My dog has a growing black bump on her nose. Should I worry?

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!

Ouch! Due to how inflamed that looks I would definitely schedule a vet visit ASAP. Sudden growths/irritations like that can be due to a number of things including bacterial infections, tumors, irritation from digging/rubbing at the spot too much, allergies, etc so it's good to see your vet. They'll likely want to take a sample of the area to determine what is going on and how best to treat it. In the meantime, it's a good idea to place an Elizabethan (cone) collar on Nova to keep her from rubbing at the spot, as well as keep the area clean and dry. If the area is rapidly growing in size, taking note of the size, color, shape changes, etc can help your vet better determine what is going on. If you are noticing any other symptoms (sneezing, fever, loss of appetite, etc) these are important to let your vet know as well.

A lesion like that could be several things including an ingrown hair, allergies, skin mites, bacterial infection or a skin tumor/mass. There are a couple things you can do at home and they can help but they may not address the underlying cause. You can try adding in an omega 3 fatty acid supplement for dogs, this can help improve the skin health. You may also try changing her diet to something like Royal Canin or Nutro as they are aimed at skin health. You can wash the lesion once a day (not her whole body, just the lesion). Also protect the area from trauma by having your pup wear an elizabethan collar at all times. If the lesion does not start improving within a week or if it is getting worse, have her examined by the veterinarian. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

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.

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.

Hello, sorry to hear about Nala. Most often, those slow growing moles are typically benign, just that some may grow larger than others. However, rarely, some of these moles may become or turn into something more aggressive. Dark colored bumps can be melanomas or hemangiosarcomas amongst other types of tumors. The best way to tell wether this bump is something you should worry about is to have it sampled or removed before it gets too big. Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian to have the lump sampled and potentially removed. Once removed it can be submitted for biopsy to confirm that it is either benign or malignant. Hope this helps and best of luck.

Hello. Dogs can develop bumps on their nose from injury, trauma, bacterial & fungal infections, often from their habit of rooting in dirt, under leaves, bushes, etc. Gauge may need medication to help this heal, especially if it seems to be getting bigger. I recommend having your veterinarian take a look so that the proper diagnosis is made & the correct treatment/medication is prescribed. Thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.