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My old dog has a painful lump, won't eat or get up. Is it serious?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Chihuahua (Long Coat) | Male | neutered | 10 years and 3 months old | 5 lbs

My dog has a lump on his side of his lower back is is very painful for him he will not get out of his pet bed he has not eaten and will cry if you lightly touch it he is old and has catracts

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on November 12th, 2019

I would be very concerned this lump could be cancerous, and it's very serious that Riley will not get out of his bed and will not eat. I think he needs to see a vet now. Please take him into an ER vet clinic; if there isn't one in your area, there will be a vet on call for emergencies. The information to reach that vet is found on a clinic's answering machine or website.

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1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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I found this on my dog and I don't know what it is. He is acting very lethargic and hasn't eating very much today. What is that?
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My dog has been acting really weird lately. I don't know if she's sick or what because she had this large lump on the side of her. We switched her dog food because she wasn't really eating it, so we switched her to can food. When we would go outside
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My Dog Won't Get Up or Eat, Should I Worry?
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Hello. My dog has a big lump just on his throat. Yeatserday he would not stop sleeping and had a runny nose and today he did not eat breakfast and barely had dinner. What should I do meanwhile because our vet opens back on Monday? Thank You.
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Hi, and thanks for your question. Although a picture of it would help to give you a more specific answer, this lump/bump/growth should be ideally examined by your local vet to have a diagnosis established. Your vet may want to perform an FNA (fine needle aspiration) or a biopsy to sample the bump and determine its underlying nature. Differentials would include skin cysts, infections, benign or more malignant type of tumors. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further. If this answer was helpful please let us know, this will be used to improve our service!
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My dog is older and has a lump on his front shoulder and I am wondering what it is, he’s not acting the same he’s more tired. He is also not eating much
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My 12 yr old dog is getting lumps at a rapid pace (3 or4 a wk) and is rapisly losing weight. Her appitite is now diminishing and her spirit is fading fast. The lumps are painful if touched too hard and didcomfort shown whe gently touched.
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My dog Riley has a bump on his stomach and I’m worried it may be a tumor. I know many tumors in dogs are benign but I’m still concerned. If you press on it gently in moves around like a weird bubble kind of.
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there is a movable hard solid thing (suspecting it is a tumour) on the back side near the neck on my dog. It is only 10 months old. She has no apeptides in two days. she doesn't seems very tired but not as energetic as before.
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