My Lab has a sudden baseball-sized knot on his back knee. What is it?

Hi, Joints swellings are caused by an accumulation of fluid in the joint. This condition may be caused by different conditions most commonly: degenerative joint disease (DJD - arthritis), injuries, infectious disease (chronic infection and some tick borne disease) , immune mediated (immune-mediated polyarthritis , lupus) , cancer (mostly bone tumors), swellings due to blood accumulation in the joint of dogs with clotting disorders. Gout is very rare and actually never been accurately documented in dogs. I would suggest to take her to the vet again to give pain relief if painful and try to diagnose the underlying cause. Good luck.

This appears to be swelling in the knee joint. What we would consider the "ankle" is much lower in the leg. There can be a pocket of joint fluid on the inside of the leg. It is possible this is a skin lump at the exact spot of this fluid pocket, but I doubt it. I suspect she is not putting weight on the leg because she injured the knee, and now as the swelling increases it is becoming more and more painful. I recommend she be seen by a veterinarian to check the stability of the knee to determine if she ruptured her crainial cruciate ligament or CCL (which is like a human's ACL).

Bruno should get checked out by a vet. The vet will probably want to do x-rays of the foot to see if the swelling is caused by a bony issue or if it is joint swelling. Blood work may also be helpful in determining the cause of the swelling (may be infectious or autoimmune.

Hello. For the most part, benign lumps & nodules are very common in animals, even very young ones. If it remains fairly stable, & does not appear to be growing or causing Brie any discomfort, just have your vet take a look at it at your next wellness visit. If it begins to enlarge, become irritated or starts bleeding, please have it evaluated as soon as possible. Some benign tumors, like histiocytomas, will actually regress on their own over time. Just watch it for now. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I'm concerned that this lump has tripled in size in such a short amount of time, and the color of it as well. Otis should go back to the vet for this to get it checked out, and I would take him into his vet this weekend or first thing Monday. 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 hope this helps!

Thank you for your question. A swelling like this could be a couple of things. If Blue does not appear painful and is not limping, this may just be a hygroma, which is just a fluid filled swelling from laying on the hard ground. If this is the case, I would simply recommend soft bedding, and try to keep him from laying directly on the hard floor, and it should improve over 2-3 weeks. If it is painful to the touch, hot, or if Blue is limping, this could be an infection and he should be seen by your veterinarian as soon as you can get him in. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I would have this lump on Jake examined by a vet. It could be a cyst, a benign tumor, or potentially a malignant tumor. 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 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. I'd recommend having Jake seen by a vet tomorrow to have the lump examined and diagnose so it can be treated as needed.