"Skin Tag" in a Cat?

[Lady_MCSE]

I have a feeling that I'm headed to the vet with one of my kitties . . . Boxer was diagnosed with kidney failure a little over a year ago, and I'm getting hte feeling that he's not comfortable anymore. I've been doing fluids more often, and he's still eating fairly well, but he's lost another pound (originally 15lbs, down to 12 a year ago, now down to 11).

Meanwhile . . . Pluma, whom I have had for four years, has always had what I would call a "skin tag" on one of his hips. I would notice it form time to time, and it never seemed to change much. Finally remembered to ask the vet about it this past spring, and sure enough he said, "Oh, it's just a skin tag, nothing to wrorry about." It's a little fleshy lump with no fur on it.

Problem is, that skin tag has started to get bigger recently. Right now it's about the size of lincoln's head on a penny, and it was only half that size a few months ago. It's also growing upward a little bit.

Knowing my vet, he'll just say keep an eye on it and wait a while longer. But if I'm going in anyway, I'm inclined to take him with.

Anyone here have any experience with such things?

[DustyTrailsHorseRescue]

It could be an ingrown hair too. One of my cats had one, and it eventually ruptured with black stuff coming out. Then it was gone and re-appeared a few months later. Ruptured again 1 year later. He never was bothered by it.

I hope it's as simple as that .

[Carri]

Hmmm... Our vet often removes that sort of thing just to be sure. I tend to err on the side of caution, and would definitely take her in. My dog had a place that came up while my vet was out on leave, and another vet told me to watch it. It continued growing, and when she came from leave, my vet took it off and biopsied it. It was a malignant fibrosarcoma. So now, when she says take it off, we take it off!
However, general rule of thumb is that if it can be moved under the skin, it is harmless, if it feels like it is adhered to bone or muscle, it needs further investigation.

[joustinggirl]

We often do a aspirate of them and remove if needed, or if it really bothers the owner. If it was removed, it would be the perfect time for a shine up of the choppers.

[DustyTrailsHorseRescue]

I'm curious what it is though, don't forget to post .

[Lady_MCSE]

I weighed Boxer again (the one with kidney failure), and he's picked up some weight (or maybe I screwed up when I weighed him last??), so I'm not headed to the vet with him.

For now, I have just logged the measurement on this skin tag for Pluma and will kep an eye on it. Thanks everyone.

[Lady_MCSE]

Update . . .

In August, the skin tag started to look scabby to me, and spread out a little wider. I didn't know if the scabbiness was just due to Pluma rough-housing with his buddies and getting it scratched up, or if there was something else going on.

So after 2-3 weeks of that, I finally made an appointment to get it removed. Then something came up at work and I had to reschedule for later . . .

Finally got it removed 11 days ago, and wouldn't you know it, but all signs of scabbiness were GONE by the time I went to the vet. I felt like such a hypochondriac-by-proxy. "It was bigger than that, I tell you! It was a scabby mess, I tell you! I swear, just a week ago . . . "

Oh well, whatever.

He took it off, and said it was BENIGN!

Pluma got two pretty pink glow-in-the-dark stitches. I took them out this morning, and he's doing just fine.

[OSUJillyBean]

Hooray for good news. I'm glad it wasn't anything too serious.