Loki has a what the vet thinks fairly certain is a cyst on his tail. He said you can drain cysts or remove them, but he recommends removal while still small especially on the tail. Anyone else experience a cyst on a huskies tail? He has been scheduled to have it removed, but I'm nervous for him. The vet said that cysts on tails are not normal.

I guess no one else had experience with this issue. Loki is at the vet getting it removed. I have been worried since I dropped him off. Can't wait till he comes back home.

I'm sorry Jessica! I've never dealt with this either. I hope Loki does well with surgery and keep us updated.

I will respond to this later tonight. I actually do have experience with sebaceous cyst sorry I've been traveling for work this week. I will read your post and then reply

Jessica, I didn't reply earlier, because I did not have any experience with this in dogs. I have some experience though with cats. There are several type of cysts, and your vet would be able to tell you what type it is. With cats they typically can only get 2 types, from injuries and the one kind that I witnessed as a teenager, called studs tail, we had a male cat and had this, it is a hair follicle type of cyst, that is similar to teenage acne, cats can also get this on their chin, it will be a flaky yellow or on chin a flaky black look to it. It has something to do with sweat glands. I seriously do not remember what my mom and vet did for our cat, my cat who had this on her chin I stopped using plastic food bowls and her problem cleared up. So I do not know what really would cause a cyst on a dogs tail, perhaps lack of cleaning, or because he is not fully grown and has a hair duct blockage which produced the cyst? Colleen, I'm sure would have more useful and more up to date info than myself. as well as your vet as far as treatment, and what type of cyst and how to prevent in the future. As far as I know most types are not to worry about, it is just more difficult to treat since it's on the tail, not a lot of fat and loose skin to sew up, and keep protected until healed. I wish you luck and keep us posted, and I am curious as to what Colleen knows, I keep all this type of info, to refer to just in case.......

Loki is home and sleepy. I have to keep him not active for 5 days including no walks. This will be hard with two husky boys under 2. My dog lexi has a sebaceous cyst on her back. We removed it once during teeth cleaning but it came back. Since it never got bigger or caused problems we have left her cyst. The vet though was concerned as Loki's was on tail and if it got bigger it could cause issues where he could lose tail. He saud cyst are uncommon on tail and for his age so I am concerned. I am use to my lumpy old dog, just not lumpy young dog. He said pretty sure cyst but I read something about sebaceous carcinoma and other things where male huskies can be predisposed. The lump was sent to lab for histology. So I should get more info soon.

http://www.merckmanuals.com/pethealth/dog_disorders_and_diseases/skin_disorders_of_dogs/tumors_of_the_skin_in_dogs.html
^^this was my go to for help when Beka would have issues.

This one below is a thread from here that I posted information about her sebaceous cysts in.
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t14102-help-is-appreciated-for-weird-bumps-on-a-foot

It did feel same as my other dogs cyst and was round with hair on it, not calif lower like picture. I will take a look at other link. Thanks!

First I would ask you if they gave the cyst a style or a name? is it on the tail or or at the base or the tip? Beka had several different kinds. We were told basically that since she was a mix she was prone more. Did they lance it and scoop it out? The one we had this done to never came back. We had others drained and some a "center" came out and they were fine others just drained ad would come back. Some would be warty and cauliflower like others like skin tag or horn, others were almost like a pillow packet under the skin.She did over produce skin oil and we were told to watch how much and what we washed her with. Tails are bad because there are lots of nerves there. The odd thing with Beka was she started getting them at about two or three and had them her whole life. She started with sebaceous then as she got older the horns, cornified things, pillows, most things we gland or hair follicle related.

The biggest tip I have is that even though the vet would aspirated popped or check the cysts she was always leary about popping. Depending on the kind of cyst some can internally pop/ If you pop it but the "insides" leak inward rather than out ward. The cyst can wall itself off because it could be bad to leak inside.

One of Beka's popped on its own near her back hip it was like a pillow pocket. it was like the skin just stretched to far. but then she had one years later that was like a pimple the popped but had a hole and it started to well up and wee had to have it lance because it was an internal infecting it was leaking inside almost a reverse tumor. We did not have that one have surgery on it because she was in her last year.

The bump was on the underside of his tail and in the middle. It was not at the base.

The vet just said like a sebaceous cyst. It didn't move around or anything either. At first I though it may be a matt or something. Even vet had to shave to see it. I told the vet I play with his tail alot and when I brush him, so I think it came on pretty fast and was about size of dime. It was covered in hair though, so maybe I missed it. They said they could lance to try and drain (may or may not work - could get infected), use creams for 2 weeks to see if it goes down (unlikely to work), or remove the cyst. The vet was concerned if we didn't remove it could become infected. He also felt that given it seemingly came on fast, if it continued to grow it would be much harder to remove if that would be needed as there is not much to work with on the tail.

Loki actually seems to have the least amount of oil of my 3 dogs. Ichigo is more oily. Vets and people who meet him are pretty sure he is fully husky, but he was rescue so who knows. I also had a lab for a number of years, so many dogs feel less oily (ie maybe I'm not the best judge). They get baths about every 6-8 weeks. I have oatmeal shampoo. However, my fiance was so happy he bought conditioner for loki and put that on the last time he bathed him a couple weeks ago. I wonder if that may have bothered his tail?

I would think that you should not worry too much except them saying it is an unusual place. We were told it wasmprobably a follicle thing and could leave them as long as they did not bother the dog. The only reason had aurgery was because one was being sawed off by her collar. We had several large ones removed but the position dogs ate put in for surgery exacerbated her mild hip dysplasia so wemnever did it again. Two of the poped as I previously said and we just got antiinflamtory and antibiotic meds.quadritop was its name thought it worked great

I agree with Colleen, I don't think it has anything to do with being clean or using shampoos. I see it more as an ingrown hair that humans get, or acne, which isn't necessarily because of excessive oils. The cat, when I was a teenager, he was a fastidious cleaner, but he was young. The cat with the face or chin acne should have been covered in cysts, she was extremely overweight and could not clean most of herself, and I had to brush her way more often than Miya, lol, I mean I brushed that cat almost daily, but only had a mild reaction to plastic bowls.

The part I don't understand, is why so many different names and types, Colleen, maybe you know? Because in the case with my cat with the face acne, it indeed is medically considered a cyst, yet very different than what you describe. My current cat, at the age of about 3 kept having recurring "hot spots", at the underside base of her tail, they would become infected, because of over cleaning. That vet said it could have started with a teeny tiny scratch. The bizarre thing was, once he removed her anal sack the "hot spots" disappeared. So do vets interchange these words, or are they different enough? and again why call this cysts when describing so many different appearances? Colleen, you described so many types, but yet they were all considered cysts, is there something that all of them have that is indeed common? (I hope I am asking my question correctly )

Like I said I file this stuff for the just in case, but also, I think some people do searches, and this may prove to be helpful to others......Jessica, glad Loki is home and hope he is on a quick mend.

To answer your question ....all have something in common all of these are a filled pocket all cysts are walled off pockets. How they are formed, what they are formed around, wether they are under the skin or over the skin etc that is what is different.

Thanks Colleen!!

Jessica, I hope I did not hijack your thread, wasn't my intention, I just wanted to understand this more.

No worries. You didn't hijack. I'll just keep a eye on him to see if anymore come up. I know my dog Lexi is lumpy from 2 fatty tumors, a cyst, and a few skin tags. The vet has left all of those and I just have grown use to her being a bit lumpy. Loki's tail looks like it is healing well. Now I will just have to keep an eye on it and see how long it takes for hair to regrow.

It was a dermoid cyst. Vet said I should bathe him every 2-3 weeks. Seems like a lot so I will need to look into it.

My husky had a cyst removed from his tail a year ago. It started small and grew rapidly in a three month period. My doctor said it was sebaceous. I had the cyst surgically removed. It was sent to the lab for testing and it was benign. I developed so quickly and began to ulcerate in a few months. He went to the doctor several times for ointments and oral antibiotics before the doctor recommended surgery. I would have it removed only if it increases in size or starts to ulcerate. My husky has several cysts and the doctor says it is due to aging. He doesn't feel they should be removed if they are superficial and not growing.

Oh dermoid cyst I thought those (in humans) were the "You ate your twin at birth cysts."
It's from a movie sorry.

I thought those were cyst that formed as a defect starting at birth sometimes having hair or teeth in them and mature as the body grows. Yep just looked it up.
So it sounds like if the cysts do not rupture and are not causing the dog any apparent discomfort, removing them basically is a cosmetic option for the benefit of the owner.