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My senior dog has new lumps. Are they cancerous? What should I do?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed Large (61lb +) | Female | 11 years and 5 months old | 65 lbs

I was wondering if this looks like cancer. My dog is 11 almost 12 half pit bull half american bulldog spayed female.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on May 6th, 2018

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. It is difficult to say for sure what these tumors are just by looking at photos. However, that being said, the light pink mass I would suspect to be benign / non-cancerous and it looks like what we call a sebaceous adenoma. The dark purple mass looks a little more suspicious for a malignant / cancerous mass. I would recommend having a veterinarian examine both to be on the safe side. The vet can insert a small needle into both masses and look at their cells under the microscope, a test called a Fine Needle Aspiration (FNA). I hope this helps guide you in the right direction! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please remember to rate this answer as helpful or not. Thank you!

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    It certainly is possible those lumps on Chaos could be malignant tumors, but they could also be benign. It's impossible for me to say just by looking at them. I would call the vet in the morning to make an appointment for him. The vet can perform a test called a fine needle aspirate on it. To do this, the vet sticks a small needle into the lump to get a sample of it's cells, and examines the cells on a slide under a microscope. It's usually painless to the animal, and relatively quick to perform. Once the lump is diagnosed, the vet can discuss treatment options. Best of luck, I hope this helps.

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    1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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