The dog in question is a 7-year-old German shepherd at a nearby animal shelter, which sent me all of his intake and vet notes to review. The initial examining vet noted an “abdominal mass” on palpation. A second vet agreed that the spleen was large but thought that “no distinct tumor was palpable.”
There’s a whole sheet of bloodwork but the specially noted results are:
“total protein 7.7 elevated
globulin 4.4 elevated: can indicate chronic inflammation/infection (he has been recently treated for deep skin infection)
eosinophils: 1300 elevated slightly”
He’s reportedly been eating well and gaining weight since his arrival and has not had any vomiting, diarrhea, etc. His lymph nodes are normal on palpation.
The vet noted: “His enlarged spleen could have a non-cancerous cause: if his body has been producing extra red blood cells or platelets, it can swell. Some chronic infections from tick-borne Rickettsial diseases such as Lyme or Babesia, or other tick-borne diseases like Ehrlichia or Anaplasma. Cancerous causes such as hemangiosarcoma are also possible. probably more likely in a 7 yr old dog.” As far as I can tell they haven’t tested for any of those diseases. I’m not sure if by “more likely” they mean “more likely than infection” or “more likely in a 7-year-old dog than a younger dog.” To me 7 doesn’t seem terribly ancient.
Any experiences with enlarged spleens? My good friend has an older dog who had his spleen removed in emergency surgery last year. After opening him up they were sure it was cancerous and he’d die after surgery anyway, but it turned out to be benign and he is still going strong. With this guy at least we already know it’s an issue so we could monitor it. The question mark is the underlying cause. Plus if he needed a splenectomy that’s a few thousand dollars. While I wouldn’t want to light that amount of money on fire, it wouldn’t break me to spend that.
Would I be crazy to consider going to meet this dog? We haven’t been actively looking for another dog (ours is 11ish and showing recent signs of kidney dysfunction, ugh), but you know how sometimes someone shows you a pet listing and the animal just calls to you… He is handsome and seems very sweet, both on paper and in the video they posted, but I fear his prospects at a shelter aren’t good given his age and possible medical condition. He also has some separation anxiety and did not do well in an apartment at his previous home (where he barked when left alone but reportedly was not destructive). I anticipate this being less of an issue with a second dog, one human who is home 95% of the time, and 9 acres in which to exercise. Worst case we could give him a nicer place to live out his days than an animal shelter?
Logic says this is not a great idea but…
He could very well be a ticking time bomb but we’re leaning towards taking the next steps to bringing him home, even if it’s only to spend his last days with his own humans, a soft bed, a grassy yard, and some peace and quiet. This picture of him looking at my husband tugs at my heartstrings all over again:
