Dog Good News

jamross65

Well-Known Member
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Last year my GWP developed a lump on her teat. The vet diagnosed it as a tumour and said it would grow to the the point of discomfort and possible rupture. There was a concern that it may well have spread throughout her body because of the location. I decided to leave it and accept that at 10 years old she was near retirement and just monitor it until the time came.

It grew steadily over the months but she seemed neither up nor down until over the last two weeks its size began to cause her pain and discomfort as it was banging into her leg and was now the size of about two tennis balls.

Two days ago I noticed it looked inflamed and was hot to the touch. I knew it was infected. She didn't want to walk because it was painful but still tried to keep up with the other dogs before after a few steps she was reminded through pain it was still there. I made my mind up last night that a visit to the vet to confirm what I thought, would be done in the morning. Whilst out last light I noticed a wee bit of blood on it and grew concerned it may rupture. She was still behaving as normal and not off food or drinking more water.

This morning when she came out the kennels there was a small tear in it, but still she never let on and in fact seemed strangely more able to run about, perhaps a pressure had been released from the tear.

I took her to the vets after saying my goodbyes to her and then lifted her into the pick-up.

However, a few minutes later the vet is saying either option, euthanasia or an OP for removal may be worth a go but an x-Ray after her pre OP drug may reveal further tumours in her body cavity, in which case it's beyond worth trying. Meanwhile, she's sitting staring at me with her head in my hands and her eyes still bright and full of life. I told them if that was the case with further lumps being found, to let her go there and then, and left not honestly expecting to see her alive again.

Early afternoon the vet called to say the x-Ray was clear and they would remove the growth.

Bottom line is she is out of surgery and recovering from the OP well!!!!! As a working dog and at that age I was so close to making the decision to put her down. Then when speaking to my mate who has her litter sister, it appears she is actually a year younger than I thought!!!!!! I guess that's an age thing on my part forgetting such a thing but with several other dogs I suppose it happens!

So, here I'm sat a far happier person than I may have been, a strong dog who I gave a chance to because for once I let my heart rule my head, who at 9 1/2 years old may just give me another year or two of pleasure, upset, annoyance, frustration, headache and fun....... As she is a GWP after all!
 
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Last year my GWP developed a lump on her teat. The vet diagnosed it as a tumour and said it would grow to the the point of discomfort and possible rupture. There was a concern that it may well have spread throughout her body because of the location. I decided to leave it and accept that at 10 years old she was near retirement and just monitor it until the time came.

It grew steadily over the months but she seemed neither up nor down until over the last two weeks its size began to cause her pain and discomfort as it was banging into her leg and was now the size of about two tennis balls.

Two days ago I noticed it looked inflamed and was hot to the touch. I knew it was infected. She didn't want to walk because it was painful but still tried to keep up with the other dogs before after a few steps she was reminded through pain it was still there. I made my mind up last night that a visit to the vet to confirm what I thought, would be done in the morning. Whilst out last light I noticed a wee bit of blood on it and grew concerned it may rupture. She was still behaving as normal and not off food or drinking more water.

This morning when she came out the kennels there was a small tear in it, but still she never let on and in fact seemed strangely more able to run about, perhaps a pressure had been released from the tear.

I took her to the vets after saying my goodbyes to her and then lifted her into the pick-up.

However, a few minutes later the vet is saying either option, euthanasia or an OP for removal may be worth a go but an x-Ray after her pre OP drug may reveal further tumours in her body cavity, in which case it's beyond worth trying. Meanwhile, she's sitting staring at me with her head in my hands and her eyes still bright and full of life. I told them if that was the case with further lumps being found, to let her go there and then, and left not honestly expecting to see her alive again.

Early afternoon the vet called to say the x-Ray was clear and they would remove the growth.

Bottom line is she is out of surgery and recovering from the OP well!!!!! As a working dog and at that age I was so close to making the decision to put her down. Then when speaking to my mate who has her litter sister, it appears she is actually a year younger than I thought!!!!!! I guess that's an age thing on my part forgetting such a thing but with several other dogs I suppose it happens!

So, here I'm sat a far happier person than I may have been, a strong dog who I gave a chance to because for once I let my heart rule my head, who at 9 1/2 years old may just give me another year or two of pleasure, upset, annoyance, frustration, headache and fun....... As she is a GWP after all!
Lovely news,hopefully another few years to spend with your friend and companion, best of luck.
 
Nice to hear a story with a happy ending for a change,
Enjoy the time spent with her mate and add some more happy memories to your ownership of her
 
Glad it worked out ok.

With my vet hat on, if you'd dealt with the mass when it was smaller it would have been easier to remove, less pain for the dog, less chance of spread, and would have cost you much less money! The dog need not have got to the stage where it had a large, painful mass.

Hope the mutt is ok (90% of mammary lumps in dogs are not cancerous)
 
Glad it worked out ok.

With my vet hat on, if you'd dealt with the mass when it was smaller it would have been easier to remove, less pain for the dog, less chance of spread, and would have cost you much less money! The dog need not have got to the stage where it had a large, painful mass.

Hope the mutt is ok (90% of mammary lumps in dogs are not cancerous)

Thats what I asked the vet today, should it not have come off at the time. Their opinion was, and still is that its a tumour and concern it would be spread elsewhere and felt its what would ultimately kill her. I guess the only certain way of knowing is a biopsy but there are a few other small lumps appearing mext to this one....

I am under no illusion that this is sorted and there is no chance of this occurring again and the next time may be the last. Just happy that after removal it appears okay in the meantime. In a younger dog then a biopsy would be done, is that correct? I'm happy that at coming up for 10 another year or two, hopefully is as much as I will hope for.
 
Thats what I asked the vet today, should it not have come off at the time. Their opinion was, and still is that its a tumour and concern it would be spread elsewhere and felt its what would ultimately kill her. I guess the only certain way of knowing is a biopsy but there are a few other small lumps appearing mext to this one....

Have they just removed the lump? In these larger cases I'd always do a mammary strip - where all affected mammary tissue on the same side was removed in a single surgery.

In a younger dog then a biopsy would be done, is that correct?

Perhaps. Often the cost of a biopsy can approach the cost of removal of a smaller lump and whilst I will give owners the option I tend to feel it's better spending their money removing the lump to find it needs another anaesthetic and surgery to remove the lump now costing nearly twice the money. Just because a mammary lump isn't malignant (=cancerous in layman's terms) doesn't mean it can't grow and cause problems.

As time goes on we remove more masses and biopsy less. Seems a better use of the owners money. If they want to know what it is then sending the whole mass is far preferable.

(disclaimer I'm doing very little small animal work these days)
 
Have they just removed the lump? In these larger cases I'd always do a mammary strip - where all affected mammary tissue on the same side was removed in a single surgery.



Perhaps. Often the cost of a biopsy can approach the cost of removal of a smaller lump and whilst I will give owners the option I tend to feel it's better spending their money removing the lump to find it needs another anaesthetic and surgery to remove the lump now costing nearly twice the money. Just because a mammary lump isn't malignant (=cancerous in layman's terms) doesn't mean it can't grow and cause problems.

As time goes on we remove more masses and biopsy less. Seems a better use of the owners money. If they want to know what it is then sending the whole mass is far preferable.

(disclaimer I'm doing very little small animal work these days)

Thanks for the comments, it makes sense what you say. I'm not questioning the vets opinion from 9 months ago, and as I said, the age, near retirement from work, and the likely hood of further spread really were the deciding factors at the time in accepting surgery would perhaps only allow for another couple of months perhaps. Now, things seem to have changed a wee bit. Which is good....
 
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