I am extremely worried for my daughter's beloved Jack Russell who is only 8 years old.  I often look after him when she is away and he gets on so well with my dogs.

However she has just rung me in tears .  The dog presented recently with a bit of a lump on his top lip which has grown.  The biopsy shows that this is an aggressive tumour and he has to have a scan (at another vets) to see if it has spread.  As a child I had a cat who had the same sort of lump and he had to be pts but that was a long time ago.  Has anyone else any experience of this?  The little fellow is always full of beans and this is so very upsetting.  Thank you for reading thisx

First tell her not to panic . There is often things that can be done to help and puts is not always the only possibility
Ive had experience of 4 different tumours that were malignant and all have been treated successfully one way or another . Including one on the gum not the lip
I would take advise from the vet and  consider a referral to a specialist  .they are usually quite honest with what can and can't be done .
Hm

I am so sorry. I recently lost my beautiful 12 year old Beagle bitch. She was diagnosed with cutaneous epitheliotropic t-cell lymphoma in August 2020. Her lesion was a small pea sized patch on the lower lip which was spotted early, and did not bother her at all. However, biopsy and staging showed that the cancer had already infiltrated her lymphatic system. Our vet advised against either operating or chemo and gave her a prognosis of 6 - 18 months. I did a fair bit of research and chose to try semi-holistic treatment. Her little lump did increase very slightly, but she had no enlarged nodes, and we really thought we had it cornered. My girl had almost a year living her normal happy life, before the metastases appeared.
There are far less aggressive forms of skin cancer so I don't want to pile on any worthless or worrying info, but if any of this chimes with you, you can always PM me.

Very sadly yes I have had one of my Bassets, the last of my homebreds actually, who had oral cancer.   The tumour was only discovered during a delayed dental - delayed because I'd spent 12 months fighting for the life of his sister, which wasn't to be.  It was right at the back of his mouth, on the gum not the 'lip',  to one side and my then vet removed it, with, he'd hoped, wide enough margins.  It didn't come back there but quite soon afterwards, he developed another, same side, further forward which was much more aggressive.    That final morning, I'd taken him into that vet again but it was bleeding badly and the lad wasn't good at all (he was in his teens) and after much discussion, we made the decision not to try operating but to let him go. 

Those were a couple really bad years, losing the two last of my bloodline within those years.  It's the possibility that can always happen when you keep two from a litter.

If your vet opts to remove the growth, I hope that's an end to it.

Thanks for your comments.  It seems that this is not all that rare but seems quite aggressive.  I have always thought that Jack Russells are tough little dogs, I myself have had several over the years and the eldest lived to be 21.  I know that our daughter will be guided by the vets' diagnosis when he has had the scan.  Even if it not good news hopefully the little fella will have a bit of time left.