UPDATE on "Our Yorkie has breast (mammary) cancer - YorkieTalk.com Forums

lfleenor · 11-18-2006, 10:12 AM

As some of you will recall our Gigi went in for mastectomy and spay yesterday to due breast cancer (see initial post below). I'm thrilled to report that she came through her surgery and is doing well. She has an incision from her front legs to her hind quarters! We were surprised when we went to pick her up yesterday and our vet put her on the floor and she came to us with her little tale wagging! She did not even have to spend the night at the hospital. Our vet said she is a "little trooper" and very strong for a 3 pounder! It's Saturday morning now and my partner is feeding her scrambled eggs and she is loving them. She also ate some cottage cheese and had water last night. The vet says that in addition to the breast cancer, her uterus was a "ticking time bomb". It had the indications of the beginning of an infection. Her initial needle biopsy showed low grade cancer so hopefully it did not get a chance to spread. Our next step is to get the biopsies back from the breast tissue. When she is fully healed from this surgery (in a month or so), we have to go back and have the other side of breast tissue removed. But for now she is doing well and we are taking it one step at a time.

I want to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers. They helped us get through this!

Post earlier this week: This past Sunday morning, I woke to the usual paw of Gigi our 3.5 pound, 10 year old intact female yorkie nudging me for a tummy rub. I was rubbing her tummy and noticed a small bump under the skin just below one of her left nipples (the second one up from her rear end). I know that it came up in a day or two at the most. She demands and gets tummy rubs on a daily basis. I called our vet Monday morning and was able to get in early that morning. Our vet performed a needle biopsy (which seemed to be painless for Gigi as I held her during the procedure). Our vet called yesterday and said that it came back malignant and the we should scheduled a mastectomy ASAP. She is scheduled for the surgery this coming Friday morning and they will also spay her at that time. Our vet says he will know how invasive the cancer is during the surgery and whether or not it has metastasized (he will also do a check x-ray prior to surgery on Friday) My partner is a pediatrician and is going to take the needle biopsy material to his hospital lab tomorrow so that a pathologist friend can double check the lab results, but in the meantime we are preparing ourselves for Friday's surgery. We are devastated as Gigi and our Oscar (11 year old male yorkie) are like our children. I'm writing this to hopefully spare other this pain. We never had any intension of breeding Gigi because of her size, but I was always afraid to have her spayed because of the anesthesia. I always thought that if she had to be put under for something else, I would have it done then, but she was always healthy so I put it off. Since her diagnosis, I have found out that if we had gotten Gigi spayed before her first heat, the chance of this cancer occurring was almost none and after her first or second heat, still a big drop in likelihood of this happening. I want to pass this along to spare others the agony that we are going through. If there are others out there whos yorkies have had mammary cancer, please let me know any insights you may have into treatment options or what worked or did not work for you. Depending on the results fo the surgical biopsies, we may consult on oncologist about chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Has anyone gone this route? Please say a prayer for Gigi (every bit of good energy will help). Thanks. Leighton

daisy mae06 · 11-18-2006, 10:31 AM

So glad she is doing well

god bless I'll keep you in my prayers.

onelovelylynn · 11-18-2006, 10:32 AM

Wonderful news!

I will keep her in my prayers that she has a 100% recovery. You sweet little
girl I wish I could give you a hug and kiss.

Piccolo's mom · 11-18-2006, 10:51 AM

What a great news !!! She IS a real trooper ! Hugs and kisses from Piccolo and me.

IluvLucy · 11-18-2006, 10:55 AM

thank God for the wonderful news! What a strong little girl you have! Isn't it amazing how much heart these little guys have? I'm so happy for you and will continue to pray for your baby's complete recovery. Please keep us updated

LunasMomma · 11-18-2006, 10:55 AM

So glad to hear that things went well! She is a real trooper!

I pray that the biopsies come back okay. Hugs

!

Dartprincess · 11-18-2006, 11:16 AM

Thank you for the update and please keep us updated. I hope you both join us and get to know the crowd.

Bnot · 11-18-2006, 11:23 AM

Thanks so much for the update! I really worry about all the sick babies, and grown yorkies here. Your story was interesting, and I learned a lot from it. So glad everything came out ok!

I will certainly have Venus fixed next month. She'll be 6 months then. I will wait another month before I have Adonis fixed. No way can I do both in one day, I'd be ready for the looney ben. Already afraid enough as it is. Especially with Adonis, I've had him 5 years, and we're joined at the hip!

Mybabe4me · 11-18-2006, 07:25 PM

Thank you so much for the update. I am so happy to hear that everything turned out just fine. Please keep us posted oh your sweet little angel.
Val and Babybear

CardsGrl · 11-19-2006, 01:57 AM

ty for letting us know how it all went and glad she is doing well prayers go out to her and hope she continues to improve just keep us updated

SnowWa · 11-19-2006, 03:23 AM

Ifleenor --- it was especially thoughtful of you to share your story in an effort to encourage pet owners to get their little females spayed.

I have had pets all my life and have consistently gotten every one of them spayed or neutered. I have never had a bad experience - and, in fact, have always been amazed at how quickly they recover -- sometimes almost the same day. My little females have always done very well also.

Recently, I took my little Yorkie in to be neutered. He slept the better part of that day, but other than that, you'd never know he had anything done.

I can certainly understand your sorrow and suffering at this time, and hope everything works out well for your little dog. You really got right in there and got her taken care of as quickly as possible. She's lucky that she had you there to care for her.

We all know that there are many many pet owners who do not get their pets spayed or neutered for a variety of different reasons. And we know that usually they never have any problems because of it. But, because, albeit rarely, they can get cancer, let's hope that your message helps encourage a lot of people to neuter and spay their pets. In the end, your experience and your message may save the lives of many pets - or at least help keep people from having to go through what you and your little dog are going through now.

Please keep in touch with us. I know that we all want to know how your little girl does.

Carol Jean

lfleenor · 11-19-2006, 06:24 PM

Thanks SnowWa for your kind words. Hopefully others will benefit from ou ordeal. You are right, I had my other 3.5 pound 11 year old yorkie neutered at around age 6 and it did not phase him AT ALL. He was running around the house same day. Even Gigi is recoverng quickly so far. She is sleeping more than usual, but is eating and moving well. My vet told me that he has spayed female yorkies that are 1.5 pounds before and they have done fine. He also said that it is better all around if you get the spay done before the first heat (something about uterus and ovaries are smaller and easier to remove). Anyway, that's my new bandwagon and I'm going to let everyone who will listen know of my experience. I truly thought the risk of not spaying was minimal. You never think it will happen to you. Live and learn.

Bnot · 11-19-2006, 09:16 PM

Some of us do learn from others mistakes here. I'm one of them. Plan on spaying one next month, and having the 5 year old boy neutered the following month.

Glad to see your 6 year old boy did fine in neutering. I'm so worried about that now.

Sorry you had to go through all this, but really glad your baby is doing so well!

CJCinTX · 12-09-2006, 03:46 PM

Leighton, reading your story is mirroring exactly what we are going with our precious nine-year-old six pounder Muffin at this moment. Trying to find further information about this condition, treatment, etc. is what led me to YorkieTalk.com in the first place. Thank heavens I found it, because it is wonderful to see so many other Yorkie worshippers!

Muffin had her surgery on one side Thursday morning & also has an incision from front leg to hind leg. She also was a trooper & is acting as if nothing happened! Isn't that amazing? An incision over that large of an area of their bodies & they can resume Yorkie craziness the next day!

We have to wait until next week for the biopsy results. And Muffin needs to have the other side done as well. After all the tears I've been shedding & the worrying I've been doing, I couldn't be happier to find a place to share my nervousness & find some kindred spirits. Count me among the people who were uninformed about not having her spayed. I only wish I could turn back the hands of time & make a different decision.

While we are praying for Muffin, we will include Gigi. Hopefully in a few months this will be a distant memory & Gigi & Muffin will be enjoying tummy rubs as usual!

CJ
Muffin's Mom

Achilles · 12-25-2006, 12:40 PM

I'm glad everything went fine.

Merry Christmas

11-18-2006, 10:12 AM	#1
lfleenor Yorkie Talker Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 11	UPDATE on "Our Yorkie has breast (mammary) cancer As some of you will recall our Gigi went in for mastectomy and spay yesterday to due breast cancer (see initial post below). I'm thrilled to report that she came through her surgery and is doing well. She has an incision from her front legs to her hind quarters! We were surprised when we went to pick her up yesterday and our vet put her on the floor and she came to us with her little tale wagging! She did not even have to spend the night at the hospital. Our vet said she is a "little trooper" and very strong for a 3 pounder! It's Saturday morning now and my partner is feeding her scrambled eggs and she is loving them. She also ate some cottage cheese and had water last night. The vet says that in addition to the breast cancer, her uterus was a "ticking time bomb". It had the indications of the beginning of an infection. Her initial needle biopsy showed low grade cancer so hopefully it did not get a chance to spread. Our next step is to get the biopsies back from the breast tissue. When she is fully healed from this surgery (in a month or so), we have to go back and have the other side of breast tissue removed. But for now she is doing well and we are taking it one step at a time. I want to thank everyone for their kind words and prayers. They helped us get through this! Post earlier this week: This past Sunday morning, I woke to the usual paw of Gigi our 3.5 pound, 10 year old intact female yorkie nudging me for a tummy rub. I was rubbing her tummy and noticed a small bump under the skin just below one of her left nipples (the second one up from her rear end). I know that it came up in a day or two at the most. She demands and gets tummy rubs on a daily basis. I called our vet Monday morning and was able to get in early that morning. Our vet performed a needle biopsy (which seemed to be painless for Gigi as I held her during the procedure). Our vet called yesterday and said that it came back malignant and the we should scheduled a mastectomy ASAP. She is scheduled for the surgery this coming Friday morning and they will also spay her at that time. Our vet says he will know how invasive the cancer is during the surgery and whether or not it has metastasized (he will also do a check x-ray prior to surgery on Friday) My partner is a pediatrician and is going to take the needle biopsy material to his hospital lab tomorrow so that a pathologist friend can double check the lab results, but in the meantime we are preparing ourselves for Friday's surgery. We are devastated as Gigi and our Oscar (11 year old male yorkie) are like our children. I'm writing this to hopefully spare other this pain. We never had any intension of breeding Gigi because of her size, but I was always afraid to have her spayed because of the anesthesia. I always thought that if she had to be put under for something else, I would have it done then, but she was always healthy so I put it off. Since her diagnosis, I have found out that if we had gotten Gigi spayed before her first heat, the chance of this cancer occurring was almost none and after her first or second heat, still a big drop in likelihood of this happening. I want to pass this along to spare others the agony that we are going through. If there are others out there whos yorkies have had mammary cancer, please let me know any insights you may have into treatment options or what worked or did not work for you. Depending on the results fo the surgical biopsies, we may consult on oncologist about chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Has anyone gone this route? Please say a prayer for Gigi (every bit of good energy will help). Thanks. Leighton

11-18-2006, 10:31 AM	#2
daisy mae06 Kodi & Pixie 2 Donating Member Join Date: May 2006 Location: NEBRASKA Posts: 14,766	So glad she is doing well god bless I'll keep you in my prayers. __________________ OK Yorkie Rescue - http://okyorkierescue.org LorisCritterSitter.com

11-18-2006, 10:51 AM	#4
Piccolo's mom Donating Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Posts: 778	What a great news !!! She IS a real trooper ! Hugs and kisses from Piccolo and me. __________________ Barb & Piccolo If your dog barks and doesn't fit in a bread roll, don't eat it.

11-18-2006, 10:55 AM	#5
IluvLucy Lovin' Lucy & Rebel Donating Member Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Georgia Posts: 4,438	thank God for the wonderful news! What a strong little girl you have! Isn't it amazing how much heart these little guys have? I'm so happy for you and will continue to pray for your baby's complete recovery. Please keep us updated __________________ Kim , Rebel ,and baby Dixie RIP my sweet Lucy

11-18-2006, 10:55 AM	#6
LunasMomma Izzy's Momma Too! Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Stuart, Florida Posts: 8,799	So glad to hear that things went well! She is a real trooper! I pray that the biopsies come back okay. Hugs! __________________ Tracy, Mom to Izzy and Luna

11-18-2006, 10:32 AM	#3
onelovelylynn My Darling Divas Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: magnolia, Texas Posts: 1,220	Wonderful news! I will keep her in my prayers that she has a 100% recovery. You sweet little girl I wish I could give you a hug and kiss.

11-18-2006, 11:16 AM	#7
Dartprincess Minnie's Mommy Donating YT Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: WA State Posts: 916	Thank you for the update and please keep us updated. I hope you both join us and get to know the crowd. __________________ Carol Minnie

11-18-2006, 11:23 AM	#8
Bnot YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Mobile AL Posts: 1,399	Thanks so much for the update! I really worry about all the sick babies, and grown yorkies here. Your story was interesting, and I learned a lot from it. So glad everything came out ok! I will certainly have Venus fixed next month. She'll be 6 months then. I will wait another month before I have Adonis fixed. No way can I do both in one day, I'd be ready for the looney ben. Already afraid enough as it is. Especially with Adonis, I've had him 5 years, and we're joined at the hip!

11-18-2006, 07:25 PM	#9
Mybabe4me YT 500 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Maine Posts: 713	Thank you so much for the update. I am so happy to hear that everything turned out just fine. Please keep us posted oh your sweet little angel. Val and Babybear

11-19-2006, 01:57 AM	#10
CardsGrl Donating YT Addict Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Southern, Illinois Posts: 416	ty for letting us know how it all went and glad she is doing well prayers go out to her and hope she continues to improve just keep us updated __________________ Cindy

11-19-2006, 03:23 AM	#11
SnowWa YT 2000 Club Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: USA Posts: 2,992	Ifleenor --- it was especially thoughtful of you to share your story in an effort to encourage pet owners to get their little females spayed. I have had pets all my life and have consistently gotten every one of them spayed or neutered. I have never had a bad experience - and, in fact, have always been amazed at how quickly they recover -- sometimes almost the same day. My little females have always done very well also. Recently, I took my little Yorkie in to be neutered. He slept the better part of that day, but other than that, you'd never know he had anything done. I can certainly understand your sorrow and suffering at this time, and hope everything works out well for your little dog. You really got right in there and got her taken care of as quickly as possible. She's lucky that she had you there to care for her. We all know that there are many many pet owners who do not get their pets spayed or neutered for a variety of different reasons. And we know that usually they never have any problems because of it. But, because, albeit rarely, they can get cancer, let's hope that your message helps encourage a lot of people to neuter and spay their pets. In the end, your experience and your message may save the lives of many pets - or at least help keep people from having to go through what you and your little dog are going through now. Please keep in touch with us. I know that we all want to know how your little girl does. Carol Jean __________________ http://tinypic.com/ipxhmb.jpg A Yorkie is worth a thousand words.

11-19-2006, 06:24 PM	#12
lfleenor Yorkie Talker Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Los Angeles Posts: 11	Gigi Thanks SnowWa for your kind words. Hopefully others will benefit from ou ordeal. You are right, I had my other 3.5 pound 11 year old yorkie neutered at around age 6 and it did not phase him AT ALL. He was running around the house same day. Even Gigi is recoverng quickly so far. She is sleeping more than usual, but is eating and moving well. My vet told me that he has spayed female yorkies that are 1.5 pounds before and they have done fine. He also said that it is better all around if you get the spay done before the first heat (something about uterus and ovaries are smaller and easier to remove). Anyway, that's my new bandwagon and I'm going to let everyone who will listen know of my experience. I truly thought the risk of not spaying was minimal. You never think it will happen to you. Live and learn.

11-19-2006, 09:16 PM	#13
Bnot YT 1000 Club Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Mobile AL Posts: 1,399	Some of us do learn from others mistakes here. I'm one of them. Plan on spaying one next month, and having the 5 year old boy neutered the following month. Glad to see your 6 year old boy did fine in neutering. I'm so worried about that now. Sorry you had to go through all this, but really glad your baby is doing so well!

12-09-2006, 03:46 PM	#14
CJCinTX Donating Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth Posts: 261	Deja Vu Leighton, reading your story is mirroring exactly what we are going with our precious nine-year-old six pounder Muffin at this moment. Trying to find further information about this condition, treatment, etc. is what led me to YorkieTalk.com in the first place. Thank heavens I found it, because it is wonderful to see so many other Yorkie worshippers! Muffin had her surgery on one side Thursday morning & also has an incision from front leg to hind leg. She also was a trooper & is acting as if nothing happened! Isn't that amazing? An incision over that large of an area of their bodies & they can resume Yorkie craziness the next day! We have to wait until next week for the biopsy results. And Muffin needs to have the other side done as well. After all the tears I've been shedding & the worrying I've been doing, I couldn't be happier to find a place to share my nervousness & find some kindred spirits. Count me among the people who were uninformed about not having her spayed. I only wish I could turn back the hands of time & make a different decision. While we are praying for Muffin, we will include Gigi. Hopefully in a few months this will be a distant memory & Gigi & Muffin will be enjoying tummy rubs as usual! CJ Muffin's Mom

12-25-2006, 12:40 PM	#15
Achilles Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: New York Posts: 26	I'm glad everything went fine. Merry Christmas