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Why does my cat have a hard lump near his shoulder after neutering?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Male | 1 year and 10 months old | 9 lbs

My male cat, 2 years of age, has a penny sized lump to the right of his shoulder blade on his right side. It's kind of between his shoulder blade and armpit. There is no hair loss or cut/bite around the lump. I just noticed it a few days ago. The lump is hard and round. When I was feeling it I noticed that it was really attached to anything, I could place both of my fingers underneath it when grabbing his skin. - not sure if this has anything to do with it, but he was neutered two weeks ago

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Kevin Sanada, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on February 19th, 2018

I'm suspicious of a couple of different reasons for this type of mass that you are describing:

1) Possibly from a vaccine - it's common to vaccinate at the time of surgery and this may be where the vaccine was given. It's common for there to be a little lump there for a week or two after vaccinating.

2) A lymph node - This is about the location of the axillary lymph nodes. These can normally increase in size after procedures and vaccination.

As long as Preston is not having any other issues, I think it will be fine to just monitor this mass. If it grows, or has any other dramatic changes, then it will be best to take him for a recheck exam by the vet who did the surgery. Otherwise, it's possible that this will go down in the next couple of weeks.

I hope that helps and all is well with Preston.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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