Lumps on aging dogs: When to worry, when not to

When we do our travels around to check on the dogs in various places such as at the temples or rural villages, or even just friends of our animal-welfare community, people will often point out little "lumps" on various dogs that they are worried about. This happens almost every time we go out and normally, it is something that isn't anything to worry about even though we are happy that the people involved are concerned about the animals in question.

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On one of my own dogs, who is now 10 years old, when I take her out and people pet her because she is super friendly, they will stroke her happy face and notice a rather large one of these that is on her head and I have to admit i get a little insulted when they kind of suggest that I, a person who has worked in veterinary care for many years, would have a dog that has an untreated issue on them like this but this also gives me an opportunity to teach people something about this.

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Especially in older dogs, these are very common and it is just part of getting older for canines and mostly people get all worked up about them because they have never had an aging dog. There is nothing wrong with being concerned but it is important to understand that this is just a natural part of the aging process for most dog breed including mixed breeds which are what all of my dogs are.

There are a lot of things that this sort of growth can be, but most of the time it is something that is completely harmless and is just part of getting older for a dog. They are called a number of things depending on the medical terminology in question but the most common type of harmless ones are called "skin tags" and limpomas.

Most of the time they have the sort of look and feel of a tick but of course are not a tick. The dog may enjoy it when you scratch them and if you have an older dog you are definitely going to notice them if you give your dog regular skrithes - which you should. Especially if they are hard and crusty, almost resembling a scab on a human, they are almost certainly harmless. You probably do not need to worry about these.

But if you are a conscientious pet owner and I hope you are, you should still monitor this because much like a mole on a human that is most of the time, harmless, if it grows, then you need to worry and have a vet look at it. Soft growths are also something to get a bit more worried about because this can be the sign of a cancerous tumor - but please don't get all worked up or worried: most of the time even the soft ones are completely harmless and nothing to rush to the vet over.

When I say "growing" I mean rapidly growing as in a very noticeable growth from day to day. A small spot that is crusty and hard that remains the same size for long periods of time is 99.9% of the time a normal part of getting older for dogs and is nothing to freak out over. In fact, if you took your aging dog to the vet every time one of these appeared, you would be spending a great deal of your time and money at the vet's office.

one thing that most pet owners need to keep in mind is that dogs are actually incredibly resilient creatures and things that might bother you endlessly such as a tiny bump under your hair, doesn't really bother them at all. These little bumps are just a normal part of getting older for dogs and if you are the kind of dog owner that ensures that their dog doesn't have fleas and ticks already, these spots are not due to anything that you, or your dog are doing wrong.

Also, there really isn't anything that can be done about it. The aforementioned dog of mine has had this small lump on her head for 4 years and I once had it removed only to have it grow back in exactly the same place at exactly the same size. The process of cutting it off was very uncomfortable as well and if you have a dog, you already know how much they absolutely hate wearing the "cone of shame."

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So while I do encourage people to always check their dog's skin for growths, these little things are almost always nothing to get all worked up about and you can rest easy in knowing that it is just a part of life. It CAN be a sign of disease especially if the lump is soft and growing, so keep an eye on those ones.

I hope someone out there finds this helpful because this is a very common question that we get from people who are first-time pet owners or perhaps humanize their animals a little too much - which honestly, isn't a bad thing because we should treat these wonderful creatures as well as we can.

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If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at

http://krabianimalwelfare.org

_{Krabi Animal Welfare is a charity run entirely by volunteers and are a registered non-profit organization in Thailand and the U.K.. We aim to relieve the pain and suffering of dogs and cats within Krabi Province.}

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