My dog has GI upset. What do black areas on his X-ray mean? Tumors?

Unfortunately the quality of the image coming through to us isn't great. If you are talking about the circular area on the upper right side of the abdomen, this is gas in the stomach and can be normal. If your vet wants to try additional diagnostics but doesn't have ultrasound, they could do a barium study, or they could send the x-rays to a radiologist for review (a veterinary radiologist has extensive training at reviewing x-rays and so can sometimes interpret things a regular vet may not). X-rays can be send electronically to a radiologist for review through various services, so I would ask them if they feel either of these options would be appropriate.

Without seeing the x-ray it is hard to say. On x-rays all black areas are air, white areas are bone/metal and gray areas are soft tissue structures or non-radiopaque objects. A tumor, hair or grass would all look similar. Dogs almost never have hairballs. A lump of grass would not make it all the way to the colon as it would be digested before it got there. If there is a lump inside the colon or around the outside of the colon then it is most likely cancer however, it could be a hernia, an enlarged lymph node or other soft tissue structure. I cannot tell you without seeing the x-ray. If you do not trust the vet's interpretation then I suggest you get a second opinion from another vet. You can take the x-rays with you for them to review. Also, most vets have a board certified radiologist they can x-rays to for review. You can always ask your vet to do that for you as a second opinion.

It is hard to tell from the picture what these could be. Sometimes growths of the oil glands in the skin can appear this way. Infection can also be black and crusty. Melanomas can also appear as black growths on the skin. I would recommend that you take her to see your veterinarian so they can take a sample to diagnose it so that you know what it is and what needs to be done about it.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Abdominal x-rays are sometimes helpful in determining if there is a mass in the cranial (front part) of the abdomen, near the spleen or liver. Sometimes this is obvious, but masses can be more subtle on x-rays, and it can be difficult to determine from what organ a mass is originating. If there is concern for an abdominal mass on x-rays, an abdominal ultrasound may be recommended to better determine what organ the mass is associated with. I hope this is helpful - best of luck with Teddy!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Gilda. I recommend that she sees a veterinarian today. Tarry stool can indicate digested blood from the upper gastrointestinal tract. This is most commonly due to an intestinal infection from parasites or a viral infection such as the parvovirus. This can be diagnosed with with fecal testing. I hope this information helps!

Thank you for contacting Pet Coach with your question. X-rays produce images of the structures inside the body. Bone is the most dense, so it shows up as a white. X-rays are the best for visualizing bones. You can see organs and tumors, they will show up as shades of gray. In order to better visualize them, however, ultrasound, an MRI, or CAT scan would be better. I hope this helps.

If the masses on the liver / spleen ruptured, I would expect her abdomen to be getting larger and her gums to be getting pale due to the hemorrhage. If she has black tarry stool, my concern is that the cancer is also somewhere in the GI tract. If clinically she is unchanged and doing ok, I would speak with the oncologist and see what the recommendations are in regards to this. The fact that there are cancerous changes evident on the liver and spleen, tells me that this is spreading, which is not good. However, that being said, these could be benign. I just worked on my friends dog who had a liver mass and splenic tumor in his dog. I surgically removed a liver lobe and the spleen and the dog is doing better than ever still and this was done about 6 months ago. There is no way to tell for sure whether or not these are cancerous masses until a biopsy is done or the masses are removed and sent out to the laboratory for testing. As long as Chewy is stable and doing the same, I would recommend speaking with the oncologist and see what their opinion is considering all of these changes. 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.