Cancer in Dogs
 

I would be interested in hearing from any of you that have had any type of experience with cancer in your dog. Your story could possible help others detect cancer early in their pets. It would be good to know what signs you observed and what kind of treatment your dog underwent and what the outcome was. I know this will be a painful subject for many.

Here is a very good website that explains the different types of cancer:

http://www.peteducation.com/article....&articleid=460

I have a 12 year old Yorkie that had a mammary tumor when she was 7 years old. They were able to remove the tumor safely. I first discovered the tumor by feeling of her mammary glands and I felt a small pea size grainy lump.

I talked to a man last year that had just lost his Yorkie to cancer. He told me his two year old male Yorkie suddenly got sick and within a few days. The autopsy showed his liver was ate up with cancer.

I know mammary cancer is fairly common in intact females and I hear that testicular cancer can occur in intact males but I just have not hear of many cases of it.

Any thoughts or input?

My co-worker and her husband just lost their chocolate lab to cancer. The dog was losing weight and not eating so they took him in and had all kinds of blood work that didn't show much. He seemed better for a couple weeks, and then all of a sudden he wouldn't lay down and was panting badly. They took him back in and had x-rays. His diaphram had ruptured as he had a large mass that had pushed his organs out of place in his abdomen. The tumor was too large to remove, and they had to put him down. It was very sad. Unfortunately, this very brave dog did not show many symptoms until the very end.

That is a very sad story. Do you know how old the dog was?

there are many different types of cancer. i don't remember all the types. I see it on a daily basis. young dogs, old dogs. bone cancer, lung cancer, mast cell tumors, testicular cancer, uterine cancer, cancer in the liver/spleen/bladder.... you name it, i've seen it. some times you just don't know until the end when you can't do anything about it. its sad.

want a reason to spay your intact female? today we took out a 9lb cancerous uterus in an intact female.... poor dog almost died. she came in yesterday and we had to give her two bags of blood because she was so anemic. the tumor was eating up her blood supply. Today we explored her first thing in the morning and found this HUGE tumor in the uterus. This would never had happened if the dog was just spayed when it was younger.... if you are not breeding the dog, i urge you to spay and neuter your pets (this is not directed at the OP or any once, just in general).

cancer patients are very sad. Their owners spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on their beloved pets in surgery and chemo just to get a few more months of happiness with their pets.

we've taken limbs off and organs out. we've taken pieces of the jaw apart, and delt with large tumors on legs that need a skin graft to cover the hole left (so we have to cut another hole in the dog and harvest a piece of skin large enough to cover the hole left by the tumor and then stretch it back together and sew it up....not pretty)

Cancer is extremely common. Most types there is nothing you can do to prevent it, the only ones you have any control over are the ones that deal with the reproductive organs.

signs of bone cancer is sudden swelling of a joint or section of bone, lethargy, limping, not using a limb, lump with an open wound, unexpected broken bone from something that shouldn't have caused the dog to break a bone (pathological fracture).

signs of cancer in the thorax would be heavy breathing, panting, lethargy, fluid in the chest cavity...etc....

signs of abdominal cancer would be swollen stomach, weird abdominal weight gain, round belly that can be hard or fluid like, lethargy, not eating, elimination problems...etc...

kalina82:thumbup: Thanks so much for you input, it was very informative. It sounds more common than I realized. I keep hearing that over vaccination can cause increased risks for cancer. Do you see much cancer in young dogs?

i see more cancer caused from vaccines in cats then in dogs. its more common in cats. Everyone should just be sure that when their vet gives any type of vaccine that it gets put low enough on one of the legs so that if they get cancer from it the leg can be taken off and the pet will still survive. However they will most likely need chemo as well.

I have heard that if you give a dog vaccinations that has cancer that it is like adding fuel to a fire. The cancer will really accelerate. I don't understand why vets vaccinate elderly dogs but I hear about it all the time.

i can't say that it will make things worse but it definitely won't make things better. And if you look at it from a medical/scientific view, why vaccinate and weaken the immune system of a dog that only has a few months left?

Good vets will not tell you that you need to vaccinate every year or need to do it in elderly animals. The only vaccine i recommend still giving is rabies because its required by law.

I agree but there are so many vets that push annual vaccinations. I think rabies shots should not be required for small dogs kept in the house. I know many people do not get the rabies shot even though the law says you must. So, if your dog bites someone and your dog did not have a rabies shot then your dog gets impounded for 10 days or something like that.

yes its true, many vets push vaccines and other unnecessary things. Banfield comes to mind.. I do not like them at all.

its different in every state. If your dog bites someone here even with a rabies shot the dog gets impounded for at least 10 days, longer if there is a court case. Wit no rabies vaccine i think the consequences are worse.

its just not easy for the state to control if they all excepts for certain breeds or certain size dogs. its either all or none. you can get a letter from your vet though i believe if your dog can't get it for whatever reason.

Cancer
 

My 12 year old Yorkie has adernal cancer. He had as much of the tumor as possible removed. The only symptom he was showing was drinking and peeing ALOT. All his blood tests were normal, they had assumed he was having kidney problems. They tested for Cushings, Addisons, you name it. Nothing...they then decided that is was behavior and gave me a script for "prozac" which I did not fill. I tried walking him more etc....and he continued to pee all the time in the house..prior he was house broken. A different vet re-looked over all his blood work and saw that his potassium was low...they re-tested his potassium which at this point was basically depleted. I was then referred to an internist who did an ultra-sound and found the tumor. They said that the tumor must have been secreting a hormone that was making him drink and pee alot. After the operation to have it removed the peeing and drinking got better...he did 5 rounds of chemo. The peeing and drinking have come back...and I know there is still a small amount of cancer on his aorta. He was given 6 months to live after his operation. It has been almost two years. the vets that did the surgery did not reccomend chemo but I did it anyway. He was never sick from the chemo so I figured it could not hurt.

Kerri

Sometime between age 10 and 11 our Yorkie started having bouts of pancreatitis. Then, he started having bowel issues.

The vet had us do one thing, then another. No one ever suggested, much less checked for, cancer. STUPID VET! and STUPID me! The last straw was when blood vessels exploded in one of his eyes and the vet said he had an eye infection. Gave us antibiotic cream.

Scruffy got worse on a weekend and we rushed him to the emergency vet.
They stabilized him and the next day broke the news to us that he had hemangiosarcoma. (cancer of the blood cells)

It had progressed so far that he could no longer breathe without oxygen. They said they could try to treat him, but it would have only given him another month or two, tops, and that, he would spend miserable and trying to recover from the treatment.

We put him down that afternoon. :(

While this cancer is virtually impossible to survive, if you catch it soon enough, chemo does work. I wish we'd had the chance to try.

Whenever your dog has a series of issues, of any kind -- even if they don't seem like they could be related -- ask for blood work and ask specifically about the "c" word.

Thank you for sharing your story. I am glad to hear he has lived much longer than expected. I know it is from all the loving care you are giving him. I pray he continues to do well.

This may sound stupid but are dogs supposed to get there vaccines in there legs? I think lily got all hers between her shoulder blades :confused: .
I think you always give great advice, thank you. :clapsmile

yes all vaccines should be given in the hind legs way below the hip so that if they get fibrosarcoma the leg can be removed with the cancer (tho chemo is still needed). If the vaccine is given in the neck and a sarcoma develops there is nothing you can do about it because you can't remove it. Next time they go to give it in the neck, ask them politely to give it in the lower thigh instead.

Thank you, I had no idea this was an issue.

Newman's Story.
 

BJH. I lost my 10 year old Yorkie Newman to cancer this past summer. Our story is unique and I hope it can help others out. Newman, started licking his paw pad. We originally, thought it was a nervous habit as we did not see anything. The paw pad became raw and swollen and so I cleaned it and wrapped it - thinking it was irriated from his licking. I kept the bandage on it for a week, changing it daily. After a week I removed the bandage and his foot looked great. I kept an eye on him and within the day he began licking again. Within the night the pad was swollen again and so I called the vet in the morning. The weather got bad, and we had icy rain. I remember vividly carrying him into the vet, because by the afternoon he could not walk.

Our initial vet visit. Our vet looked at his foot pad and said that he must have stepped on something. A piece of glass or something. I assured him that I watch Newman like a hawk and I check him over constantly and I'd know and that no way could he have gotten something in his foot. He told us that he'd have to operate and explore to see what was in there. The next mornining he was operated on.

After surgery. Surgery went well. Our vet stated that he found many abnormal cell tissure and that he thought he got all the bad tissue. He explained that they usually do go by margins but that because his foot was so tiny he could not follow protocol as there was no more he could cut out. He assued me that in his 30 years of practicing he's never seen cancer in the foot pad and that it would more then likely come back clean and is probably some kind of infection.

A week after surgery. The biopsy came back. Our vet called and I could hear the tears in his voice as he told me that my baby had a stage III mass cell tumor in his foot pad. Mass III was the worse and he could not tell if it spread and he gave him about a year before the cancer came back. He explained again that he could not follow protocol with the margins due to his foot being so tiny so all we could do is hope that he got it all.

Within two months, Newman was back to licking that foot and the cancer came back in force. We brought Newman back to the vet and we decided to try something radical by removing his whole leg in hopes of curing him. Because the cancer was rare there were no studies or other dogs known with this cancer and therefor we did not know what the end result would be. Our vet contacted the University of PA as well as other known universities and they had never seen this cancer in the foot pad either. We decided that before we go through with this radical surgery that we would do some non-intrusive tests such as x ray - aspiration and catscan and if and only if they all came back clear then we would go ahead and have his leg amputated in hopes of saving him.

Pre-Testing. His Xray came back clear and his aspiration came back clean. Last was his catscan. We got a call that Thursday after the scan was done and it wasn't good. The catscan showed his lymph nodes enlarged and a mass on his liver. Our vet felt that it was probably a mass cell tumor on his liver. And so we made the heartbreaking decision to bring our boy into the office the following morning before they opened and to let our little guy go peacefully.

This is so hard for me to write and I'm crying as I type but my boy's cancer was so rare. So rare that even a well respected vet with 30 years experience and well known universities had never seen it. Newman was our first Yorkie and we got him from a small puppymill before we were educated about places like this. I know that cancer is cancer but I believe with all my heart that it was his bad breeding that caused this rare cancer and if I can spare just one person this heart ache of help just one person that may have a dog going through this then my story was worth telling.

Newman is what started me on the crusade to close puppymills, get rid of byb's and shut pet stores.

Elaine

Thanks for telling your story, sorry for your loss.

Ozzie'sperson, thanks for sharing you story. I am sorry for your loss. I hope your story will possibly help someone save their beloved pet with early detection.

jrsygal37, thank you for sharing your story, I know it was hard. I am so sorry for your loss. While I do believe that some tendencies toward cancer might be hereditary, just as they are in humans, I truly believe that over vaccination is one of the major causes or contributors.

Kalina. In NJ if the dog has not had it's rabies and it bites someone, animal control will only quarantine 10 days at the owner's home. Atleast this is what I've been told. My son was bitten by a German Shephard who was not vaccinated and who was not licensed and by law the ER reported the bite to animal control. They were in contact with me to tell me that they would quarantine the dog to the owner's yard for 10 days, check back in 10 days and if the dog was still breathing the case would then be closed. They did not fine her for not having the dog vaccinated and they did not fine her for not having the dog licensed. Not sure what the laws are in other states.

Elaine

Mast cell tumors are more common then you think. They can be any where on the body from foot pads to the tips of the ears. These types of tumors are most common in boxers but will appear in all other breeds as well. These tumors can be big or they can be small little circular red or black marks. I've seen them on many parts of the body. Ones of the pad paws are not as rare as you think. Elaine, I remember reading about poor newman when you were going through that troubled time with him. The next day at work i asked the surgeon if he'd seen MCT on the pads before and he said yes. He's been doing this for over 30 years as well, but in the surgical field, not general practice. i asked what could be done about it and he said either toe amputation if it was just on a digit or leg amputation if it was more spread out. I'm sorry the results of the CT scan showed that it had spread. MCT are a horrible cancer because it spreads like wildfire. When you hear those three letter a sense of dread overcomes you because you know even if they are removed and chemo is started you don't have much time left with you pet. :(

A dog that belonged to my daughters room mate bit someone in Houston a few months ago and the dog was impounded for 10 days. There was no fine but they did have to pay for the 10 days of boarding.

hmm, i guess it depends on the case and individual situation. I worked at an animal shelter for 10 years and we got lots of bite cases in. They had to be quarantined for 10 days to however long it took. If there was a lawsuit involved that poor dog would sit with us until the case was closed, sometimes for months. We weren't allowed to take the dog out so it was put in a kennel with two sides so we could clean it up easily. very sad.

This is how it works where I live.

Yeah, I was upset that they did not have him up to date on rabies or licensed but I was glad that they did not impound the dog. I was annoyed with the owners of the dog but I don't think the dog really tried to hurt my son who the damage would have been far worse. It was more of a love bite but because of his size the bite was far worse then if a Yorkie had nipped. The shephard punctured into my son's rib cage. He had been playing base tag with another boy - the boy that owned the dog and either the dog wanted to play or he thought Frank was going to hurt the boy because he was chasing him. Anyway, the dog jumped and lunged grabbing my son in the ribs. He was left with three puncture marks and badly bruised, but I don't think the dog was vicious just protective or playful - really don't know which. Just thankful my son was not hurt more severely.

Thanks Kalina for your note about Newman. Elaine

wow is your son now scared of that dog or big dogs in general? that must have scared him. i'd be a little freaked out if a dog bit my ribs when i was younger.

I did not know this! Thanksfor the info!

Thanks you so much for sharing your sad story. I am so sorry for your loss. How old was Dakota when he passed? I do hope that all the stories on this threat might help someone detect cancer early in their beloved pet.