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My dog has a sudden bleeding pink bump on its nose. What is it?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Medium (23 - 60lb) | Male | neutered | 11 months and 27 days old | 34 lbs

My dog has a bleeding blister-pimple (I don't know what it is) on the snout near the nose. It came suddenly one day as a pinkih looking bump, and it started bleeding recently.

4 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Rebeccah Wood

Licensed Veterinary Technician, Registered Laboratory Animal Technologist

Published on July 28th, 2017

Hello there! This is most likely a benign lump called a histiocytoma, which is a common condition that shows up on the face and paws in young dogs. This can only be confirmed by a veterinarian, by considering the size, shape, location, and the age of your dog, it's the most likely cause. I recommend a visit to your vet so that they may offer a definitive diagnosis. They will give Nikki a full exam, and most likely they will obtain a small sample of the cells inside the mass with a small needle. This is called a fine needle aspirate, or FNA. These cells will be examined under a microscope so that the vet can rule out other, more dangerous tumors.

Histiocytomas most often spontaneously resolve on their own, but it can take weeks or months to go away completely. Some owners prefer to have them surgically removed, which is usually curative. If Nikki starts scratching at the lump, or if it becomes irritated or starts oozing, a visit to the vet is definitely in order as it could cause an infection.

Good luck, and I hope Nikki recovers well!

25Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Dr. Leigh, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on September 9th, 2017
It could be a histiocytoma which is common in young dogs. Your vet can do a fine needle aspirate to determine the exact cause and then determine if treatment is needed. If it is a histiocytoma it will likely resolve with no treatment.
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on June 16th, 2018
Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. From the picture and seeing that Enzo is 1 year of age, this is likely what we call a histiocytoma, which is a benign tumor that resolves on its own typically. In cases where the histocytoma does not resolve, surgical removal is typically curative. Some other tumors such as a mast cell tumor can look similar in appearance so it would be best to have a veterinarian take a look at this and perform some additional testing to help confirm this suspicion of it being a histiocytoma. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.
2Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on July 8th, 2019
It does kind of have the appearance of a histiocytoma. While it is not common in older dogs it’s not impossible for it to be one, especially since he had one as a puppy. But due to his age, it really could be any number of things including a cancerous tumor. So my recommendation would be for you to have your vet take a look at it and do an aspirate of that mass to see if it is just a Histiocytoma or something worse.
3Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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