Mast cell tumor.

Dr. Marie replied:

Hi Julie.

I think the term you were looking for was "mast cells". Mast cell tumors are relatively common lumps in dogs. They are always lumps that we want to remove.

Mast cells are cells that have little dark staining granules in them. We normally should not see any mast cells when we are looking at a dog's body, so if we are seeing mast cells then it usually means that there is a tumor present.

There are three grades of mast cell tumors, 1, 2, and 3. A grade 1 mast cell tumor is usually totally benign. Once we remove the tumor it is usually not a problem and shouldn't ever come back again. Grade 2 tumors can be a little more worrisome and a Grade 3 mast cell tumor is quite serious.

Your vet will eventually get a report back from the pathologist telling us what grade the tumor is and what the margins look like. The margins are the areas of skin around the tumor. The goal is to have "wide margins" which means that there is tumor free tissue all around the edges of what was removed. If this is a grade 1 tumor then most likely the margins will be fine and again, there will be nothing to worry about.

Most mast cell tumors I see are indeed grade 1. Hopefully this is the case with Jammy!

You can find more information in this question that was answered about mast cell tumors in dogs.

Dr. Marie.


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Dr. Marie replied:

Hmmm...at this point I'd just watch it for now. The vet likely wouldn't be able to do much. If it comes back again then I'd have the vet take a look. It doesn't like like it was likely to be another mast cell tumor.

Dr. Marie replied:

If the margins are clear then this is good news. Really there shouldn't be any further issues. I would be much more concerned if there were dirty margins.

Your vet should advise you on the steps from here, but it sounds like we shouldn't have to do anything else at this point.