# What is this skin problem?



## GoldenShard (Aug 17, 2014)

Hes a 12 weeks old puppy, I suspect that he has melanoma, I already made a appointment with the vet but I am still wondering what else it could be.
His behavior changed a bit(a bit less barking and a different sound/ tone of whine). and foaming on mouth

the mole things are on/near his pee pee.

If my vet says he does have melanoma what are some of the options that he might say? and how much will it cost? 

Thanks a bunch


----------



## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Take this with a grain of salt because I don't know anything, but it strikes me odd for 2 melanomas to appear in the same area but on different sides of a 12 week old puppy. 

I enlarged the photos but I still can't see too good, are they raised, or under the skin? They look like hematomas to me which would be blood leaky spots under the skin.

If it does end up to be a melanoma, which I think are normally raised, and are malignant (cancer), it needs to be removed completely. I think the treatment is excision with big margins to get all the tumor and would probably cost a few hundred dollars, I think surgery costs vary widely by practices and regions. 

Let us know how the vet appt goes, and bless your little puppy.


----------



## GoldenShard (Aug 17, 2014)

Heres a better picture, I am leaning towards the melanoma =(


----------



## Ithaca (Jul 24, 2011)

Has he been outside on the grass? Poppy gets little brown spots like this from time to time, although much smaller. She is a female but she gets them around the same area, on her belly where there is little hair. 

With time I have come to think that they are small insect bites. Some blood has been drawn by the insect and the brown spot is what results. It goes after a few days. It falls off when I scratch it. 

Yes, it would take a pretty hungry insect to draw so much blood on your puppy, and a sleepy puppy to let the insect dot it, but I wouldn't rule out the possibility.


----------



## GoldenShard (Aug 17, 2014)

yea, he does go outside on the grass and roll around, I tried scratching it lightly, it didn't come off :S 

How long till it goes away?, its been getting larger and larger,


----------



## boomers_dawn (Sep 20, 2009)

Thanks for the better picture. It's still a little hard for me to see the degree to which it's raised or under the skin, but I don't think this is a typical presentation for melanoma.

Gladys has a little similar darkening of the skin around some of her nipples and I think Boomer had some too. I took Boomer to the vet over his and he was diagnosed with "pyoderma" they described it like puppy acne and said it was from lying on his belly on the floor, in the dirt outside, etc. He was prescribed a special shampoo for it.

Gladys is more like under the skin discoloration and doesn't concern me. One of the articles about acanthosis nigricans said it can be from friction, which makes sense in the area she has it presenting in.

I would say keep the vet appt either way - especially since you said it's getting larger - so they can figure out if it needs treatment and with what before it gets worse - e.g. allergies, infection, -> allergy meds, shampoo, antibiotics .. depends on cause. Maybe it's something simple.

I forgot to say insect bites sounds like a viable option - maybe it's an allergic reaction to insect bites.
I freaked out because I saw a flea on Dee Dee this summer, although the vets gave me an education, fleas are everywhere outside from mice, chipmunks, squirrels, and in moderate temps they can live outside without a host! I never knew that! So our dogs can be bit by fleas outside without becoming infested (e.g. if they're on preventive).

I never knew that! Maybe those spots are a reaction to flea bites? Or something bites from outside. Midges? mosquitoes?


----------



## GoldenShard (Aug 17, 2014)

So I scratched most of it off, everything is looking good,thanks all for the help!.


----------

