Is my dog's tail incision healing normally 3 days after lump removal?

Your vet is correct. You actually have a choice now: a fine needle aspirate where a little tissue is harvested from the lump and then examined to determine what kind of growth this is. Should it be benign, or just inflammatory, treatment would be either benign neglect or treating the inflammation or possible infection. Should it be malignant, then your vet will probably elect to amputate the tail well above the tumor and then this would often be curative depending on the type of tumor. In that case it is actually good that it is in the tail and not somewhere else on the body. Trust your vet, he is on the right track.

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. The incision looks inflammed, but this could be part of the normal healing process. If there is any discharge, OR if the wound looked better than this previously and is now looking MORE red than say Friday or Saturday, I would take her back to the vet right away. If it is steadily looking better, and she is eating, drinking, pooping and peeing normally, then you can continue to monitor it. Best of luck with Lilo.

The incision appears closed in the pictures and the blood around the incision appears dried, so that is all good news. However, the incision is much redder and more swollen than I would expect it to be the day after surgery, so I would be concerned that she has been licking at the incision. If you don't have one, I would recommend getting an e-collar to prevent her from licking at the incision and keep her in a kennel to make sure that she cannot run and jump and risk opening the incision. If the incision starts to ooze or continues to be red and swollen, you may need to have your veterinarian examine it to make sure that it isn't infected. Good luck! I hope that was helpful and that Maggy heals quickly. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Aww poor Beau! The good news is that this tail looks pretty good to me. I can’t say for certain without looking at it but this could be normal healthy granulation tissue filling in his wound/surgery site. It could possibly be a small suture reaction or incision infection. If you can keep Beau from licking it (E collar), you can apply a triple antibiotic cream (Neosporin, etc) once or twice daily. Do not bandage the tail. Best of luck and hope this helps!

Thank you for contacting Pet Coach with your question about IIsie. The top half of the incision looks like it's healing beautifully. You can see some redness and if the staples are tighter at the bottom of the incision, it could account for the swelling. I agree there are no signs of infection from the picture, so continue to monitor the incision for now. If the area gets redder, more swollen, and/or you see other signs of infection, then I would be concerned and have her seen by a vet. I hope this helps!

This doesn't look perfect but definitely does not look too bad either, there is some bulging as you mentioned, probably because the stitches have been put on a little too tight, as long as the stitches hold though i would not be too worried, you need to make sure she does not lick the area (i assume she has an E-collar on) and make sure the incision does not open up, the swelling should start resolving within a couple days from now. as long as it does not look worse than this i would be ok keeping her at home, you can still take her for short walks without any issues and your vet needs to see her at some point but it is not urgent (usually post opps are done 3 days and 10 days after the surgery).

This looks like an infected cyst. Dogs have a scent area on their tails that can enlarge and get infected such as this. You can apply a hot compress to the area several times daily to see if it will drain. That will increase the blood supply to help it heal faster. Bringing Ben in for an exam would confirm a diagnosis and they would probably prescribe antibiotics which would lessen the healing time. This doesn't look like a mass to me, so it should resolve quickly with treatment. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Ben.