Lumps are more common in older animals, but your pet could develop a lump or growth at any age. These may be of a non-cancerous type such as a cyst, wart or infected hair follicle but it could also be a cancerous tumour either malignant or benign in origin.

Since every type of cell in the body could potentially evolve into cancerous tissue, the types and nature of tumours that develop in our pets are numerous and variable. Unless we examine some of the cells under the microscope we cannot be certain of what we are dealing with and although many tumours are easily diagnosed by your vet with a fine-needle aspirate of the lump, some growths may require a sample to be sent to a pathologist for a definitive diagnosis.

Your vet will either suggest removal of the lump, or to observe it closely for any changes because although tumours grow in certain ways we cannot predict this with 100% accuracy and each case needs to be evaluated on its own circumstances and variables.