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My dog is13 1/2 years old. He is a dachshund/German Shepard mix. More dachshund. He has 5 fatty tumors that have all been biopsied and are not cancerous. They do seem to continue to grow in size. Not substantially but still grow. He had to go In for emergency surgery 2 years ago from cutting his artery in one of his paws during a walk. He has been a little different since then. More afraid of things. Urinates in the house every so often. I don’t know if it is from the surgery or just his age. But my question is whether or not I should have his Tumors removed with his age and how he responded to his last surgery. He is in very good health except for one health issue one time. A year ago he fell down and couldn’t walk. Took him to the vet. They kept him over night. They said it was old dogs disease. It went away 2 days later and hasn’t returned. Other than that he is very healthy. Gets his vaccines, heart worm, tick and flea meds. So do I remove them at his age or leave them alone. I keep debating this in my head and can’t make the call. I want what is best for him. I just don’t want to chance issues with going under anesthesia.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you
I noticed a raised lump on my Staffordshire bull terrier aged 8 on the 21st of November on my dog head that ulcerated the next day. The ulcerated lump scabed over then got knocked off the following week. I have been to 2 different vets within that time and both feel it either a histiocytoma or a mast cell tumour with both vets leaning toward it being a histiocytoma but only a biopsy will make sure. I have a biopsy for Wednesday but my question is would it be worth doing is this lump too close to the eyes for good margins? I have done days of googling and I see 1cm is all that needed for good margins and 90% of other sites saying 2-3cm is needed. I would not put my dog through radio therapy so if good margins is not possible would it be worth doing a biopsy? Another thing is I know it low chance but I don’t want to risk Anesthesia with my dog being that 1 in 2000 dog to die from it. Anyone know if good margins is possible from looking at the picture of my dog?
Hi there-
Sorry you are going through so much stress with this situation. Unfortunately, it is always so hard to tell anything definite from A picture. I would have frank discussion with my vet and ask about all of my different treatment options from aggressive on down. They know you and your pet best, and can advise accordingly. Best of luck to you both.????????
I have a two year old male yellow lab that has already had two obstruction surgeries. Both of these, Scout stopped eating and drinking and was vomiting. Last week we believe he ate a sock in which he has been eating on and off, he is drinking, peeing and is pooping. He wakes up every morning wagging his tail and is in good spirits, just lacking some energy on the days he doesn’t eat. He weighed 80 pounds on his previous checkup, yesterday we took him to our local vet, he weighed 70 lbs. The performed an x ray on him and said they believe it was a soft material that he swallowed and couldn’t determine if it was in his intestine or in his colon. While at the vet Scout was wagging his tail, holding the leash in his mouth as he usually does and ate about 20 treats. My vet charged me $360 and told me they recommend me to go to the animal hospital for an ultrasound to get a better idea of where this sock is located. I waited for 4 hours for them to tell me that they performed the ultrasound, it was somewhat inconclusive, his colon was enlarged and recommended exploratory surgery. I requested we wait to see if he will pass this. They kept him overnight, asked for an $800 deposit and called this morning saying that he was the same, and took x-rays to say it hasn’t moved. Your thoughts, suggestions or advice?
Hello,
I am very (extremely) concerned about e weight loss. In my opinion in a dog rhat age it is a huge red flag. It cannot be ignored and should absolutely put everyone on high alert that there is an issue. For this reason alone and the hyporexia I would say an exploratory is indicated after all other diagnostics have proven unhelpful.
In my experience nothing (absolutely nothing except maybe a ct or mri ) at helping to put answers together. I also think that if they don’t find a foreign body that biopsy samples are helpful to diagnose weight loss (the worry is cancer). The other diagnostic option is a barium study. It’s old school but helpful in gi cases.
Now I say all of that assuming there aren’t any budgetary constraints. If there are and a foreign body is on the list of possibilities I recommend an exam, cbc, and Chem panel and X-ray or ultrasound. If the patient is bright and active and eating drinking ambulating and NOT vomiting you can watch and wait as long as they remain acting and feeling normal. If they are vomiting or not acting like themselves the best to do is surgery. If surgery is not affordable call around and try to find a place it is more affordable. (For example it might be 4-6000 at a speciality hospital but 1-2000 at a general practice. If even this is not Affordable try a few days of intravenous fluids and lots of walking. Both keep the gut moving and help move stuff through. Hope this helps.
Hi there ???? I think I would chat with the vet at his next checkup and see what their thoughts are. There is always a risk with surgery, but if the pros outweigh the cons, then the answer is obvious. At this stage though, if your vet feels they aren’t a threat and you feel that the dog’s quality of life isn’t effected, then those would be strong factors in determining what the next step would be. You and your vet know your guy best, so that would be where I would start my discussion. Best of luck!!!
Hello,
I agree with Sarah. This needs to be a decision that you make with the help and guidance of the surgeon. You can get as many opinions as you need but they need tone from someone who can examine your dog. Find a vet (or two or more, or even a boarded surgeon) and ask for advice. Very best of luck.
I have consulted my vet and she told me it was my decision. The tumors are not in the way of his normal every day activity, Yet. I’m just afraid left unchecked they might become too large to handle. I just don’t know what the recommendations are for an almost 14 year old dog in regards to surgery. I know with every surgery there is a risk and I would assume his risk is greater than others due to his age. My gut tells me to remove them but will they just grow back? My heart tells me to leave them alone due to the fear of losing him under anesthesia. I’m absolutely torn.
Just thinking more about your situation…. wondering if you could just have it with your vet to have more frequent visits to check the tumors and make sure they aren’t growing or changing? That might help give you some peace of mind should you opt out of surgery.