My Labrador has a shoulder bump with black discharge. What to do?

This could be a seroma from an injury, a cyst, abscess or a tumor. Cysts and abscesses need to be drained by a vet. If your vet suspects a tumor, he will do a fine needle aspirate to determine whether it is a harmless lipoma, which does not need to be removed unless it is ulcerating or bothers the dog due to its location or size, or another tumor that needs to be removed. Please make an appointment with your veterinarian for an exam of the mass.

This lump requires ideally an immediate check up to determine its underlying nature. Given the treatment failure it is unlikely to be caused by an infection, and differentials would include skin cysts and benign or more malignant type of tumors. Your vet will probably take some samples from it to analyse the type of cells in it.

If it recently got bigger than you should have a vet take a look at the lump to determine the cause. She could have an infection, cyst, or a mass and your vet can do a needle aspirate to help diagnose and then determine if any treatment is needed.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I work with cancer daily and I do think there is a good chance that it is in fact a benign fatty tumor as older labs get those frequently. However, it could also be something malignant such as a mast cell tumor, sarcoma, among others. This is most of the time differentiated with a test called a fine needle aspirate which is easy, cheap and pain-free. Sometimes, a biopsy is required for a diagnosis. Have Laya evaluated by your veterinarian to have this test performed to try to sort out what the diagnosis is so that the best course of action can be determined. Keeping my fingers crossed that it is something benign!

The picture is hard to make out but based on location I would say these are perianal tumours. You should get them checked out asap. The vet will likely have to test them to determine if they are benign or cancerous and then will be able to advise you on the best course of action. Try not to worry about them until you have spoken to the vet.

As long as she is otherwise acting ok, it is not growing rapidly, and/or has a discharge then you could wait and take her this weekend. Your vet can do a needle aspirate to help determine the cause and determine if the lump needs to be removed or treated.

This kind of lump/growth needs to be ideally assessed by your veterinarian to have a definitive and specific answer. Usually there are two ways your vet can do that a part from examining it directly during physical examination. A biopsy can be taken under local or general anesthetic, otherwise a smaller sample through a fine needle can be aspirated (this technique is called FNA= fine needle aspiration). Differentials include skin cysts, infections, benign or more sinister type of tumors. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.