My old unspayed dog has a growing breast lump. Could it be cancer?

As she is unspayed it's very likely a primary tumor of the mammary gland, it's not possible to know if it has already sent metastases to other places in the body though. the recommendation is to get it removed surgically ASAP.

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-

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.

If she is not spayed the number one reason for swollen teats is mammary (breast) cancer. If she recently had puppies then it could be severe mastitis. Either way this is serious. Your vet cannot drain these. I have no idea what they would possibly be referring to. If this is cancer, they have to be surgically removed. Sometimes the cancer is benign. Sometimes it is malignant and will spread to other organs (mainly the lungs). Regardless, the only way to potentially cure this is surgery. ( https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/mammary-tumors-in-dogs-malignant ) If it is mastitis, then she should respond to antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and warm compresses (or cabbage leaf compresses). ( https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/mastitis-in-dogs ) Please go back to your vet to discuss this or get a second opinion from another vet. This can be fatal.

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.

In a dog of Deno’s age, I’d be concerned this could be a malignant tumor. It could also be a benign tumor, a cyst, or lipoma. Any suspicious lumps should be checked out by a vet. I would tell your mother you spoke to a vet, who said it was important to have this checked out by a vet. Best of luck.

Unfortunately mammary tumors are very common in unspayed dogs, and 50% of them are malignant. The prognosis depends on whether or not the tumor is malignant or not, and if it has spread. Given that it's growing, removing it would be best as well as spaying Lilly in my opinion (spaying her prevents her from developing a pyometra). The vet doing the surgery can submit the removed lump to a lab to determine if it's malignant or not, and likely will submit local lymph nodes to see if the cancer has spread there. That should give a prognosis as to life expectancy for her. I'm sorry you are going through this, and in the future, I strongly recommend to not listen to a groomer about veterinary medicine. They are not trained in veterinary medicine, and really should not be giving advice on lumps. Any suspicious lump should always be checked out by a vet promptly. Best of luck, I hope this helps!