Should a small hard lump on my cat's leg be biopsied first?

Hi Greg! Thank you for providing a picture of Lily's lump on her leg. From the picture, it could be a cyst, a benign tumor, or a malignant tumor. Any suspicious lumps should be examined by the vet. The vet can perform a test called a fine needle aspirate on it. To do this, the vet sticks a small needle into the lump to get a sample of it's cells, and examines the cells on a slide under a microscope. It's usually painless to the animal, and relatively quick to perform. I would take her into the vet in the next couple of days to have the lump examined and diagnosed so it can be treated as needed. Good luck, I hope this helps!

Without further testing, there is no way to tell if this growth is due to infection, trauma or allergy, or if it is a mass. Masses can be of a malignant (cancerous) type that can spread elsewhere and/ or invade the healthy tissue around them, or a more benign (noncancerous) type that is unlikely to spread. I recommend making an appointment for Onxy to see your vet to have the growth tested. In many cases this can be done using a fine needle aspirate, where cells are removed from the growth using a needle and examined under a microscope to determine what it is and to guide treatment. In some cases further testing may be needed to determine the necessary course of treatment, but it is important to get new growths tested in a timely manner, to allow for treatment if necessary.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This could be a benign or malignant growth. This is most of the time differentiated with a test called a fine needle aspirate which is easy, cheap and pain-free. Sometimes, a biopsy is required for a diagnosis. Have Nani evaluated by your veterinarian to have this test performed to try to sort out what the diagnosis is so that the best course of action can be determined. Keeping my fingers crossed that it is something benign!

Hello. An actual biopsy is often much more diagnostic than an aspirate, but honestly, with a lesion this small, why not just remove the whole thing now & send it for pathology? If the entire lesion is removed, this may be curative. I would talk to your veterinarian about this option. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Milly. I will typically start with a procedure known as a fine needle aspirate. I use a small needle to collect a sample of cells to evaluate under the microscope. This can help to diagnose the mass. It is not as accurate as a biopsy, but it generally gives a lot of information. The cat needs to hold still and cooperate though. So cats are different to draw blood on awake. This may have been why the recommendation was made to anesthetize her and collect all the samples at once. I hope this information helps!

Hi and thanks for posting! If it is a small mass, taking a biopsy may be hard to do. They do need a fairly good and complete piece of tissue to properly evaluate it. Sometimes if small masses are concerning from appearance to your veterinarian, they may recommend just removing it completely and sending off the tissue to a pathologist for evaluation. I hope this helps!

Yes, it is best to be safer rather than sorry and have the lump checked over as soon as possible. It could be a cancerous lump that requires urgent treatment. Your vet can start sampling it with a needle and putting the content on a slide and take it from there.