My dog has grey, growing skin lumps he's licking. What should I do?

With any new lump or lump that is changing, it is always best to have your veterinarian look at them and a fine needle aspirated can be done to obtain a sample of cells. If these cells look suspicious of a malignancy, then your vet can recommend surgery. From the photos that you have posted, my guess is that these may be benign, non-cancerous masses. These can still cause problems, though, by bleeding and getting infected. I would schedule Max for an exam at your earliest convenience so that you and your vet can weigh the pros and cons of surgery since he is a senior.

Thank you for including the pictures. Hard keratin growths such as what Max likely has are typically benign, but can be annoying. I will typically just numb up the area and remove it so it doesn’t get caught or rip off. I would encourage you to have him evaluated by your veterinarian soon. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sadly a lot of skin masses can look the same. It could be a Mast Cell tumor (which is a cancerous growth that should be removed and biopsied), a cyst, a histiocytoma (though he is a bit old for that, they end to occur in younger dogs). Any skin bumps that is new, rapidly grows, changes or is possibly infected should be checked by a Vet. They can decide whether it should be aspirated and sent to the lab or removed surgically to send the entire specimen for biopsy. I hope this helps and I wish Boston the very best!

Without a physical exam or diagnostics, it is difficult to determine if this is something to worry over. Ideally, a fine needle aspirate or biopsy should be done to collect samples for pathology. This may provide a diagnosis. X-rays of the limb may be recommended to rule out bony involvement. Since you state it is growing, it should be removed before it becomes too large. As it is, that is a difficult area to close after a mass removal.

Unfortunately it is hard to tell what that lump is just by the picture. I would recommend you take her in to see your vet for an exam and potentially a fine needle aspirate of this lump. A fine needle aspirate is a way to try to exfoliate cells from the lump and look at them under the microscope to try to tell what this lump is. Even if it is a benign lump, she may need to have it removed if she continues to lick it. She also may need topical treatment or potentially antibiotics and/or anti-inflammatories if the lump is infected or causing her pain. I often recommend taking lumps off of legs sooner, as they are easier and generally less expensive to remove and close the skin when they are small. Large lumps on limbs can be quite difficult to remove, as there isn't much additional skin in this area to close over the wound.

Hello, sorry to hear about Zorro. It looks like that may be a wart (benign skin lump). This can be confirmed by taking a needle sample from the are and looking at the cells under the microscope. Alternatively, if you think the lump is growing it would be a lot better to remove it now while it is small than a future time when it gets bigger primarily because of the location and the difficulty in removing large lumps from he arm region. I would recommend having Zorro seen and these lumps sampled/removed and biopsied to ensure this is not a more aggressive lump. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Hello my name is Dr. Elyse Macartney, and I would like to help answer you questions regarding Brandi's skin lump today. First of all thank you for sending the picture of the lump. From the picture you have sent the lump appears to be a skin growth. There are several types off lumps or masses that can grow in the skin of dogs such as sebaceous cysts, warts, abscesses, lipomas, and several types of cancers. Some of these cancers are benign and some are malignant, so careful observation is important, as well as having a vet examine it if you are concerned. My first step of advice for you would be to use a ruler to measure the lump today. Then repeat that measurement every few weeks. Continue to monitor the lump for growth, ulceration, pain, bleeding, swelling, and changes in texture or color. Rapidly growing and changing masses are more concerning, and may be a sign of malignancy. Because this is a new mass and because you have already observed growth, I would suggest taking Brandi in to have the mass examined by her veterinarian. The veterinarian will most likely want to take a sample of the cells within the mass using a FNA (fine needle aspirate). Using cytological examination of those cells, the type of mass can be identified and a treatment plan created. I hope this information was helpful, and I have included the link to further articles below. https://www.petcoach.co/article/lumps-on-dogs-when-you-should-be-concerned/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/can-pets-get-skin-cancer/