Possible Cancer

[spotnnotfarm]

I took my dog into the vet Saturday and to get his shots and to have the vet look at a growth on his leg. I was a bit shocked when the vet told me the growth was an aggressive malignant tumor, I want to say it was a mast cell but quite honestly, I was in so much shock I may have misunderstood. He will have it removed in a week but until we get the results back, I am going to be freaking out!!! She did not do any diagnostics Saturday even though I tried to get something going( She is a brand new vet and not my normal vet).

A friend of mine that has been a vet tech for 15 years give or take saw a picture and disagrees with the vet, she thinks he has a hair follicle tumor. I am just confused!!!

He is a 9 ear old coonhound mix and my absolute heart dog. Has anyone dealt with any tumors on the leg? I am worried if it is malignant that it could possibly have spread. What can I ask to get a better picture. To be clear, I love my vet, the office made an error when I scheduled my appointment. He is out of town this week or I would have taken him back for another opinion.

[Callista17]

My dog had a small tumor that, “while we are taking off the other one on her shoulder, we can take that off too”. Savannahs is a mast cell. The margins were not clear, because no one suspected it was a mast cell, so she had a secondary surgery, just to enlarge the margins. Then I had her lymph node checked- it spread. They removed her lymph node. I did meet with a veterinary oncologist, just to know what I was dealing with. Of course they reccomended chemo. For my 13 year old dog, they said chemo, she should live another 1000 days. If I don’t do chemo, almost 1000 days. I did not put her through chemo, ahe is a normal dog, recovered from her surgeries, although she has a few scars if you look for them. No one knows and are shocked if I tell them. Good luck!

[spotnnotfarm]

Thank you! I am glad your dog has a good prognosis. I am still in the disbelief stage at this point. Did they do any bloodwork on her to determine if it spread? I guess at this point, that is what I am most worried about.

[Callista17]

She had bloodwork for anesethesia and general health, but not to see if it spread. I think the main thing…and it sucks, is pay for the histo. I think it was at least $250, but it was a “piece of mind”. It was sent via FedEx by the vet and had the whole tumor and edges examined to diagnose it and check the margins.
Honestly I was shocked too, thought she’d stop eating, act sickly, and drop dead, but none of that yet! It may affect her life, but right now it doesn’t and every so often, I think of it and appreciate her a little more.

[Callista17]

And it’s been almost a year. Savannah had the first surgery 1st week of Dec. She had a shoulder tumor I thought wouldn’t be anything, but I thought it had started to get bigger, I had some extra funds, and I thought ahe should have it off before Christmas.

[dsedler]

Did they do a biopsy?

I took my dog to the vet a few months ago because she suddenly had a very fast growing lump on her back leg, close to her tail. Fast growing as in it went from quarter sized to baseball sized in about 4 days. The vet that saw us was said it was probably a very aggressive cancer (sorry, I can’t remember what exactly they called it, like you I was in a bit of shock). She attempted to do a needle biopsy but just kept getting blood. She said since it was most likely cancer, there probably wasn’t much they could do other than surgery, but “let’s go ahead and put her on antibiotics just in case it’s an infection”. I was totally freaked out, upset, of course started googling when I got home and scared myself even further. 3 days on the antibiotics and the lump was noticeably smaller. After a week, it was completely gone. So, she just had some type of infection, still have no idea what.

[candyappy]

Our Golden had a large tumor on her foot. She was 13 at the time and we opted not to do surgery as she had other small growths on her. At her age we felt it was best and actually my vet agreed.

[csaper58]

I know it’s hard but stay positive!

Jingling very hard for clean margins and lymph nodes and a good prognosis.!!!

[pezk]

If it is a mast cell tumor there is an excellent support grp on fb for people whose dogs have that type of tumor. Lots of good advice there

[spotnnotfarm]

Thanks everyone. She did not do a biopsy, because like another poster said, she thought she would just get a lot of blood. Once they remove it, it will be sent off. He licks it a lot of I assume it is bothering g him but he is not lame and is not acting any different than normal. Thanks for the jungles, I will keep y’all posted.

[Riley0522]

I am intrigued to hear your results because I am in an almost identical situation. My 9 y/o Vizsla/Pit Bull mix has now probably a golf ball size lump on his left haunch. The bump has been there for probably ?1 year, however he has a similar one on his chest that has grown in size and has now stopped growing at the golf ball size that we’ve had aspirated 2-3 times and it’s just a lipoma, so we figured the leg lump was too. I brought him in back in July or August just for a well visit as he had been acting strange (skipping meals, suddenly terrified of thunderstorms at 9 yo), and they aspirated it (like others said, just got a lot of blood) and found nothing diagnostic from the aspirate. His labs were sent and all his LFTs were elevated but he’s acted totally fine. Since they aspirated it, the lump has almost doubled in size and he’s now licking it raw…so we are going back in this week. Fingers crossed for good results for your pup. My guy is my heart dog, running partner, best dog I’ve ever owned…hopeful it’s something benign. I do know a dog who has been living with a very large mast cell tumor for > 3 years now.

[spotnnotfarm]

Riley, is your dogs under the skin or above it? Let ,e know what your vet says. Jethro is my heart dog, I won’t say he is good because he is quite terrible, but I love everything)no about him

[DrBeckett]

Unfortunately, mast cell tumors are fairly common, particularly on the feet and legs. They are a very aggressive type of cancer. Every time you have one removed, you have to be diligent about it returning somewhere else. It’s not always easy to get good margins on the feet and legs as the skin just doesn’t want to stretch.

Good luck with the results. I hope it’s not a mast cell tumor.

[spotnnotfarm]

@DrBeckett

Unfortunately, mast cell tumors are fairly common, particularly on the feet and legs. They are a very aggressive type of cancer. Every time you have one removed, you have to be diligent about it returning somewhere else. It’s not always easy to get good margins on the feet and legs as the skin just doesn’t want to stretch.

Good luck with the results. I hope it’s not a mast cell tumor.

I am really hoping it is not as well. Would I recognize any symptoms? Is there another test I can have done to see if it has spread? What is the prognosis of Mast Cells?

[Amelia]

My golden was diagnosed with MCT in September of 2014–just after his 12th birthday. He was limping on this front leg for a little bit. I decided to watch it a couple of days. On day 3, when I got home from work, his leg was 3 x’s the size it should be. I got him into the vet the next morning and he had xrays done. We hoped it was an abscess, but no such luck. The first couple of days were rough. We opted for no surgery due to his age, his breed and the fact that it would most likely come back. But decided to give him a few good days of love. The vet tech said I deserved one more night with my boy. This was a Friday. The next day I was so mad I didn’t have him put down because he was pitiful–but by Sunday (on tramadol) he was turning around a little–and I was getting him to eat bits. He improved little by little over the next few days–and within the week, he was acting normal.

We had a few rough days–but literally only about 10 of them the whole time.

He lived 25 QUALITY months after diagnosis. We did change him to deramaxx daily–and I put him on dasuquin–and at the end, fed him whatever he would eat. But 25 quality months was so much more than I expected and I am grateful for every day.

I kept saying, “But he’s still coming upstairs to go to bed”.

The first night he couldn’t was the last. I slept downstairs with him–and took him to the vet the next morning. Best dog there ever was. I miss him terribly and it’s been just over a year now.

Hugs and prayers for you and your precious. If your diagnosis is the same–I pray you have many more wonderful, quality days with your pup.

[spotnnotfarm]

Ok, so i had a brilliant idea to call the vet’s office and have them look at his chart (DUH!!) He was diagnosed with a Aggressive Malignant Melanoma. Any advice???

I am sorry for your loss Amelia

[csaper58]

First be sure the melanoma was completely removed with clean margins. And find out what stage it is

There is a new vaccine using genetically engineered DNA to stimulate the dog’s immune system to attack the melanoma.

The vaccine must be prescribed by a vet. oncologist so ask your vet for a referral.

Best Wishes and many jingles!!!

Hounds are such wonderful dogs!

[Riley0522]

@spotnnotfarm

Riley, is your dogs under the skin or above it? Let ,e know what your vet says. Jethro is my heart dog, I won’t say he is good because he is quite terrible, but I love everything)no about him

Under the skin. They did more aspirates yesterday, really couldn’t get many cells - only blood. She said not totally out of realm of possibilities that it’s a MCT, but unlikely given they couldn’t find any cells. She said it’s highly probable it’s a Hemangiopericytoma, which has a fairly good prognosis. We are doing 2 weeks of antibiotics due to a possible surface infection and just to see if the mass responds, then will draw some blood and likely schedule surgery to have it removed.