Dog with mammary cancer, what to expect?

[bizbachfan]

My 12 year old JRT has mammary tumors. We tried surgery when she only had two but the vet was only able to remove her uterus and then her heart was not cooperating. She has an enlarged heart and a heart murmur. Vet who did surgery suggested we let her just live out her time and no more surgery. Other vet at same practice said we should take her to a surgery specialist. I did the consult and they really pushed for surgery. (at that point she had about 8 tumors)

Went back to first vet and she gave me some options on trying surgery again but said her feeling was no more surgery as even if they got it all there was a high likelihood of it coming back. We decided to just let her live out her life and see what happens. We will give her pain meds as needed but plan to let her go once quality of life is not good.

Anyone experience this? No can venture a guess on how long she will live, just selfishly trying to prepare myself.
thanks!

[Go_Fish]

I lost a Corgi to mammary cancer. Just my experience, but I spent a great deal of money removing tumors. Each one that we removed came back more aggressively and at record speed. While I don’t regret it, on an older dog, I wouldn’t do it again.

[Laurierace]

My only experience was with a cat but hers also came back quickly; about two weeks if I remember correctly. We opted not to remove them a second time and kept her comfortable until one of them burst and was leaking all over and we let her go. So sorry you are both going through this.

[SquishTheBunny]

If you do decide on surgery, you should really have a specialist do it. The reason they come back quickly is that often regular vets do not get clean margins so there is tumor left to expand. A specialist who has done these surgeries before successfully will know which type of margins to get. Even if clearn margins are achieved however, without a chemo followup they will likely come back…but much slower than if you didnt have clean margins.

JRT’s live a long time usually, 12 isnt old…but, age shouldnt dictate such a decision. Its all about quality of life, finances and your beliefs.

If you persue surgery, have a cardiologist look at her - a “large” heart isnt an issue, its how it functions ie. with HCM/DCM and which type of murmur is present. Large hearts can be just as healthy as smaller ones.

If you want to do conservative management, then for the “best” results you should talk to an oncologist or internal medicine specialist. Even if you dont want to use chemo, or even oral chemo, they would be able to give you other suggestions to help slow the tumor growth.

Sorry you are dealing with this. Ive got 2 JRT’s, one 16.5 and the other coming 15…I keep thinking every day I am so lucky to have them around as you never know when their last day will be. The older one especially…she has gone through two surgeries at age 15…but clearly bounced back great. JRT’s are fighters, never forget that when it comes to making a decision

[Marshfield]

Having been in practice for a decade, I would say that there is really no reason your regular veterinarian couldn’t do the surgery if they’re comfortable with it. I cannot even begin to count the number of soft tissue masses I have removed cleanly. I am looking right now at one of mine who is seven years out from me cleanly removing a mammary adenocarcinoma.

Prognosis really depends on which type of mammary mass you’re dealing with.

[bizbachfan]

Thanks so much for your replies and sharing your experiences.

[Pookah]

I adopted a dog with very advanced cancer that was too far gone to treat, just to get her out of a shelter for whatever time she had left. So I can’t give you any advice on surgery, but the vets that I took her to told me that she was not in any pain, and that most likely I would know when it was time because of her behavior. In her case at least, that turned out to be very true - she was a very happy, chipper, and clearly pain-free dog until she suddenly went rapidly downhill overnight, stopped eating, started struggling a bit breathing, and was euthanized before getting worse. Another vet did caution me that he was concerned that she could suddenly collapse and die (I forget the exact reasons for this, but it was based on something he saw on x-rays), but he also said that if that happened it would be maybe traumatic for me but an instant and painless death for her, so that didn’t worry me too much. As far as a timeline, I wouldn’t count on one too much, because apparently (for whatever type of tumors Gypsy had, at least) the growth rate is very unpredictable. The vet estimated when I took her home that she most likely had 4-6 months, and she was gone two weeks to the day from me bringing her home. However, having lost a lot of animals over the years, I have to say it was surprisingly not as traumatic as you would expect, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. I wish she had had longer with me, but she was a really happy dog with a good quality of life for a couple of weeks at least.

[bizbachfan]

Pookah, thanks so much for sharing your story and what a great thing to take the dog home and give a few good weeks. Right now she is comfortable and happy and eating like a champ (and then some.) I am just going to take each day as it comes and enjoy my time with her. Despite the temptation to do more surgery when I hear other success stories I am at peace with my decision and going to stick to the plan of just making each day as good as it can be.

[Pookah]

[QUOTE=bizbachfan;7046163]
Pookah, thanks so much for sharing your story and what a great thing to take the dog home and give a few good weeks. Right now she is comfortable and happy and eating like a champ (and then some.) I am just going to take each day as it comes and enjoy my time with her. Despite the temptation to do more surgery when I hear other success stories I am at peace with my decision and going to stick to the plan of just making each day as good as it can be.[/QUOTE]

I promise that is the VERY best thing you can do for her, and down the road you will be able to look back without regrets. (if my experience is anything to go by, at least - I had just lost a childhood pony and was really not “over” that (if you ever can be), but I still think adopting Gypsy was the very best decision I’ve ever made, and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I always try very hard to remember that animals do not care how long they live, they live in the moment and so they care about how they feel while they are here. So it is our responsibility to make them feel as good as possible, and then to let them go when their quality of life declines. For what it’s worth, I think you are doing absolutely right by your dog; I hope she has a long time left with you, but it is far more important that she enjoy whatever days she does have, and good for you for focusing on enjoying that time with her.

[SquishTheBunny]

I think you are making a very reasonable decision. At 8 definitive masses, there is obvious metastasis through the entire mammary chain. I didnt mean to say that a regular vet couldnt remove them, but an entire chain is a pretty signficant surgery.

Might be worth your time to chat with an internist though - there are several drugs that can be used to slow the cancer that are cost effective. Maybe your regular vet already has your pup on them, but it can hurt getting as much info as you can.