My dog has a new skin growth that's getting bigger. Is it serious?

Hello and thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It could be due to acne development or other local allergic or inflammatory reaction. As long as this area is not painful and is not bothering your dog, you can monitor her at home for the weekend. However, if the area is sore or is bothering your dog, you should take her to your local vets tomorrow.

These growths needs to be checked and analysed as there are many conditions and types of tumors that could look like that. take him to the vet when lock down allows it (it's not urgent), they will perform a fine needle aspiration on the growth and send it to the lab for analysis. when the result comes, the vet will advise what needs to be done according to the diagnosis.

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! That is a concerning sign, especially since the bump is a different color from the regular skin, and is growing in size. Since it's hard to tell what a bump is without an exam and sample (biopsy, fine needle aspirate), it's best to bring Coco into your vet to have it looked at. They can take the sample, check what kind of growth it is, and safely remove it if needed. In the meantime, keeping an eye on how fast it's growing/size, and keeping Coco from pawing at it or rubbing it can help keep it from getting infected or more irritated.

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.

If the spot has changed in size over time it wouldn't hurt to have your vet take another look at it, especially if the change was very rapid over the past few days or weeks. Your vet may recommend taking a sample of the spot for testing to help determine what it may be so it can be treated as needed. Growths like this can be caused by any number of things including rubbing the spot often on surfaces, cysts, blisters, allergies, etc, so having it examined if it is changing is best.

This presentation could be due to a trauma or localized spot of skin infection (likely to be caused by bacteria or fungal infection). A check up, appropriate disinfection and possibly antibiotics (oral, topical or in a shampoo formulation) are needed to solve the problem. Disinfection may be started at home with very diluted hibiscrub or betadine or salted water baths. Buster collar may be useful as well to avoid any licking (if any). Hope this answer was helpful, but 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. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!