What is this black pellet-shaped lump that came out of my cat's ear?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is hard to see well in the pictures. This could be a benign or malignant growth. This is often differentiated by a test called a fine needle aspirate (FNA) which is a pain free, inexpensive and easy procedure which in most cases will help reach a diagnosis. Sometimes a biopsy is needed for a definitive diagnosis. I recommend that you have him evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. I am really hoping for something benign. Good luck and have a good day!

Your suspicions are right. This is a skin mass unfortunately. Due to the color, I would recommend having Nanni seen by your vet and the mass sampled to see if this is cancerous or benign (non-cancerous). Hopefully it is not cancerous and we can just monitor it. But if it does end up being cancerous (after viewing the cells that make up the mass microscopically), then removal of the mass can be discussed with your vet. I wish you all the best moving forward with Nanni. Take care!

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. In the photos you provided this appears to be what looks like a cyst to me. Many times these cysts are the nine and occur with age. If you do not want to put him through any major testing you could still have him examined by a veterinarian and the vet you have a look at him can stick a small needle into the cyst and drain the contents. This does not generally require any sedation and is typically well- tolerated by cats. Most likely the cyst will fill back up, but I have several patients that are older where the owners do not want to put them through any major testing or surgery and elect to bring the animal in every so often to have the cyst drained. I would discuss this with your veterinarian and see if this is something that he or she would do. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please feel free to contact me if you have any further concerns.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. Judging from your description and the fact that she is an outdoor cat, I would suspect what you are seeing is an abscess. I would recommend getting her to a vet if possible to have the lump examined so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. If you know who the owners are, I would try to discuss this with them before taking their cat to the vet for treatment. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is very hard to see in these pictures. This could be a benign or malignant growth. This is often differentiated by a test called a fine needle aspirate (FNA) which is a pain free, inexpensive and easy procedure which in most cases will help reach a diagnosis. Sometimes a biopsy is needed for a definitive diagnosis. I recommend that you have her evaluated by your veterinarian for further assessment and treatment. I am really hoping for something benign. Good luck and have a good night!

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. This appears to be a cyst like mass on Zika but to be absolutely certain, you would need to have more testing done. If you would like to know more on what this could be, I would recommend having a veterinarian examine him so that the most appropriate diagnostic and treatment recommendations can be made. 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.

This could be a few different things. It may be a cyst or it could be a growth that is concerning. Without actually seeing the growth I can't really tell you exactly what it is. I always recommend taking an animal to the veterinarian that has a growth to have an aspirate performed. This may give an answer as to what exactly the growth is. To get the definitive answer on what this growth is Blackbear would need the growth removed and biopsied. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.