The huge majority of growths in the skin (cutaneous) or under the skin (subcutaneous) are benign. The problem is that you can rarely tell the difference from just looking at them. The most common malignant cutaneous skin tumor in the dog is the mastocytoma, also called mast cell tumor. It makes up 16 to 20 percent of all skin tumors in dogs. They can vary greatly vary in appearance. While most malignant cutaneous masses are firm and often nodular, the one in the photo on a dog's abdomen had the appearance of a fleshy benign patch of skin on a mammary gland. A "needle biopsy" revealed mast cells and subsequent surgical biopsy comfirmed that it was a mast cell tumor.
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