Older Male Dog With a Fast-Growing, Hot Mammary Lump
Asking for tests before surgery is very reasonable, and it's what staging guidelines recommend. Before removing a suspected mammary tumor, vets usually do bloodwork, chest X-rays to look for spread to the lungs, and often an abdominal ultrasound and a needle sample of nearby lymph nodes. Those results help decide whether surgery is likely to help.
Mammary tumors are rare in male dogs, and in one small study most of them were benign. A lump that suddenly grows very fast, feels hot, oozes, is very painful and spreads along the skin needs prompt attention, because in female dogs those can be signs of inflammatory mammary carcinoma, and we couldn't find data on how often it occurs in males. That cancer often looks like a bad infection, and surgery usually doesn't help it. An infected or ulcerated tumor can also become hot and ooze, so a needle sample or biopsy, and sometimes a culture, can help tell these apart before anyone operates.
In the meantime, ask your vet for pain relief now. This sounds very uncomfortable for him, and good pain control matters whichever path you choose. A rapidly changing lump like this is worth having checked within a day or two.
This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.
Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Cancer.
