See Spot. See Spot on Spot.

July 7, 2007 1:20 PM

What is this strange growth on my dog's chin?

It appeared out of nowhere about a week ago, and has increased in size. It doesn't seem to be hanging on by very much tissue. It doesn't seem to be painful to her, and she's mostly ignoring it. It has a flaky/scale texture, is not moist and does not ooze.

She's a very nervous bitch, so I'd love to avoid traumatizing her with a vet visit if possible. Does anyone know what this is, and whether or not it merits more professional attention?

About her: mostly inside dog, cute JRT/Beagle mix, consistently healthy, up-to-date on all of her shots/meds/etc.

posted by cior to pets & animals (11 comments total)

Skin tag.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 1:32 PM on July 7, 2007

How old is she? My 12 year-old golden retriever has a similarly mottled and brain-textured growth on her neck. I think it is not unusual for middle-to-older dogs to get growths (my last dog was studded with them) and it never seemed to cause any problems.

But since this one is growing pretty fast I really would advise a vet visit. I'd be less concerned if it were stable or growing very slowly. It's probably just some sort of benign if robust growth, but those things can go downhill so you should get it checked out.
posted by bluenausea at 1:37 PM on July 7, 2007

Yeah, I don't know either, but I had to click through when you said "cute JRT/Beagle mix" and then I realized that we (me & my white JRT Lyle) met you in the Cole Valley dog park the other day! I hope Matcha gets well soon. If it were Lyle, I'd go to the vet, I think.
posted by judith at 2:46 PM on July 7, 2007

Wowsers, Judith. I hope we run into you guys again!

Matcha is super skittish about the vet, to the tune of ruining her whole day with various levels of freak-out. The answers here are definitely pointing to V-E-T, but I wanted to check first before submitting her to the nightmare.

I'll give you guys a follow-up soon.
posted by cior at 3:45 PM on July 7, 2007

How long has it been there? What's the black part of it - skin or dog hair or part of the growth? Has it changed? Any other skin conditions at all? Any other lumps or history of lumps? How's the dog otherwise?

Take him to the vet. These are all questions your vet will ask too. My 2 year old dog developed a lump 2.5 months ago. Looked less scary than that, but scary none the less. They aspirated it at the vet, confirmed their initial thought that it was a histiocytoma and away we went $160 lighter and with peace of mind. Seriously, within 3 weeks, the bump regressed as the vet said, thanks to the dog cleaning it. It's just a scar now.

Get it checked, it's worth it. Hopefully, it's nothing and benign.
posted by jerseygirl at 3:47 PM on July 7, 2007

Yeah, a skin tag like CPB says. Harmless unless they get really big and start chafing. My parents' dog came to be covered in these as well as a number of benign fatty tumors as he aged. They had some of the larger ones removed once, but otherwise left them alone. Doginsses is now dying of cancer, but he's really, really old for a large dog and I have no idea whether skin tags or benign fatty tumors are an indicator of cancer risk in dogs.
posted by Derive the Hamiltonian of... at 4:03 PM on July 7, 2007

Yep, another vote for skin tag. My guy has had one for ~3 years that keeps getting bigger but doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest. As others say, you should get it checked out, but that's probably what it is.
posted by harkin banks at 5:35 PM on July 7, 2007

Odd, I had a dog that started getting these things in different regions of his body. I just chalked up to old age but about a six months later he went blind and had to be put down. As it turned out he had some sort of cancer that ran through him pretty quick.

I never knew if the skin tags were a precursor to his fate. With that said, I would at least get it checked out to rule out anything more serious. You might try one of those mobile vets if the dog doesn't like the brick and motar facility.
posted by bkeene12 at 8:21 PM on July 7, 2007

Vet? Spoil a day or end his/her life?
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 8:35 PM on July 7, 2007

Definately go to the vet. I have a dog with skin tags, but they didn't just pop up in a week and grow that big that quickly, in fact, over the 1+ year that she's had it, it still hasn't gotten that big. Better safe than sorry!
posted by JonahBlack at 9:17 PM on July 7, 2007

Why dont you call your vet and see if he/she will look at the pictures?

They may say- "skin tag... If it changes in size..blahblahblah bring him in."
posted by beccaj at 6:05 PM on July 8, 2007