My dog has a growth. How are pet tumors diagnosed and treated safely?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Possibilities include mast cell tumor, soft tissue sarcoma, plasmacytoma, carcinoma, something of a benign origin, among many others. It should be something similar or the same as the FNA. Ultimately, the biopsy is what actually provides the definitive diagnosis. Feel free to contact us back once the results are available and we can try to guide you going forward the best we can. Let's keep our fingers crossed that it is something benign. Good luck and have a great day!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It depends on the Vet's experience with reading cytology. Most Vets send out their cytology samples to a specialist who is trained to read them. Mast cell tumors have a classic look and tend to be one of the easier tumors to diagnose. You could ask your Vet to send the slides out since that only takes 1-2 days to get them back but sometimes aspirates do not get you an answer. I know you have surgery set up and a biopsy planned. That is the best thing for Precious, to get the mass off and know what it is. It has a high chance of being benign. It is a good thing it hasn't grown much. I wish you the best!

Hi there. This is often a question of personal preference, because there are pros and cons to doing a needle aspirate beforehand. If the aspirate shows that the tumor is benign (a histiocytoma, or something similar), then it's true that surgery could be avoided. However, if it shows something malignant, like a mast cell tumor, then Harvey will still need surgery and the mass will still have to be sent for histopathology for grading and other information that can't be obtained from an aspirate. Also, it's important to be aware that around 20-25% of needle aspirates come back with inconclusive results - so in that case, you'll need to proceed to a surgical biopsy or surgical removal regardless. So, it's not as clear cut a decision as you might think. For me, I often recommend going straight to surgery for a small, easy-to-remove mass that appears to be growing (or not shrinking) rather than doing an aspirate first, since the aspirate doesn't usually change our plan. But you can certainly discuss this with your veterinarian - I'm sure he would be happy to aspirate the mass before going ahead with surgery, if this is what you prefer.

I'm sorry Guinness has a tumor! Yes, it would be a good idea to have a fine needle aspirate (FNA) of the mass between his stomach and bladder. This will help identify if this is malignant or not, and what treatment may need to be done. To do this, the vet sticks a small needle into the lump to get a sample of it's cells, and examines the cells on a slide under a microscope. It's usually painless to the animal, and relatively quick to perform, so it won't be an invasive procedure. I hope this helps!

Hello, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. A needle aspirate is the standard way to get an initial "suspected" diagnosis on a lump, but there are limitations to what a needle sample can tell us. If the cells in the needle sample appear worrisome, then the next diagnostic step is to send in a biopsy (surgical "chunk") of the tumor, or to remove the tumor itself and send the whole thing in to the lab for analysis. So, was removal of the ear necessary? I can't say, I don't know enough about the location or size of the mass. I didn't see the slide from the initial needle aspirate. But if the needle aspirate looked worrisome, and the next step is to remove the tumor or cut a piece of the tumor off, then removing that piece of the ear may have been the only way to find out for sure what the tumor was, and whether surgical removal was curative. Rather than regretting in hindsight that the surgery was done because the histopathology report came back as a histiocytoma, I would be focusing on the good news that Tate doesn't have a malignant mast cell tumor. And removal and lab analysis of the tumor was the only way you could have gotten that news. Hope this helps!

Needle aspiration of lipomas typically yields identifiable fat so i agree with your family vet that it is concerning to not have any material recovered with the needle aspirate. We always start with needle aspiration as it is non invasive with quick results but some masses are harder to diagnose with this test. This typically occurs if the mass is firmer in nature. Going to see a specialist can be helpful as we can sometimes use other techniques such as ultrasound to obtain samples with needle aspiration to try to avoid biopsy. But ultimately biopsy may be necessary for some masses. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

The lump looks like it may be a possible skin growth or even abscess (infection under the skin). Skin growths tend to be benign, however it is best to have the area looked at by your vet. Your vet can likely take a sample of the area without sedation/anesthesia for testing to see what treatment (if any) needs to be done. Your vet can also examine Luke and perform any bloodwork if needed to determine if it would be safe to remove the lump under anesthesia, if needed.