Lumps under skin

[caramarie]

Hi,

Our 7 year old basset female has several hard, flat lumps, ranging in size from 'grain of rice' to 'silver dollar', under her skin at various spots on her body. They don't seem to bother her in the least and apart from when petting her or grooming her, you'd never even know they were there.

We've moved three times in the last 5 years and each new vet tells us the same thing - these lumps are nothing to worry about, likely just cysts and common to the breed.

Anyone else have experience with this sort of thing? Should I be pushing for a biopsy?

Best wishes
Cara

[Milkbones]

Nope, your vet is correct, they are normally nothing to worry about. You're dealing with either lipomas (fatty tumors) or sebaceous cysts. With both of them, unless they grow rapidly or are in an area that is rubbed constantly, either by another body part of a collar, for instance, then the best course of action is to leave them alone. With a cyst, however, if they burst open, and it's a doG-awful mess when they do sometimes, they'll often heal, then refill. Then, removal is in order. I have one dog that produces multitudes of cysts, had one removed from her already, and another dog that produces fatty tumors like crazy (eight removals, all due to being located in irritation areas). I've dealt with this problem ever since I started with dogs in 1978, so these mostly don't even phase me anymore. But generally, no, nothing to worry about.

[caramarie]

Thank you very, very much for this advice! I think we're dealing with cysts for the most part, because two of them have shrunk and then re-grown - e.g. burst and then filled. I'll talk to the vet about removing those two next time we go for a visit, and leave the rest be.