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My dog's black skin tag tripled in size, irritated. What should I do?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Pit Bull Terrier | Male | neutered | 3 years and 1 month old | 50 lbs

My dog originally had this little black looking skin tag a few months ago, my husband thought it was a tick and pulled on it with no success. We wrote it off as a skin tag. I noticed recently the dog licking his leg and I looked and it’s the same spot but tripled in size. You can tell my dog is bothered by it and it looks very irritated either from licking or biting I’m not sure. Can not find anything similar online so was hoping I could find an answer here?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Jessica Keay, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on April 18th, 2018

Thank you for your question! Unfortunately we cannot diagnose a mass based on looks alone. We don't know if this mass got irritated and is inflammed/infected and grew because of this, or if it is growing in size due to the nature of the tumor. I would recommend making an appointment for Gotham's vet to look at the growth. In the meantime, if he is licking the area put an e-collar (the cone shaped collar) on him to prevent this which could introduce bacteria and irritation. You can put a topical antibiotic ointment onto the area until you are seen. The fact that it is growing quickly in size would make me personally recommend removing the growth, especially since he is bothering at it. Another option would be to do a cytology of the growth, where some cells are collected and looked at under the microscope to help identify the nature of the growth. Best of luck to you and Gotham.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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