Help! Found A Lump On The Dog… Now What?
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Updated: August 5th, 2019
Summary
Dr. Demian Dressler, best-selling author of “The Dog Cancer Survival Guide”, explains exactly what to do when you find a lump on your dog.
One of the most common comments that readers post on this blog goes something like this: “Help! Found a lump on the dog… What do I do now? The lump is (description) and is on my dog’s (body part). Is it anything to worry about?”
It helps to widen back and look at lumps in dogs generally to help clarify this topic. What’s the number one cause of dog death, if we exclude euthanasia? Dog cancer. How does dog cancer most commonly look to the naked eye? It looks like a lump.
When we find a lump on a dog, this should be a red flag. A certain reaction should be happening in the mind of the dog lover. First, both veterinarians and dog guardians should know the number one most dangerous health problem that exists for dogs, the most likely problem that could take a dog away… cancer.
We have been negligent in spreading this information to dog guardians. And by “we”, I include the group I am a member of: veterinarians. Vets should have this information and be spreading it in the same way we talk about parvo and heartworm disease.
For some reason we don’t. Perhaps it is because bringing up cancer in a discussion feels a little out of bounds since we don’t want to upset our clients. Or it could be that there has not been a marketing push like there is for parvo vaccination or for heartworm disease. Since we have access to preventatives in these cases, pharmaceutical companies make a point to help spread the word about these diseases.
This is not wrong, of course. Why not protect a dog from a problem when it is prudent to do so? (The vaccination debate is discussed elsewhere…)
So why would a guardian wonder what to do if a lump popped up? Clearly, if a woman found a lump in her breast, she would most likely be at the doctor’s promptly. Why? Because there has been enough press on breast cancer that finding the lump would raise a red flag, sparking the thought that breast cancer happens.
But in veterinary medicine, there is a mental disconnect between lumps in dogs and cancer, in spite of the statistics.
The answer to the question of what to do if a lump is found on a loved dog is this: go to your vet and get it checked! Get it aspirated, get it biopsied, get the data you need!
Can a vet diagnose a lump by looking at it? Very occasionally, but usually not. Can a vet diagnose a lump by squeezing it? Very occasionally, but usually not.
One of my pet peeves (sorry, bad pun) is the diagnosis of a benign fatty tumor based on looking and touching alone. Soft, squishy bumps under the skin could indeed be harmless lipomas. But, they could also be dangerous growths like mast cell tumors, hemangiopericytomas, subcutaneous blood filled hemangiosarcomas, or liposarcomas. These all feel soft and squishy.
This brings a case to mind. Three weeks ago, a client brought her dog in to have a lump checked out. This had been previously diagnosed as a harmless lipoma at another veterinary hospital. It felt soft and squishy.
A fine needle aspirate was done on the growth at my hospital. I inserted a syringe with a needle in the growth, and pulled back on the plunger. Did fat enter the needle hub, which is what a fatty tumor would yield? No. The syringe filled with blood.
This was no lipoma. Blood filled swellings have their list of possibilities too, but one of them is a hemangiosarcoma under the skin, a malignant cancer. And over the 6 months that this growth had slowly increased in size with nothing done, the mass had swelled to about 4 inches across.
Now we had a big problem to deal with that could have been caught a long time ago.
The bottom line is this: remember the dog cancer statistics. According to the National Canine Cancer Foundation, 1 in 3 dogs will contract cancer in their lifetime, and this number increases to 1 in 2 if the dog is more than 10 years of age.
Get dog lumps checked!
For more information on dog lumps, how they are diagnosed, and their complete treatment options, check out The Dog Cancer Survival Guide.
Best,
Dr D
Also see: Lumps On Dogs: When To Get Them Checked By A Veterinarian
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
I have a 3 year old kelpie/heeler mix. We were getting ready to leave for camping on Friday and were getting “Sampson” our dog situated before we left for the sitter when I visibly noticed a half dollar size hard lump protruding out from the side of his neck just below his jaw, on the side of his throat. I looked for any scratches or sores however there were none visible and it didnt seem to bother him in the slightest. We have four children so one could imagine the chaos with getting out of town and feel horrible to say I’m not exactly sure when it first started. I do know that previous thursday I was petting him and did not notice it then.. however It was briefly and I wasn’t really in depth so may have been here earlier. We had to leave a we had reservations for this sight and told my sitter to let me know if there were any changes in size, or if he wast eating/drinking,or seemed in pain but no call was made to us. However when we came home today (Sunday) and opened the door to his greetings I immediantly noticed lump has now increased three times bigger than it originally was and there was some hardened fur now on it and some minor balding. I’m thinking the weird “matting like fur” is from either blood, or puss, or him licking there that may hav dried. I’m no in a position financially at all to pay to take him to the vet even for a consult and have researched various low cost emergency and reg. Vets and there are none in my area. I am scared for him and hope maybe someone can give me some type of insight into what it possibly could be and how I might be able to treat him. We love him so much and I just couldn’t imagine if he passed away because I can’t take him in. Gosh I’m just so scared for him and can’t even rest thinking he’s not okay. I tHank you all and appreciate any help again.
Dear Kat,
one idea would be to see if there are any vets that participate in care credit, a third party payment plan service so you can split the payments up over time. Some vet practice owners might be willing to barter (trade) services.
Best,
Dr D
I have a 10/11ish year old (a rescue so we don’t know for sure) shepherd mix who had a grade 2 mast cell tumor removed from his hind leg in March. We did a 9-week course of pregnisone, benadryl, and Tagamet following the removal. He now has another lump — this one on his side. The vet said it could be fat (he has a tendency for fatty growths) but is concerned that it feels very embedded in the muscles around his chest cavity. She wants to do the removal, biopsy, steroid course again (if it is indeed a mast cell) so what I am wondering is (1) would this be the course of treatment you would recommend? and (2) in a dog his age, how long should I continue to remove these growth before I look to simply make him comfortable and let him live out his days? He is a formerly-abused, very nervous dog and, being that he is not young, I don’t feel that it is fair to him to be put through numerous surgeries if the cancer is sure to return. Any information you can provide is appreciated! Thanks.
Dear Rebecca, get a fine needle aspirate done first. What if it is fat???
Best,
D
Hi, I have a large dog, she’s about 11 years old…i noticed a few weeks ago a bump on her. Its on her back leg up by her tail but more on her hip thigh?
I thought she probably had gotten bit by something we live out in the country…i watched it for about a week, and then it just opened up and oozed blood and clear liquid and all the hair came off …we took her to the vet, they suggest sugery removing it…my question, its probably cancer they can’t tell unless you do a biopsy. But i’m assuming her age and cancer is prevelant, i’m not sure what to do. The surgery is expensive, it will more than likely come back, of course theres always a chance they said that it might not. Am I really doing my dog justice by proloning the enevitable? I love her she’s our family but in years past i’ve gone through similar things only to have them die …so do i just try to get it to heal and watch her and wait until i think her quality of life isn’t there, its just the hardest decision…..help? thanks
My dog Toby is 1 and 1/2 and today I found a lump underneath his testicles. He’s been biting there lately and the ticks are very bad here, so I checked him for ticks. I found several in that area. He absolutely didn’t want me to pull them off and kept biting at it. After removing the ticks, I noticed a small perfectly round bump underneath the skin that isn’t the normal swelling after a tick bite. The skin is loose, but with the little marble sized lump inside of it. His skin also has dark splotches in that area. We are planning to take him to the vet ASAP, but are unable to for a while. I’ve been looking on the internet for tick bites that could cause the discoloration and lump, as well as cancers, but haven’t found anything that matches it. Does this sound like cancer?
Dear Jackie..
unfortunately nobody, including myself, can tell if a lump in cancer online. Go ahead and stick with your plan and get your loved dog checked out by the vet.
Dr D
We have a 9.5 year old male lab that we were told had a fatty cyst on his back right side; well it has grown and we recently noticed swelling of the inner hind thigh on the same side. Thoughts?
My husband and I found a blood filled mass on his yellow labs chest. She has a skin problem already. He tryed to pop it with a needle but eveytime he tryed to it would just tare easyly and would dran blood. It never went down in size. What should we do.
Dear Vanessa,
please bring your dog in to your veterinarian for proper medical care.
Best,
Dr D
our 9 year old beagle was diagnosed yesterday with squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal. we were told surgery is not an option and that radiation may or may not extend his life. the vet says he 3-6 months left, but i doubt that. the tumor is large and about 2″ of his bone is gone across the top of his nose more towards the left. would palladia help? would anything help him ?
Thank you, Gail
Dear Gail,
There are a variety of things that can be considered to help with life quality and hopefully life extension too. They can fill a book (and actually have- the Guide). Supplements like apocaps, artemisinin, Neoplasene diluted in saline and instilled into the nostrils, K-9 Immunity with transfer factor, and the other life quality steps discussed in the book would be things I’d consider under veterinary supervision. It is always wise to get an oncologists input when you are considering chemo and radiation.
You can use the search bar in the upper right of this page to look into these items too-
Best,
Dr D
my dog sam is usually a wild thing! running around playing with me and my husban but lately i’ve noticed that he seems a bit off, not as playfull and a bit sluggish at times so this morning i looked his body over, seeing as how we live on a rez i just thought maybe he got hurt fighting with a stray or a wild animal, anyways so i look him over and i notice two hard lumps on both sides of his penis, sam is fixed so i knew it couldn’t be his…you know and i also noticed that the pink part that comes out sometimes [don’t know what its called] was showing a bit and there was some blood comming out of it not alot but enough to know what it was
so here’s my question: what could it be?
we don’t get paid till next week and the vet here will only see us if we have money right then and there
so should i just find some money and take him or do you think it will be ok to wait another week?
Sorry to hear about Sam. As you read in the blog post, we really need to have this checked out by a vet (and tested). This does not sound good at all, to be honest. Do it as soon as you can. Cancer is high on the list but we don’t know without the real facts.
I hope this helps,
Dr D
Hi Dr D
I have 6 shitzu pups 3 months old who got their booster DHPL plus rabies shots last week, i noticed today one had a soft lump between the shoulders, then when i checked the others 4 more had lumps of varying size in the same area. Is this normal following vaccines ? How long will they take to go
Thanks a lot, susan
Susan,
these are likely small reactions to the vaccination and usually fade within weeks. Make sure the vet is not using leptospirosis in the vaccination.
Best,
Dr D
Dr Dressler;
I have an 11 year old valleybull. He has some cmall cysts over his body that I’m not concerned about. He has a large soft lump reddish in color that he has had a while. It is located on his chest left side by heart. I noticed blood in the last couple of days on his bed and spots on the floor. Today it ruptured, when I went to wipe blood off it ( I thought it was a little scab like and he scratched it) it ruptured blood but not real dark red. I did not want to push out more blood; but I am unable to get to a vet for a few days. Should I try and get more blood out or just wipe it clean and see if it scabs over?
Thanks
Dear Pat,
yes, go ahead and keep it clean as you are. Apply a little Neosporin twice daily as well. It is critical to get this bump tested at the vet’s.
Best,
Dr D