I'll preface this post by saying that Sasha already has an appointment with the vet for next week. Wanted to see if anyone on here has ideas of what this could be before we go in.
For at least a couple of months, my 3-year-old boy, Sasha, has been testy about people touching his shoulder. At first I thought it was just that he doesn't like being woken up when he is asleep. After that, I thought that he might have tweaked something or perhaps slipped a disc while wrestling with our other dog, who is twice his size. A couple of things ruled that out: one, he walks, runs, and plays like normal. No limps, no whining. Maybe 85% of his usual energy, but no dramatic lethargy. Two, he is still cuddling and sleeping velcroed to my husband or me or our other dog in all kinds of weird Basenji contortions. Even while cuddling, though, he will growl and snap at anyone but me who pets his shoulder, and he only lets me do it because I've proven to him that I have a light touch.
A few days ago, I noticed that the area on his shoulder that he gets testy about is a bit raised. My best guess for what this is some kind of a subcutaneous cyst or fatty lipoma, but I don't want to rule anything out. Does anyone here have any ideas what this might be? Just want to make sure we're taking good theories to the vet. I hate seeing him in pain and am beginning to wonder if whatever this is is pinching a nerve/creating pressure or something due to where it sits.