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hippy
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hippy is offline  
Location: Midlothian UK
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 35
Female 
 
16-08-2018, 07:39 PM

Cancer in dogs

Hi,

my dog is five years old. She is lovely, healthy, happy....but very anxious with people other than us and she has separation issues. (There is a reason I am saying all this )

She had a lump removed last week. Thought it was a haematoma...but it wasn't. It was a grade 2 Round cell mast tumour. The specialist gave a "fair to favourable" prognosis because the tumour was all removed and all the surrounding tissue was healthy.....but he would have liked there to be more healthy tissue.

Soooo, options given by vet were:

1. Wait and watch. Check regularly for any lumps and get her in right away if they occur.
2. Give her chemo now, "Just in case".
3. Send the lump away for more analysis, which will ideally give us more of an idea if the tumour was "nearer a 3 than a 1"
4. Refer her to oncology for more tests, which will mean more general anaesthesia and more separation for her.

My gut feeling is No.1.

I feel very anti the idea of giving her chemo "Just in case." I am also not excited about the idea at all ,given how ill it made my mothers dog, for an extra couple of months during which she was sick and unhappy.

I don't see the point in getting it further analysed, given how I feel about chemo. If it is nearer a grade three then according to the vet, it is likely to be aggressive anyway. If they say that it is, then I will just be waiting for her to get ill. If it isn't, then we hopefully have years left to be together.

Referral to oncology for tests etc is not going to make my dog happy. It will make her very unhappy, insecure and nervous.

Am I wrong? I feel that I should be saying "I will do everything to keep her with me as long as possible!" and that is what I want. I want her to grow to be 15+ and get grey and slow......and we might well get that. But if she does have an aggressive cancer, then I don't want to ruin what time she has. I don't want to give her treatment that is about keeping ME happy, and not her
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Gnasher
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Location: East Midlands, UK
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 8,775
Female 
 
16-08-2018, 09:22 PM
My advice absolutely and totally would be to leave her be. As an owner of multiple dogs with separation anxiety, you would be causing immense suffering by subjecting her to separations during treatment, investigations etc. She does not know she has a likely terminal illness - dogs live for the moment, in the moment, they have no concept of "future".

My advice would be revel in the time you have left with her, however long that may be ... and because she has no idea that she has a possibly terminal illness you can truly revel. Enjoy every single moment you have left and BE with her - don't subject her to separation because as a dog with SA that is the very worst thing you could do to her. You have to think about what is best for her, not for you. You of course want to keep her alive at all costs - that is an entirely human reaction - but she will hate any separation.

I am so sorry for you, your situation and your beloved dog ... best of luck in whatever you decide x gnasher
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Gnasher
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Location: East Midlands, UK
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16-08-2018, 09:23 PM
My advice absolutely and totally would be to leave her be. As an owner of multiple dogs with separation anxiety, you would be causing immense suffering by subjecting her to separations during treatment, investigations etc. She does not know she has a likely terminal illness - dogs live for the moment, in the moment, they have no concept of "future".

My advice would be revel in the time you have left with her, however long that may be ... and because she has no idea that she has a possibly terminal illness you can truly revel. Enjoy every single moment you have left and BE with her - don't subject her to separation because as a dog with SA that is the very worst thing you could do to her. You have to think about what is best for her, not for you. You of course want to keep her alive at all costs - that is an entirely human reaction - but she will hate any separation.

I am so sorry for you, your situation and your beloved dog ... best of luck in whatever you decide x gnasher
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hippy
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Location: Midlothian UK
Joined: Jul 2014
Posts: 35
Female 
 
16-08-2018, 09:54 PM
Gnasher.....thank you so very much! I am crying with the relief that someone understands where I am coming from! It seems that some people can't equate my need to have her with me, over my need to be sure she is happy.

My pooch had a very sorry start in life. Her mother rejected her and her siblings at four weeks because the breeder was sh!t. He didn't know how to look after a nursing mother and as she had 11 surviving pups out of 12, she needed a LOT of looking after. All he saw was ££ signs. However, my pooch survived that and she is actually not too bad at socialising, in small doses. But she is VERY anxious at separation. She copes with my mum looking after her for short spells but not much more. After this recent op to remove the lump, she has been sooooo unhappy. She has no conception as to why. She is wearing a stupid big collar that she hates, that prevents her from getting up close for cuddles (although I have removed it and covered her paw with a cushion when on the sofa, to allow us a cuddle )
I just look forward to her getting her stitches out, her collar off and taking her for long walks....which is what she loves. Dogs are amazing....they just live in the moment.....I don't want to make her moment miserable.
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Carole
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Location: Scotland UK
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17-08-2018, 06:03 AM
Star had a MCT removed when she was 7. It was low grade and they got clear margins. We decided just to leave it be and remove any further lumps that appeared. She got a few lumps removed in the next few years but did not get any more mast cell tumours.

A grade 2 can act like a 1 or 3 as you probably know and if the vet got good margins I would probably take the wait and see approach.

Fingers crossed no more treatment is needed.
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Moobli
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Location: Scotland
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23-08-2018, 11:30 AM
So sorry you have this worry. I would agree with Gnasher and would leave her be, keep an eye for any other lumps but enjoy the time you have with her.
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