What is this black scab or lump on my dog's snout above his nose?

Hi, and thanks for your question. This kind of lump/growth needs to be ideally assessed by your veterinarian to have a definitive and specific answer. Usually there are two ways your vet can do that a part from examining it directly during physical examination. A biopsy can be taken under local or general anesthetic, otherwise a smaller sample through a fine needle can be aspirated (this technique is called FNA= fine needle aspiration). Differentials include skin cysts, infections, benign or more sinister type of tumors. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. Please find the time to give us a feedback about the consultation as that will be used to improve our service.

From the picture it actually looks more like a deep skin infection to me. This could be bacterial or fungal, or even a hypersensitivity reaction (less likely). I would recommend that she be examined by your veterinarian soon. They may look at a sample under the microscope to help determine what therapies might be most helpful. Best of luck and I hope she improves soon. Thank you for using Pet Coach.

It looks like this lump could simply be a benign tumor, but that's impossible to say without seeing the dog in person. 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 its cells, and examines the cells on a slide under a microscope. It's usually painless to the animal, and relatively quick to perform. Once the cause of the lump is diagnosed, the vet can discuss treatment options if needed. I'd give your dog's vet a call to set up an appointment for sometime this week. I hope this helps!

A couple of things come to mind as possibilities. This could be an acute hypersensitivity reaction to something - bug bite/sting, perhaps - or possibility a severe bacterial infection called furunculosis. There are also some immune-mediated/auto-immune diseases that attack the top of the nose. See your vet about this. An appropriate treatment plan might be to start antibiotics and if no improvement after 2 weeks consider a biopsy to obtain a definitive diagnosis.

Since the growth is on the nose, it would be best to bring Quinn into your vet for care. Tumors, fungal infections, abrasions, burns, etc can all cause signs like you are seeing, and since some are more serious issues, should be seen and treated, especially if the area is growing rapidly in size. Your vet can take a scraping or biopsy from the area to check under a microscope and see what is going on.

It is possible that the crusts and scabs on Sebastian's muzzle are due to infection from bacteria in his food bowls. Plastic and ceramic bowls are very porous and can harbor significant amounts of bacteria. If you aren't already doing so, switch to stainless steel bowls and wash them after each feeding. Also try washing the lesions with a gentle hand soap once daily, but be sure to thoroughly rinse and dry the lesions. If the scab worsen or aren't improving in another week or two, consider taking him to your local vet for further evaluation.

A black crusty lump could be a sebaceous gland tumor (usually benign), a papilloma, or a cancerous mass. Skin lesions can sometimes be identified just by looking at them. Do have your vet or one of the experts here to look at it first. If it can't be identified then having this mass biopsied and analyzed will lead to a proper identification. I hope this helps!