Online pet magazine.
Almost everything you need to know about pet care.
MY PET HAS LUMPS AND BUMPS! -
By Jasmine Dungey.
The words “my dog has a lump” or “my cat has a bump” can
send a lot of people into panic mode, which is sometimes justified, but there
are a huge number of causes of a pet's "lump or bump”
Firstly, how quickly did the lump appear? If it wasn’t there yesterday
and is now the chances are it’s an infectious thing, if it’s grown
over the last three weeks there may a bit more cause for concern, whereas if
it has slowly grown to the size of a plum over the last five years it’s
likely to be a benign mass. Of course these are not hard and fast rules, not
every pet reads the textbook!
As a general rule: If the lump has suddenly appeared, is painful, if your
animal is unwell, or (if it’s not painful) if it has been there a couple
of days and isn’t resolving you should definitely get things checked out.
Your vet will take numerous things into consideration when assessing a mass;
including your pet’s age, health status, breed, neutering status (ie is
he/she castrated/spayed), the location of the lump, how quickly it has grown,
if your pet has had previous lumps and if the lump is painful or itchy. Only
by getting this whole picture can we start to make a guess at what the lump is
likely to be.
For example: a 6 year old male entire (not neutered) cat who is known to
have the occasional bash-up with the “neighbours”, arrives in late one
morning with a painful swelling on his face. He doesn’t want to eat and
attacks you even more than usual if you try to pat him.
This is most likely to be an abscess as a result of a cat fight wound and
can be treated relatively easily.
Compared with an 11 year old female entire Labrador, who has a small firm lump
beside one of her teats on her belly, it has come up in the last few weeks but
isn’t painful. She seems absolutely fine in herself.
This one is more likely to be sinister because she isn’t spayed, she’s
old, and there are no signs that it is an infection. Mammary cancer is fairly
common in dogs.
Recent events are also important, for example if four days ago you went to the
vets for your pet’s annual vaccination or other injection and now they
have lump at the injection site, it could well be a reaction to that injection.
Or if yesterday you were all out walking happily and your 6 month old Spaniel
decided that he might make friends with a wasp and now he has a small mildly
painful or itchy lump on his muzzle…say no more.
The location of the lump can alter the treatment course significantly. If
it’s
(eg) on the side of the chest, there is plenty of loose skin available should
your vet need to surgically remove the lump; however if it’s on the eyelid
or toe, there isn’t much leeway! So if you notice a lump in a tricky area
(legs/toes, eyelid, nose, lip, ear etc), best get it checked asap.
With regards to age, generally younger animals are less likely to get nasty
lumps or lumps in general! Whereas older animals, especially if they’re
not neutered, are more likely to get malignant tumours (eg testicular or mammary
cancer).
Two very common benign lumps in older animals are fatty lumps (or lipomas*),
and warts. Fatty lumps can appear anywhere but are often on the chest or abdomen;
they’re soft, movable, non-painful and can be anything from pea sized to
tennis-ball size! If your pet has been diagnosed with one of these, it’s
unlikely to ever cause him/her problems unless it impedes movement (for example
a lump in the “armpit”); however the occasional one can be more sinister
so be sure to monitor it for pain or sudden growth.
Warts are also of various sizes but do genuinely look like warts! Sometimes
they become quite long almost like a skin tag and sometimes in these cases they
can catch on things as your animal romps about the fields. If this happens a
lot and causes the wart to bleed or become irritating your vet may advise you
have it removed. Otherwise they’re generally best left alone.
SO, you’ve been through all these things with your vet and he/she is
concerned about the lump, what happens next? If there are signs of infection
your vet may prescribe antibiotics and/or anti-inflammatories. If these aren’t
changing the lump or if infection is not suspected we move on to tests.
The least invasive procedure is called a Fine Needle Aspirate Biopsy. This
is done with the animal awake and usually just in the consult room. It involves
putting a small needle into the lump (only minor discomfort involved) and drawing
back on the syringe to remove a few microscopic cells. These will then be put
onto a microscope slide and sent to a laboratory for analysis. Depending on the
type of lump, these cells might be able to tell us what type of lump it is and
what further action is then required.
Certain types of lumps are not cellular enough for this technique to be useful,
so if the results come back as “inconclusive”, we have to move onto
a biopsy. This is usually done under anaesthetic as we have to take a small bite
of tissue from the lump, however it is a very quick procedure.
This procedure will often be done if the lump is in a position which would
make total removal risky or difficult, or if there are numerous lumps on the
animal.
Sometimes your vet will opt just to remove the lump outright to be sure. This
is because an anaesthetic would probably be required to do a biopsy anyway, and
(especially in an old or unwell animal), one anaesthetic is better than two.
Either way, the sample or whole lump can then be sent to the laboratory. This
will allow proper analysis of the type of lump from whole pieces of tissue rather
than just a few cells, give an idea of the prognosis for your pet, and (where
the whole lump is sent) tell us if we managed to remove the entire mass.
Laboratory
analysis is not compulsory, so you don’t have to have the sample sent away,
but it will be offered if there is any chance the lump is nasty, and is the only
way to get a proper diagnosis.
Your vet will likely want to see your animal for follow up appointments as
usual after a surgery, and then in the future will likely advise you to watch
out for any new lumps popping up.
So if you find bumps where there weren’t bumps before, you needn’t
always fear the worst; but just in case, get it checked out.
*A lipoma is
a benign tumor composed of fatty tissue. These are the most common form of soft
tissue tumor.
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