My dog's recurring oozing skin bumps stump vets. Is it lymphoma?

Oh my. Poor girl. This doesn't sound like your typical hot spot/abscess due to trauma. There is an underlying factor here. Some possible causes are: an autoimmune skin condition, a resistant bacterial infection, skin cancer, or a mite infection with subsequent skin infections. I would highly recommend starting with a skin biopsy, which will give you a lot of information on the underlying cause and what treatment is needed. A skin bacterial culture should also be considered to determine if there is a resitant bacteria growing on Cali's skin that is not susceptible to the antibiotics tried so far. After these tests are done we should have a good idea or what we are dealing with and what treatment will likely resolve it. Best of luck with Cali and her skin woes. I hope things clear up soon!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Poor guy! This can certainly be just an abscess due to an infection. However, it is possible that there is an underlying cancer which is why this keeps occurring. I think this is less likely to be true and this is more likely just an abscess that needs to be treated. If this has improved on the therapies that Kronk is on at this time then I would follow the course. If he is not improving, they should consider submitting the wound fluid to a laboratory to check for the possibility of a resistant infection that may need to be treated with a different antibiotic. Otherwise, they should sample that tissue inside and submit to a laboratory for histopathology to check for the possibility of underlying cancer. The facts that there are lesions in different places makes allergies possible. I am hoping for a speedy recovery!

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine this so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. She may need a small bandage along with an oral antibiotic and a topical ointment. If not treated this could become infected. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is possibly due to allergies. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!

Hmm. This does sound bit more than just allergies. If the bloodwork results came back relatively normal and the allergies are not being controlled by conservative allergy medications prescribed by your veterinarian, then I would consider having a skin biopsy done. Skin biopsies are done on pets that have a more complicated skin disorder. Also your pet may require a specific, more advanced, blood test that goes beyond the regular baseline bloodwork. It would help if we could see your pets actual bloodwork, even though the vet said it was normal. Because even normal bloodwork can sometimes offer clues. I know it sounds like your pet requires lot of testing; however, if you desire to know for sure what the underlying problem is, you have to do more diagnostic testing than the initial screening tests. And finally, in an older pet unfortunately you also have to consider certain skin cancers as a cause of your pets illness. Especially if he seems to be losing weight over time.

I would recommend removal or at least a biopsy of the lymphnodes (where a little piece of the lymph node is removed). This can be done under geeneral anesthesia, which nowadays is very safe or, if your dog is very quiet, may be done under sedation and a local anesthesia (I would prefer the general anesthesia though). This could indeed be lymphoma or it could be reactive lymph nodes, swelling because they are filtering out bacteria and other material that the body does not deem healthy. Should it be lymphoma and you do not want chemotherapy , your dog can indeed be made comfortable with steroids. Rather than hoping and guessing whether it is lymphoma or not, the biopsy, whether done by taking the whole lymphnode or just part of it, will give you a diagnosis and then you can deal with the disease.

It is hard to tell from the picture but it maybe the start of a pustule which can be a sign of a skin infection. It may also be a cyst or sebaceous adenoma or wart as they have a similar looking characteristic. Since she has been through Cytopoint and Apoquel with out much relief, she may benefit from a dermatologist to get intradermal allergy testing. Your vet can check that spot to be sure what it is and set up a referral for the skin if you wish to pursue that route