I am going to sound really stupid as I have lived around bitches most of my life but Mia seems to have something going on around the very back nipples that I haven't noticed on her or my other dogs before.
The area right between her back legs has always been a little fleshy but I have just noticed that it looks softly swollen if that makes sense. There is a very soft fleshy swelling under the skin that is about the size of a hens egg between the centre line and her rear right leg. There is a smaller swelling on the opposite side. I am able to manipulate them and move them about a bit, sounds silly but they are a bit like soft testicles.
There are two obvious nipples in the area just before where her legs meet her belly and the swellings are further back from these towards her 'peanut'. There are marks over these swellings that look a bit like nipples but they are just flat to the skin darker areas without any raised nipple as such.
She has been perfectly happy for me to touch them but as soon as I got the camera out she went very camera shy and clamped her legs together or I would post a pic. If she falls asleep in her usual legs akimbo position I will try and get a picture later.
Does this sound normal or not?

Are they round smooth, quite pliable and you can almost get your fingers right around them and move them about in the skin, if so they could be Lipomas which are just fatty lumps. You can get fibrous ones too, that are still mostly fat but have some fibrous tissue too. They are usually harmless, but can get big and depending where they are can become intrusive.

However after saying this with any suspected or possible lumps especially as they are near the mamarries, personally I would get them checked out to be on the safe side. For the sake of an appointment and a quick vet see, at least you will know for sure.

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Hi
Thanks for the reply. They are everything you have described except they are not round. They are both elongated egg shaped. She doesn't seem bothered by me touching them. I will keep an eye for a couple of days and see if they get bigger or smaller.

If she has had a season within the last 2-3 months it could be mastitis.
My younger bitch gets this after her seasons.

If its hot and lumpy to touch and her teats appear to hang when standing it could be it....and they are like small soft eggs inside.
She will need Antibiotics to clear the infection and its painful.

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Our Precious Girls.

just wondering if they could be glands. i know they have them near the rear leg area,, but not sure if they are that far down into the nipple area...just a thought xx

nah ...just ignore me...its more the groin area the glands are..soz

hope you get to the bottom of it anyway xxxx

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The area does hang a bit when she is standing but there aren't any teats over the area. We were told that she was spayed when we got her from the rescue almost a year ago. I was worried a couple of weeks ago as she was acting just like a bitch in season although there weren't any physical signs like swollen vulva etc. I didn't notice this behaviour 6 months ago though, but she was still very traumatised then.

Be best to get her checked by your vet and find out what is going on down there just in case it could be mammary related.
I think your vet can tell if she has been spayed when he examines her.
Im sure someone here will correct me if Im wrong

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Our Precious Girls.

Must admit after I posted regarding Lipomas, I did wonder about glands too,
Have you checked in her arm pits and under the jaw there are some more there too I think. Sometimes they can come up when there is some type of infection.

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Went to the vet as Mia was sensitive to me touching the lumps today when she fine with it yesterday.
Vet is not overly worried as she thinks they feel like fatty tissue. She asked me if Mia has ever been very thin and I said that she was when the rescue first got her and they had to feed her up. Vet said some dogs do accumulate fat in that area after being starved so it could be that.
She has asked me to keep an eye on it though as she is a little worried that Mia has been showing a lot signs of a partial spay and/or false pregnancy over the last few weeks. The timing of all the symptoms and behaviour point to tissue being left in and swelling of mammary tissue would happen about now if that is going on.
She said if it goes down or stays the same not to worry but if swelling continues to go back for blood tests.

That's lovely news, so pleased

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