I would say surgery is probably the most common treatment option for most. Then we have some tumors that tend to be more aggressive and metastatic. Those will need chemotherapies, and as we had talked about earlier, chemotherapy does not typically make animals sick and feel awful. People think it does in humans, so that's not typically what we want for their last days, months, or years on earth. We want compassionate care. Then radiation therapy is also very common. In tumors like melanomas, for instance, we can sometimes remove them and then do immunotherapy or antibody therapy or vaccine therapy. There are all kinds of things out there that we can do.

A tumor that bleeds has often been traumatized by the dog itself, bumped, or something like that. Some tumors outgrow their blood supply and then we'll have a center that weakens in the middle because it doesn't have enough blood, and it ruptures out. Use compresses or wrap it and then seek veterinary attention. We'll talk about options as to whether it can be surgically removed at that point.

It depends on the tumor. Some are soft and squishy and round like a lipoma. You'll find those in Labrador Retrievers under the skin many times. Some of them are very firm and hard tumors in the skin. You'll see that in certain sarcomas. With bone tumors, you'll see very painful swelling. It just depends, but for the most part, most owners are finding lumps and bumps on the dog, and that's what brings them to me.

A dog tumor is an inappropriate proliferation of cells. A cell population goes unchecked. They can be tumors in the skin, under the skin. For instance, fat is a common benign tumor called a lipoma in dogs. We'll commonly see that, and they’re not always cancerous. Any cell line that decides it wants to divide at an unchecked abnormal rate.

Melanoma is melanocytes or pigment cells that have unchecked division rates, and they get masses. For the most part, we see more melanomas in the dog’s mouth area, sometimes around the toenails and around the rectum. They're not necessarily based on UV radiation and light like they are with people in the skin. That's not as common in dogs. They have a nice haircoat. I think that's part of it. We tend to see them in the mouth or the oral cavity and things like that.