My dog's toe lump is growing. What's surgery cost? Is a skin graft needed?

Hi there! By the looks of the picture Olive may have a cyst in between her toes or even something like a foxtail or grass awn migrating around in there. There is also a small chance it could be a growth of some kind, like a tumor. It may or may not be infected. It's hard to tell by a picture. Depending in what it is, it may or may or need surgery. Sometimes to get a closer look your veterinarian may want to give Olive some sedation and probe and explore the area. The sedation is recommended because it can be sore or painful, or even scary for her to try to do this awake. Before jumping to any conclusions, I think it would be a good idea for Olive to have an evaluation by her veterinarian. They can see if she needs any medications or foot soaks, or even some medications for pain and discomfort and an infection. They can then determine if Olive needs some sedation to get a better look at the area. Foxtails can sometimes be fished out of their entry points using special forceps, and cysts can be drained or flushed if needed all under sedation. I hope you find this answer helpful! Best of luck!

Thank you for providing a picture of Diesel's lump! It looks like it could be a histocytoma, which is a benign tumor, but without seeing him in person, I can't say for certain. Histocytomas typically resolve on their own in a few months, but given that it seems to be getting bigger, I would recommend having him seen by a vet on Monday for it. The vet can do a fine needle aspirate to confirm if it is a histiocytoma or not. 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. If it is a histiocytoma, the vet may want to wait to see if it resolves, or can discuss removing it surgically. I hope this helps!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Judging from the mass and the fact that Gunner is a young dog, I would suspect that this is what we call a histiocytoma. These typically resolve on their own but can be surgically removed to help speed up the resolution of the mass. If it is continuing to grow and if it bothers him, I would recommend having this removed surgically and then send it out for further testing to make sure this is not a cancerous mass. 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.

From the picture this looks to be a mass. I would recommend having it evaluated by your family vet for needle sampling with cytology. That way they can determine if this is a mass and if so if it needs to be surgically removed (benign vs malignant). The toe is a tricky location so having it evaluated while it is small would be best. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

This is a well defined growth luckily. As it’s getting bigger and it is large enough to get scraped and start bleeding I recommend removing it soon. It looks benign but a biopsy will be needed to know for sure what type of growth it is. If it gets much bigger it will be difficult to remove since there isn’t much extra skin in that area to close up the incision. All growths that enlarge should be surgically removed to prevent problems. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Rocco.

Unfortunately, I can't say that I like the looks of that. Masses like these associated with the nail bed can often be problematic in both structure and physiology. structurally, they can grow larger and start to make it difficult for Lily to walk normally without pain. Physiologically, there are types of toes masses that malignant, both locally and systemically, and others that are benign. The first thing I'd do if you are interested in doing a work up, would be to request your vet obtain a biopsy or cytology of the lesion to assess what it is. Depending on the result and how fast they believe the lesion will grow, your vet can make appropriate suggestions. In the majority of toe masses that have any potential at all for spread, typically the toe (or toes) are amputated. Dogs get along fine and usually don't miss a step, even in older pups like Lily. Anyway, hope this helps.

Hello, that lump looks like it could be a benign mass that is arising from the hair follicles. These masses could be difficult to manage due to their location and difficulty to remove. Unfortunately some times these masses can only be removed through amputation of the toe, but this can only be determine after a physical exam. This mass should be first sampled to determine if it is benign vs malignant. If benign, then ideally you could continue to monitor it at home for any pain and discomfort. As long as this is not bothering Shelby too much and it is benign then you don't have to remove it. If it is malignant, or if it is bothering Shelby, then you can talk about the possibilities of removing the mass with your veterinarian. Hope this helps and best of luck.