lump

I was petting my husky and i felt a lump by his back spine. I was thinking it could be a cist or fatty tumor. It just popped up. How can I tell the difference?

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

You will need to have your vet perform a fine needle aspirate biopsy.  This a relatively non-invasive technique in which cells are extracted from the lump using a needle, and than placed on slides.  The slides are examined either by the vet or sent to a veterinary pathologist for diagnosis.  Occasionally,  the aspirates don't yield enough information for a successful diagnosis, and than a piece of the mass (or the whole mass),  would have to be excised and sent to a pathologist for a complete biopsy.

Cyst's, Fatty tumors (lipomas) and other masses resemble mast cell tumor's and other malignant tumors, and visa versa,  so all dermal lumps should be diagnosed, just in case.