# Help identifying growth on poodle's face



## max6166 (Feb 22, 2017)

My poodle Teddy has a lump on the right side of his face near his jawline. I have had our vet look at it a few times and he was unconcerned, but I am still quite worried about it.

Teddy has had this lump for a number of years and it has not changed significantly.

The lump is on the skin only; I can feel all around it including behind it.

There is little to no hair growing on the lump, and it is fairly squishy to the tough. 

It leaks clear fluid on a regular basis, even more if gentle pressure is slowly applied. It does not appear to be something that one could lance, like a cyst, though I am not 100% sure. 

Teddy is 17 years old and has numerous harmless sebaceous adenomas. My vet has suggested this lump was similar to the sebaceous adenomas, but this growth seems significantly different to the cauliflower-like growths which I have perviously identified as sebaceous adenomas. 

Any help in identifying this would be greatly appreciated.

Photo attached:


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Well that looks almost exactly like the growth that my almost 15 year old TP had removed from her face last week (see the thread "Dalin Teaka"). The description seems similar except hers did not leak. Have you asked the Vet about doing a fine needle aspiration and cytology? That is what we did first and it did show that the cells they found, although few, were not malignant. The only reason that we removed it was because it was growing very quickly and looked like it would soon become a problem just because of it's size. I will find out exactly what it was tomorrow when we see the vet to have her stitches removed, but I have already heard that it, along with a couple of smaller ones that we removed at the same time were perfectly benign.














This was taken right after surgery, 9 days now and it looks great!


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

I think if it suddenly changes, bothers him or gets much bigger I would look into it more, but at his age, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Doesn't look like a sebaceious cyst to me either. Like Tiny said, they could draw fluid and look at what the fluid is. My vet does that when he really needs to know what he is dealing with.

BEST OF LUCK.


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## max6166 (Feb 22, 2017)

Tiny Poodles said:


> Well that looks almost exactly like the growth that my almost 15 year old TP had removed from her face last week (see the thread "Dalin Teaka"). The description seems similar except hers did not leak. Have you asked the Vet about doing a fine needle aspiration and cytology? That is what we did first and it did show that the cells they found, although few, were not malignant. The only reason that we removed it was because it was growing very quickly and looked like it would soon become a problem just because of it's size. I will find out exactly what it was tomorrow when we see the vet to have her stitches removed, but I have already heard that it, along with a couple of smaller ones that we removed at the same time were perfectly benign.


Glad that Teaka turned out well. 

Yes, the photos do look fairly similar. I think my Teddy's lump is a bit smoother than what Teaka had, but I may be wrong. Was Teaka's lump soft and squishy or more firm?


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

Poppy has a cyst very like that on her tail - the vet did a needle aspiration just to check, and would have sent a sample for a biopsy had the results not been so very obviously sebacious gunk. If you are anxious I feel it is worth getting it checked out just for the reassurance.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

That looks quite large, it seems odd that it seeps. Does it seem to bother or hurt him?


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## max6166 (Feb 22, 2017)

Viking Queen said:


> I think if it suddenly changes, bothers him or gets much bigger I would look into it more, but at his age, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Doesn't look like a sebaceious cyst to me either. Like Tiny said, they could draw fluid and look at what the fluid is. My vet does that when he really needs to know what he is dealing with.


Back when it first appeared, my vet said it was not worth the expense to send it to the lab, and I can't afford to do so at this moment anyway. I would really like some peace of mind though.


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## max6166 (Feb 22, 2017)

Caddy said:


> That looks quite large, it seems odd that it seeps. Does it seem to bother or hurt him?


No, it definitely doesn't hurt him as he doesn't seem to even notice if I touch it or apply gentle pressure. It might itch him once in a while, as I have seen him rub his snout on the edge of the sofa once in a while. But he does it on both sides of his face, so who knows?


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

max6166 said:


> Glad that Teaka turned out well.
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, the photos do look fairly similar. I think my Teddy's lump is a bit smoother than what Teaka had, but I may be wrong. Was Teaka's lump soft and squishy or more firm?



No Teaka's was smooth on the surface, not too hard, also entirely contained in the layers of the skin, not attached to anything. I thought that it was fluid because she also has lumps that are clear fluid that I aspirate or lance periodically and they completely empty out. But when the Vet aspirated that one, what he got out looked like pure blood. And the dark spots that you see in the photo was bleeding inside the skin from the aspirations, it never went away. The surface was entirely smooth and intact. 
It really might be worth having the vet try to aspirate it just to see what comes out, even if you are not sending it out for cytology. If it is clear fluid then you really have nothing to worry about and you can learn to do it yourself at home to keep the size down.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

If the vet isn't worried about it, and it isn't bothering Teddy right now, and it's not changing in any way, then I would not worry too much about it.

I think you can rest easy for now.

Cathy


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