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Small round 'bump' under the skin?

dandelos

dandelos

Well-known member
We got home from a 3-week overseas vacation last night and picked Skippy up from dog boarding. While we were brushing him to try and remove some knots, we felt a little 'bump' under his skin, located on his right side somewhat above his forepaw.

Upon closer inspection, the cause of the bump appears to be a somewhat hard (like an angry pimple perhaps), round 'bb pellet'-sized (smaller than a pea) mass of sorts, under his skin. It does not appear to bother him too much if we press or mess with the bump.

We currently have no idea what this might be -- fatty buildup? Burrowed-in parasite? Cancerous lesion? We parted his fur and took this close-up picture. It's hard to see the 'bump' but you can see that the skin right above it has a few really small brown specks. Not sure if that's from the bump or if he has those specks all over his body though.



Anyone have any idea or experience what this bump might be?
 
I don't know what it is but I noticed mine has this as well in the same spot as you stated. I just noticed it a couple of days ago.
 
I was thinking that his was a reaction from the shots he got a few weeks ago. How old is your dog?
 
Check it out with your vet, but Oliver has quite a lot of warts around his neck and shoulders which cause him no problems, so Skippy's may be no more than that. But only your vet can tell you - though if it isn't causing him any problem or irritation, I'd be inclined to just get it checked when you go to the vet for something else, otherwise the bills mount up!

Kate, Oliver and Aled
 
Quite young for a wart - I suspect more likely an insect bite of some description. If it doesn't clear up, I would want to get the vet to have a look.
 
Would guess a bite or a tick. If you are in the vet over the coming months I'd have them check it if it doesn't go away. But lots of cavaliers get little benign fatty deposits etc. And a tick bite can remain hard like that for years.
 
Karlin said:
But lots of cavaliers get little benign fatty deposits etc. And a tick bite can remain hard like that for years.
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Lucky had a fatty lump which looked similar to your picture - I asked the vet aobout it and she said to watch it and if it changed to bring him back in. When he was in for his dental she removed it. I haven't noticed any others.

Like Karlin says, if it changes or gets bigger I'd bring him into the vet just to be sure, but it's probably no big deal.
 
So we brought him into the vet for a routine "office call & examination" today. Asked the vet about the bump. Incidentally, he actually has 2 now. We found another one just a few days ago. The original bump is just a tad bigger now then when we first found it.

The vet parted his hair and squeezed the bumps. The first bump had some liquid+blood mixture come out, but not much though. The vet said something about a hair 'folicle' and 'protein deposits'. Nothing came out of the original bump.

When she was done, she said the only way to know what those bumps are is to remove them (shave the area noooooooo and then make an incision ouch!!) and perform an IDEXX biopsy (using local anesthesia).

I asked for an estimate and was quoted a maximum of almost US$900 (golly...maybe it's time to start thinking about getting insurance?!). I could have left him there right after for the procedure as they were available to do it, but we're out of town next week and didn't want him to be coned and dealing with his sutures while we're gone.

The vet said with the size of the original bump, a local sedative is fine, but if it gets any bigger they would have to put him under. She didn't seem too concerned about the bumps, just saying that we should be concerned if the bumps rapidly increase in size over a short period of time.

Any thoughts?
 
If it is a pimple or cyst, try a warm compression a few times a day. You may start to see if a white head appears. By no means am I an expert.. but in general, if there is no immediate life threatening concern, wait a few days and monitor. Is it getting bigger, smaller, red, flaky, pussy, tender to the touch? Note changes and call your vet to ask questions if you get worried.

I wanted to add that I had a wire hair fox terrier develop a lump on her neck which grew quite rapidly over a course of a month, starting out the size of a pea and growing to about the size of a golf ball! Initially the vet poked a needle in and took a sample, biopsy I guess, then they wanted it removed. After testing, it was benign.
 
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Sebaceous cysts?​
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That's the first thing I thought of as well. Jake had a lump like this on his ear flap, it would scab, peel and then bleed and scab again. With his last dental we went ahead and had it removed. He had another on his back. It stayed the same for over a year and just out of the blue one day, it broke open, was weepy, healed up and is completely gone.


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