What are the tiny lumps under my unspayed female dog's nipples?

She may have mammary cancer which is fairly common in unspayed dogs. Your vet can perform either a biopsy or a fine needle aspirate and cytology to confirm the nature of the mass. If it comes back as mammary cancer, full screening pre-operative bloodwork as well as chest radiographs to rule out metastasis to the lungs will likely be discussed. If chest rads show that cancer has already spread to her lungs, unfortunately surgical removal under anesthesia may not be practical. Good luck-

Hello. This is probably benign mammary hyperplasia, but you do want to have this looked at, especially if she has been spayed. If she has not been spayed & has never been with a male dog, then this could be related to a false pregnancy. Also, has she been in contact with anyone who is on hormone replacement therapy? Sometimes, this can rub off on a pet & cause mammary enlargement. If no outside cause can be found, then have her spayed if that has not already been done, & submit a biopsy to see exactly what is going on with the tissue. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I see that Jessabell isn't spayed. Unfortunately in unspayed females, mammary tumors are common and that is what could be causing her nipple to look weird. Mammary tumors in dogs have a 50% chance of being malignant, so I would recommend having her seen by a vet for it. 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. Should she have a mammary tumor and it's malignant, it will need to be removed surgically and local lymph nodes should be checked to see if it has been spread. I would have Jessabell seen by a vet tomorrow to have her nipple looked at so it can be treated as needed.

Anytime a new mass is noticed, I always recommend having it evaluated to see what it is and if anything needs to be done about it. Unfortunately, we can't tell anything about a mass by just looking at it or feeling it. Your vet can perform a simple test called a fine needle aspirate where they use a small needle to collect some cells from the mass, then look at them under the microscope. They may even need to send the cells to the lab for a pathologist to examine them, so we know what the mass is. If it is benign, you might not need to do anything about the mass at all, but if they see cells that worry them, they might recommend removing the mass. I am attaching a handout with more information about mammary tumors below in case the lumps are actually in the mammary gland. http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=1350 Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

It is difficult to tell what is going on with Panthera based on the picture alone. The lump in the picture almost looks wet, so I would be concerned about a potential cyst or infected gland. Since she is unspayed, I also worry about potential mammary cancer, which we see more commonly in intact females. It can present as firm masses under the mammary glands. Dogs can also get benign masses of the mammary tissue as well. The best course of action would be to take her to your regular vet to have them evaluate her. She may need a fine needle aspirate of the lump. This is when we take a sample of cells from the area and look at it under the microscope to try to determine what the underlying cause is. It is no more painful than a vaccine and can give a lot of information as to if anything further needs to be done for Panthera or not.

It looks like the bump is inline with her mammary chain. Intact females are prone to developing mammary tumors. Is is about a 50% chance of it being malignant. I would recommend surgical removal with biopsy. I usually recommend that the patient also be spayed at the same time to decrease the likelihood of further mammary tumor development. Best of luck and thank you for using Pet Coach.

Hi. This is a very big mass. If it is firm and painful, this is concerning in an unspayed, older pet is cancer unfortunately. Besides a cancer, other possibilities include infection, cyst, lipoma, a benign mammary tumor, hernia, etc. She should be fully checked out and have the mass sampled to get an answer. The sooner the better in this case.