# Hyperkeratosis aka What's this weird growth on my dog?



## apricotteacup (Oct 28, 2011)

Hello everyone! This is my first time posting here. I wanted to share something that's going on with my dog right now in the hopes that someone else might stumble upon this post when looking facing a similar issue and be relieved to find some information.

My golden, Apollo, started acting strange about a week ago. My husband and I noticed he was limping a bit after a hard play session. We rolled him on his back and checked out his paws-- all seemed fine except a small bump on one of his paw pads. Fast forward to a few days ago: he started limping again, much more noticeably. We looked at his paws again and were startled to find this strange, very large growth on his paw. Here's a picture:








Sorry about my raggedy sweater. It's an old favorite.

Anyway, as you can see, the growth is sort of cone shaped, pretty big and has a soft texture. Naturally, we were startled to see that something had grown in so fast! I made a vet appointment and today I found out what this growth is: It's called hyperkeratosis. It's basically an overgrowth of keratin. Some people describe it as a dog growing extra nails in strange places. The doc said that some dogs are prone to them, and his may be reoccurring. They can be painful to the dog (Apollo's is) but they are benign. 

The treatment will be to surgically remove the growth. Apollo goes in tomorrow morning for surgery. The vet said he will remove the growth and cauterize the wound in the hopes it will keep the growth from returning to that same spot. He'll be bandaged and a bit tender (the doctor described it as the dog feeling like a human walking barefoot over a gravely road). 

So there you go. I hope this information helps someone in the future.


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## lgnutah (Feb 26, 2007)

Interesting. Hope your dog is out of pain after the surgery and recovery.


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## SandyK (Mar 20, 2011)

Sorry to see Apollo has this growth on his paw. Hope surgery goes well and he can run around pain free!!! My thoughts and prayers will be with you tomorrow!!


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## apricotteacup (Oct 28, 2011)

Thanks you guys! Apollo is a fast healer and very upbeat. I'm sure he'll be feeling great and back to running around and being a goofball in no time.


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