Lipoma and Liposarcoma in the Dog: Fatty Tumors
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: May 15th, 2024
Summary
Is that soft squishy lump on your dog something to worry about? It depends.
Many times dog lovers will arrive in my hospital and point out that their canine companion has a bump. They are soft, kind of like very firm jello. “Doesn’t seem to be causing any pain,” they say.
Hmmm. Well, it could be a “fatty” tumor. This is simply a tumor made out of fat. Yes, a big glob of fat, the same stuff that makes us chubby.
Some clients have used natural means to help their dogs with these tumors. I have had my clients say they have had luck with curcumin given by mouth. Curcumin is a part of the spice turmeric. In The Dog Cancer Survival Guide, I wrote about this bioflavonoid. It can be purchased as an ingredient in Apocaps, and also by itself as a sole agent.
Many dog lovers have heard of fatty tumors, and have been told by their vets that there is nothing to worry about. And many times, they are right.
Not every time, though.
Some Fatty Tumors Are Cancers
Here’s why: first of all, not every soft tumor is a “fatty” tumor. Remember mast cell tumors, the Great Imitators? Some mast cell tumors are aggressive, life-threatening cancers. And they can feel just like a benign fatty tumor.
Your vet can differentiate between a fatty tumor and a mast cell tumor with a simple fine needle aspirate. This is an easy outpatient procedure where the vet takes a sample with a needle and sends it to a pathologist. Many of us will review the slide right in house.
Another soft gushy tumor, especially on the limbs, in called a hemangiopericytoma. This is an unfriendly tumor, folks.
Because two dangerous tumors can look like fatty tumors (lipomas) I recommend that all such tumors get aspirated.
Some Fatty Tumors Are Dangerous In Other Ways
Secondly, not every tumor made out of fat is truly benign. Most are, and they are called lipomas. However, a small portion of them grow aggressively. They invade surrounding tissue. They often grow fairly quickly, over months, and expand. These fast growing lipomas have crossed the line and become what are called liposarcomas.
Get the Dog Cancer Survival Guide to learn more on how veterinarians diagnose and stage cancer in Chapter 9
The reason it matters is that they can become quite large. And you remove them and they will often regrow, since they are difficult to remove. You think you got ’em, and they come back.
Liposarcomas are not good news. So again, if you have a rapidly growing, fatty tumor, get it out. You might be dealing with a liposarcoma, and they can be tough. Have the vet biopsy the edge, and make sure they include adjacent muscle, or the path folks may complain they don’t have enough data to make a call.
Best to all,
Dr Dressler
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.
My 11 year old labrador has got three tumours one in the colon and two in the rectum. My vet says that they are inoperable and he is find it increasingly difficult to empty his bowels. Albert my dog undersent his first course of chemo today. I have been given advice from my vet on diet and what to do in the next few days but if you have any advice on diet and how to treat this I would be grateful
My 6-year old Lab Retriever was diagnosed with infiltrated lipoma in the armpit of her left leg. It was removed, but the vet said it could grow back and that infiltrated lipoma is half way between benign and cancer. What diet and supplements might help the dog? Is there any diet or supplements to help it not to grow back as I can’t afford any more surgery? Is there anything I can do that’s preventive? Should I take away all grains? Should the dog (male, neutered) be fed only meat and eggs or raw vegetables in a blender mixed with ground turkey? Anyway to prevent a recurrance of the infiltrated lipoma?
A.H., this is an open ended question that needs many pages to answer. Consider the upcoming e-book.
You can also have your vet contact me and I may be able to help. I have a program where I am developing certain supplements that have shown promise.
D
I had a great dane that got Liposarcoma. I was told 10 years ago it was a rare type of cancer. I am sure alot of it has to do with the food that they are eating. ALl my danes died of cancer, osteosarcoma, stomach, testicular. i now feed all my dogs Innova. hopefully this will help.
Hi
I am sorry about your furbaby…I read recently ( and had used it before ) that CHICO And CURCUMA ( made by Seven Forests ) is excellent for reducing lipomas. I have my 14 year old Borzoi on it right now. Also have you tried artemesinin??? I think it is a wonderful additive to their diet.My OS greyhound boy Jaxen had amp and chemo and lived 46 1/2 months VERY healthy…he was on arte ( as well as a natural diet and supplements )
Pamela
I too would be very interested in what supplements were used to help shrink fatty tumors as I have an English Setter with a few.
Chris, the answer is a bit detailed, with body weight and sources of the agents to be discussed (which I do in the 300 page e-book that should be out very shortly).
But to answer briefly:
curcurmin+lecithin+apigenin+luteolin+silymarin.
Best,
D
Chris, one more thing, you must be sure to discuss everything you are doing with your vet as every dog is different.
Thanks!
D
Doc
I am at a total loss of what to do. After two months of treatment on my 10 1/2 Golden Retriever for what was diagnosed by two vets as a very arthritic elbow, a third vet has diagnosed cancer in the shoulder area. Upon x-ray he was surprised to find what appeared to be cancer. He thought it was an osteosarcoma and took cells with a needle biopsy while she was sedated. It came back as a histiolytic cancer?? It must be in the muscle and in the bone. By ultrasound, she has a tumor on her spleen and bumps under her skin which were also aspirated and showed abnormal cells. I don’t know what I am dealing with. She is on pain meds because she is clearly in pain and limps severely. The muscle has atrophied quite a bit. What next? I can’t find good information on this type of cancer. Amputation is out of the question. Chemo? Radiation for treatment or palliation? supplements? lots of pain meds? Help me. This little girl is so precious to us but she looks like I am losing her fast. Thank you
Patricia,
I don’t want to say the wrong thing but this does not sound good in all honesty.
Talk to your vet about pain meds.
Some suggestions for you and your vet to consider together:
Piroxicam with EGCG (Teavigo)
Curcumin
Tramadol/sustained release morphine (I like Tramadol better)
Marinol
These are covered in the upcoming e-book.
I wish you the very best.
D
Can you tell me what the supplements you mention above that are shrinking lipomas? I have an 8 yr old Golden/Lab mix that has a few.
Thanks.
Michelle, I go into this is in a lot of detail in the book coming up, the dosing and sources and so on. Too much for this box, I am sorry. For now though:
silymarin+apigenin+luteolin+lecithin+curcumin
Best,
D
My 3 year old rhodesian ridgeback had two mast cell tumors grade 2 removed in September08. One of the MCTs was located on his flank. Since the surgery, a lump has developed in the area. This has since been diagnosed as benign fat — or more accurately, stitched fat during surgery.
I am hoping to hear your thoughts: Is this a common occurrence? Is there concern this may develop into sarcoma (cancer), given my boy’s MCT history? As I keep my eye on the lump, what should I watch out for and will it decrease in size?
Thank you so very much in advance!!
Karen,
yes, fat can be grouped up under the incision and produce a bump. I cannot give advice on individual dogs, sorry- but you should make sure a wide excision was done on the site which is the treatment for grade 2 MCT’s. Also find out the mitotic index, which gives you info on expected behavior, from the vet.
If fat, it should go down over time slowly,
Best
D
Doc,
I’ve had a question for a while to which you might be able to offer an answer or at least some insights.
We recently (July 08) lost our 9 year old Siberian Husky to hemangiosarcoma. Don’t need to go into the details of that. However, during the 7 years after we rescued him, we found many “lumps and bumps” of various sorts on his body (Many means >10). We tried to always do the needle biopsy, and our vet never found anything suspicious, although we removed a few because they were in places like his eyelid or on on the top of his head and were therefore vulnerable for various reasons.
These growths were mostly the little solid, wartlike growths, but there were a few lipomas as well, including one that ultimately got very large (4″ x 3″ x1″) on his upper torso. The vet was always reluctant to remove it because of potential muscle involvement, thinking that it might have been very difficult to remove, and would leave a cavity, etc.
All this is in contrast to our other husky, who has had only a minimal number of such things, both of which were of different character–one was one of those perianal things (removed) and the other was a benigh growth on her leg (also removed) that we were worried might have been HSA.
Anyway, my question is whether or not you’ve ever seen any evidence that dogs that are more “lumpy” are perhaps more predisposed to ultimately developing malignant tumors that those who are less lumpy. As it turned out, our HSA dog also had a tumor on his adrenal gland was was removed at the same time as the splenectomy. There was also something going on with his prostate (never actually resolved) in addition to the metastasis of the HSA to his liver. In the end, therefore, he really had numerous tumors, benign and malignant, and I’ve just been wondering if there has ever been any evidence of a relationship between these. We’ve always been pretty diligent about watching for and checking out the various growths on our dogs, but if a large number of “benign” growth might be indicative, we might be even more diligent, looking for early evidence of other things…
Hey Dave,
interesting question, and sorry to hear about the hemangiosarcoma. I don’t have any “scientific” evidence supporting that idea. However, there is no doubt that if you have a certain number of growth that are benign, and a certain percentage of all growths that are malignant, odds would dictate that ultimately you stack the deck in a lumpy dog. Some would argue this is the “gambler’s fallacy”, but I disagree. My opinion is a more lumpy dog is more prone, statistically, to having a lump that is malignant. But I certainly cannot say this is backed by any reference to present, just opinion. My upcoming e-book addresses the reasons why cancers occur in a lot of detail if you are interested….
I always say be safe, get them checked!
D
My vet just did a punch biopsy on my 6 yr old female dal, Abbie. She has a lump just to the left of her spine. Doc said it is not dorsal facet, cyst or bone fragment. I have 5-10 days to go out of my mind before “naming”it. He said there is “definitely” something there. It doesn’t seem to bother her, even after the biopsy. Glomangiosarcoma is still scary. He ruled out hemangiosarcoma, blood is excellent and he has ruled out ALL “normal cancers”, which scares me even more….What is my best case scenario?
Dina,
I am sorry, I need a bit more data. There are a variety of benign growths the would be “good” scenarios, depending on what is going on in the dog. Epidermal inclusion cyst is one example of many.
D