGOLDEN (Jan 4, 2008)

any news on the bump?


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

Would you believe we woke up this morning to find Buster thrashing around in a seizure, and he died in our arms? :uhoh:











Well, no, that's considerably more dramatic than what happened. (Sorry, all!) 

It is just a hematoma - a big bruise. The vet said he got a good knock somehow/sometime, and it would subside. She felt around inside of it with a needle - definitely not bone, and nothing to drain. Just a knot of dried up blood. Vet didn't seem overly concerned, and said he wasn't showing any adverse effects. Don't know if my wife asked if anything would have been any different if we had brought him in earlier. 

I suspect he is less likely to incur another in the future, as he is growing by leaps and bounds. Clover no longer outweighs him by quite as much. He did seem to have a weird habit when we first got him - if Clover put her snout under his chest, or even one time when I was trying to push him aside, he seemed to very easily tip straight over backwards. Really weird because is was so unexpected. I mean, how much would it take to twist slightly so as to fall on his side or something?! I recall one time Clover did it to him on the brick patio and his head hit the bricks with a loud crack. And another time I was just trying to move him aside while cleaning Clover's paws off, and he cracked his head on the linoleum. But both of those incidents significantly predated the bump...

Over the weekend I actually gut out a pair of calipers and tried to measure the thing, to see if it was getting bigger or smaller. It was about 1"x1.125". Try getting precise measurements on a squirming pup sometime - LOADS of fun!

Thanks all for your thoughts. Glad it was nothing serious. And sorry again for my poor attempt at black humor.


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## MyBaileyGirl (Jun 11, 2008)

Dinsdale said:


> Would you believe we woke up this morning to find Buster thrashing around in a seizure, and he died in our arms? :uhoh:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


OH MY GOSH!! I really stopped breathing for a second. OMG lol I am very happy it's nothing serious as well!!


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

Yeah - I'm really sorry. Probably should have deleted that before posting.:sorry:


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## buckeyegoldenmom (Oct 5, 2008)

Oh my gosh!!! What a way to make my heart stop! :bowl: 

Glad Buster is ok and nothing serious.


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## Dinsdale (Feb 26, 2008)

buckeyegoldenmom said:


> Glad Buster is ok and nothing serious.


Of course he has a new nickname - Knothead!


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## LOVEisGOLDEN (Jan 4, 2008)

Exactly what my Blush had/has, she has been known as "knothead" & "lump noggin" since she was a pup! I figured his was the same, glad it wasn't anything more serious.


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