My dog has a large fleshy mass hanging from her leg. Is it a tumor?

Hello. This is a pendulous tumor that appears to originate from the vulva. In general, these are benign & not dangerous tumors in terms of spread & causing disease, but this is in great danger of getting snagged & causing tremendous bleeding. Surgical removal would most likely be curative. It is more difficult to predict the nature of the tumor on the inner leg. This may be a fatty, benign tumor called a lipoma, or a more insidious carcinoma. I hope as part of your research, you have a veterinarian thoroughly check things over, & give you an idea & estimate of taking care of these growths before they cause any problems for Dixie. Thank you.

That is a very large tumor that has likely outgrown its blood supply and is opening up. You can’t tell what type of tumor it is without aspirating the cells. At this point, the best option is to remove the tumor but it’s so large that this may be difficult but not impossible. I recommend to have this pup seen by the veterinarian as she needs medications to help the bleeding and a mass removal. Best of luck and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Hi again and thanks for sending the pic to us. In this case this lump seems to be a tumor and would need ideally to be checked by your local veterinarian to differentiate in between benign and more sinister ones. The lump seems big enough to be able to take a fine needle aspirate from it without using local or general anesthetic. A small needle can be inserted inside the lump to get some cells out and analyse them.

Without a physical exam or diagnostics, it is difficult to determine if this is something to worry over. Ideally, a fine needle aspirate or biopsy should be done to collect samples for pathology. This may provide a diagnosis. X-rays of the limb may be recommended to rule out bony involvement. Since you state it is growing, it should be removed before it becomes too large. As it is, that is a difficult area to close after a mass removal.

Ouch! Definitely something that should be checked out by your regular vet ASAP. Certain types of tumors such as mast cell tumors, hemangiomas, injuries, blood blisters, etc can all appear like this, and so it should be looked at and biopsied to see what is going on. Until you can get to your vet in the morning, keeping Berkeley from licking or chewing on the spot with an Elizabethan (cone) collar is best to reduce any further injury or irritation.

This is a tumor. It's hard for me to tell the location on the dog from the photo. If it's growing quickly then it's more likely malignant and could spread to other parts of the body. If it's been there a long time then it's more likely benign. At the base it looks inflamed and may open up and drain. That would be messy and make it more likely to get a bad infection. If your dog is healthy even at age 13 I would have this removed, and they can biopsy it to determine the type of tumor. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Dexter.

At Destiny's age, I would be concerned this could be a malignant tumor and it's concerning how big it is. Any suspicious lumps should be examined by the vet. 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 its cells, and examines the cells on a slide under a microscope. It's usually painless to the animal, and relatively quick to perform. Once the cause of the lump is diagnosed, the vet can discuss treatment options if needed. I would take her into a vet today. Best of luck.