I see. I don’t really know what the lump is or what it could be… A small hernia sounds like a good guess, and I don’t think it could be that sudden of an onset of arthritis or back pain (but I am not sure), and obviously it was not a piece of hard stool. At least it is getting smaller and staying soft! Keep it up! My roommate’s dog has a small hernia on her belly that she’s had for a while and it doesn’t seem to bother her at all. He (the roommate) checks on it every once in a while and it seems that it’s still ok.
And yeah, also, just FYI… Canned green tripe, as good as it is, smells (to me) like vomited raw lamb intestines filled with whatever they are supposed to be filled with… So it smells nasty, in a word. But, it is still super good for dogs, and I have heard that they all find it appealing as heck! So Sparky should like it.
And yeah, most of us here totally consider our dogs (and some their cats) our furry children. I call Bruno “my little boy”, and “my dog son”, “my kid”, and so does my husband. I am well aware I didn’t birth him and he is not human, and I have not had any children yet, but I love that dog so much, that I believe I would a small child of mine. Because, to me, he is just that. We also call him Bruno and puppy too, lol.
