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Why does my dog have these strange bumps on their skin? Is it serious?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Female | spayed | 11 months and 17 days old | 80 lbs

What are these bumps on my dog?

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on July 14th, 2020

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and for providing a picture, it's very helpful. It looks like Ruby has a skin infection, which can be common in puppies. I'd have her seen by a vet tomorrow. The vet can diagnose for sure what is causing this and can treat her. I hope this helps!

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1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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There are a few possibilities as to what this could be on Ruby. In a younger dog benign masses called histocytomas are possible. These generally regress with time. However, masses like mast cell tumors can also present this way. Mast cell tumors can be problematic and need to be surgically removed. Mast cell tumors also release histamine so please do not continue to try to squeeze this growth. Some other causes of this (although probably less likely) are cysts or infections. I recommend taking Ruby to see your veterinarian so that a sample of cells from the mass can be obtained. This will help in diagnosing the growth and in deciding if it needs to be removed surgically. Thank you for using Boop by Petco and I hope this turns out to be a benign issue for Ruby.
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Hello, thank you for using Boop by Petco. This type of lesion could be anything from an insect bite to a bacterial infection. It does look red and quite irritated. I would suggest you take BB to your vet to have it checked out, especially since he has some others. I am confident your vet can prescribe something to get this under control before it gets worse. Hope this helps. Best wishes!
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Hi and thanks for using Boop by Petco! Sorry to hear about Ruby. This looks like bacterial dermatitis, also known as a staph infection. This condition is caused by a bacteria known as Staphylococcus pseudointermedius. It is a normal bacterial resident on the skin of dogs and very commonly causes problems like this in dogs. It can present as a red rash or with red bumps (papules) and if they contain pus they are called pustules. Sometimes the cause is unknown and other times it's caused by external parasites (fleas, ticks, mites, etc), allergies to inhaled allergens/flea bite allergies/or food allergies, contact irritants or allergens, internal organ problems, intestinal parasite problems, nutritional problems, a primary bacterial skin problem, and the list goes on. Most of the time it is hard to narrow down the causative problem. If it presents as a seasonal problem (spring-fall) when it first starts, this is indicative of inhaled allergies called atopy. Typically, each spring it
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