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Big clue... can you stick your fingers all the way under the lump without a lot of connecting tissues? and does it move freely like it is only connected to the skin? If both of those are yes, I wouldn't even say you ~need~ to spend the money for the check.

Yes to both of these...but it has grown a lot - at first it was barely noticeable. So I'm worried. I guess it'll have to come off...but I'm hoping it's something very simple.

She IS a bit old - nine or ten. So hopefully that's the case? Or should I be worried since it's grown fairly quickly?

If it is just a fatty cyst, it wouldn't even need to come off unless you ~had~ to put her under anesthesia for some other procedure, like a tooth cleaning. They don't hurt anything, as a rule, unless they grow too big for their blood supply, in which case they die and become infected. But that is later on, not an imminant risk.

I took some off Zulu and Logan in their middle age simply for vanity if they were in a spot, like their necks, where they were pet often and I could feel it.

Logan had probably 10 marble-sized lumps by the time he died. Most of his didn't grow beyond the size of a large marble. Zulu had fewer, but bigger ones. She had one on her belly that I wanted to remove because it grew to the size of a racquetball - No kidding. But it was not a malignancy, so in her declining condition, the anesthesia was more of a risk. Some critters just are prone to getting lumps in their old age and you could spend all your time removing them if cost were no barrier and the critter handles anesthesia well.

I guess it is good to have this first one checked out, especially if you have some other business she needs, like shots. They will do a needle-aspiration into the lump and look at a slide of what's in there. If it is just a fatty lump, at least you will know more if/when she gets the next one. But I know money is also a big issue, so if you want to wait and see, it would be my bet there would be no harm done.