I posted a while back about my old bitch(10 last week) losing weight.  She started putting a bit of weight back on but about a month ago, she came into season.  This only lasted 2 weeks but during this time, she got a swelling on her mammory glands which grew to about the size of a walnut(in shell).  I took her to the vet and the vet found some more pee sized lumps up both tracks.  My vet has also said that the weight gain has probably been due to the hormones released during her season and she will go off her food again soon and so loose the weight again.  Also, she found another lump on her skin just behind her elbow (on the rib cage) but thinks this could just be a cyst. 
Now I have 3 options.
1.  Do nothing and let her live the rest of her time as comfortable as possible.
2.  X-ray her chest and if clear, remove the tumours.
3.  X-ray her chest and remove both mammory strips.

My vet wants to do either 1 or 2.  He thinks that with her age/condition(wieght loss) that the risk is too large that she will not recover from a full mammory removal.  Myself on the other hand, does not want to leave any mammory glands as the cancer has allready spread from one strip to the other.  I am in a quandry.  I don't want her last remaining time to be spent with vets appointments, surgery and recovery.  I would rather she enjoyed what time she has left as she loves life and still wants to come out in the fields with us everyday.  I think it would be torture to leave her behind for her and me.  I really need some opinions please.  For my lovely lady.

Hi to all, new to this forum and would gladly recieve information on mammory strips.
My much loved ten year old minature shnauzer has three lumps in the mammory glands, she has been to the vets and has been booked in tomorrow 1st dec 2011 at 8.30 for a mammory strip.
All the family are deeply concerned because for ten years we have not had a days trouble with her and never had any operations before.
She has never been spayed and nor as she ever had a litter, she is our little angel and all our family are very concerned to find out the prognosis once the lumps are removed.
Its going to be a long long night and i am sure my dog knows something is up she is very very quiet.

There are alot of people on here that have had mammaery strips on their dogs and they have lived years since. I am sure one of them will be along soon to reasure you and tell you what they know.
{{{{{{hugs}}}}}
Lea xxxx

hi when i was younger we had a staffie that had both strips removed at different times and done really well after, when she did pass she was 15,
sorry if this not much info but hope it helps

Not my personal experience but I know of several in my breed, rough ages 7, 10, 11 who have had it done and whilst it is a big proceedure have recovered well and gone on to many more years of being loved and adored. Good luck tomorrow will keep fingers and paws crossed for you.

are they going to spay her at the same time, this would prevent any chance of Pyometra whcih is the major worry with older unspayed bitches, especially those who ahve never been bred from.

I am surprised they are going straight for a strip (which is quite a major operation), rather than just removing the lumps.  Have they taken biopsies to see if the lumps are benign?

On of mine had a partial strip (hind two glands) when a lump came back in the same place as one removed 3 1/2 years earlier.  The recovery seemed quite long and somewhat painful for her.

I'm with Brainless. It's a huge op and a very painful recovery. After having one bitch go through it I swore I would never put another of mine through the same thing. I rescued an elderly lurcher who had several lumps and the vet greed we would just leave them rather than put her through a double strip. She was very happy and content for another 2 years. If she were mine I would just leave them alone and let her enjoy whatever time she has left. If they are malignant, and she has 3 of them, chances are it has already spread. 

I'm sorry it's probably not the reply you were hoping for but it based on experience and love for my own dogs.

My 9-year old Dobermann had just had the one affected mammary gland removed (1 nearest hind leg). The lump did come back as malignant but I was just told they'd remove more if any new lumps developed. There has never been any mention of a complete strip. Are the 3 lumps all in the same gland or scattered around different locations? I hope all goes well for your girl.

Hi, hope all's gone well with the op. Years ago we had a ten year old bitch who had a complete mammary strip. One side healed well but we had a lot of problems with the wound on the other side. In the end after trying various things from the vet, I slathered it in calendula ointment and she did gradually heal and grow new, healthy skin. It took her quite a long time to recover but she did live another two years in good health, and for a large breed she did well.

To be honest, I probably wouldn't do it again. It was a big op and if any of our dogs had mammary tumours these days, I would probably opt for either individual lump removal, or even nothing depending on their age.

All the best with her.  Hope she makes a good recovery.

Thankyou all for writing back, i have to wait until three o clock to find out how my little angel as got on avn.t stopped crying all day.

The vet rang to let me know how her bloods were and the chest x-ray revealed that all were ok she will indeed be in recovery by now. waiting till this time arrives feels like a lifetime.  My husband and i discussed all options and we felt that the vets would not have recommended this proceedure unless it was neccessary, so giving her a chance we feel if the outcome is not good once the  results are back we will indeed not proceed with anymore surgery and let her live the remainder of her time spoiled rotten like she already is.

words cannot descibe how i feel right now but i am so blessed to have people like yourselves who are also pet owners who all love their animals dearly.

Will let you know how she is.

regards to all

jane

Hi to all,
           Sorry i avn,t got back any sooner but as you can imagine my head is in a bit of a tiswaz.
I phoned the vets to find out how everthing had gone, my little angel was recovering after the operation and i was told to visit the vets to see them at five oclock.  When i got there i spoke to the vet and she was very happy with the way the op had gone and like any responsible dog owner asked her outright what she thought the prognosis would be especially as she as seen these lumps before.
It wasn't the answer i wanted to hear but i needed to find out, i did ask her if i did the right thing and she said 100%, if we had left them to continue it would have certainly gone to other areas.

We were told that they could come back, but if they do then as i have already said we will leave well alone.

My much loved pooch was waiting for me with one of the nurses and wagging her tail with delight to see me, i was surprised to find her like this it was if she never had such a op.
The lenghth of her left side has been stitched and she will have a lot of bruising and be very sore, so pain relief  and a lot of tlc will hopefully put her on the road to recovery.

She was very hungry when we got her home so her appettite wasn.t effected at all, so overall she has done exceptionally well.

We have given her a chance, for how long will only be in the lap of the gods.

regards to all

jane 

Glad to hear that she is out of surgery, sending positive thoughts your way. I have sent you a private message, the info may or may not help.

Delighted to hear that your girl is doing to well.

Pleased to hear she is back home where I am sure she will get the best care possible.

I don't want her last remaining time to be spent with vets appointments, surgery and recovery.  I would rather she enjoyed what time she has left as she loves life and still wants to come out in the fields with us everyday.  I think it would be torture to leave her behind for her and me.

I agree completely.  My choice would always be No 1 everytime. 
My experience over 45 years is that mammary tumours are usually secondary and rarely cause the demise of the dog.  My daughter's Rough Collie had a mammary tumour about the size of a walnut at 8 years old and we did nothing.  We palpated a tumour on her liver at 13 years old which grew steadily and was probably the cause of her deterioration at the age of almost 15 years old.  She lived happily until about the last 2 weeks without any invasive intervention and pulling around.
Others may have different experience.

My 11 ½ year old had a quite large mammary tumour removed in 2009 (including 2 teats removed). This year (April) she developed several more -most of them are smaller than pea sized. We've opted to do nothing. You can't see them, you can't even feel theme easily unless you know where to look, but most importantly they have NOT grown since April. Had they grown, it would have been a different story and more to think about as here's a breed that could make it to 16 or 17 with a bit of luck. The way it is now I have no plans to do anything whatsoever except continue to keep an eye on the lumps.

Option 1 for me too, I feel it's unfair on an oldie to put them through a lot of surgery, how much longer are they likely to have anyway, and as you say Cracar, you don't want her last days filled with appointments and surgery.
Ben's been really unwell the past week and I'd already decided that if the vet wanted to send him to the Dick Vet for endless invasive tests I'd say no, he's 8 but a large/giant breed, and I've got too many friends who put their dogs through invasive techniques only for them to either die anyway or for the problem to remain undiagnosed.

Hi there,
            i have just read your thread and it is a very difficult decision to make, my minature schnauzer who turned ten in june went to have the mammory strip yesterday she is doing fine up to now but will take a lot of tlc.
She was up and ready to go when i got there which i was very surprised to see especially after avery invasive operation, she ate immediatly when we got home so really it does depend on everone,s personnel decision.
She had three lumps which would have spread i f left well alone which is why a mammory strip was advised by the vet, x-rays revealed that no other area was effected and her bloods were fine also.
She said from looking at the lumps she did say they were about 75% MILIGNANT so removing them at the size thet were was the right decision to make.

There is no right or wrong decision and probably they will return when and where we don,t know, go with your heart and mind and only you can make the final decision like we did.

Hope this helps

good  luck

jane

mad5min, Your breed tend to be pretty long lived with 15+ not being unusual, so at 10 only 2/3rds the way through the usual lifespan.

In other breeds 10 would be pretty elderly.

With my own breed (average lifespan 13), at 10 years I would choose to have the X-ray and have the tumours removed, but not a full strip.

She said from looking at the lumps she did say they were about 75% MILIGNANT so removing them at the size thet were was the right decision to make.

With all due respect there is no way the vet could have known this without a biopsy.

Hi marriane,  what i meant to write was the vet stated that 75% OF THESE TUMOUR  could turn out to be milignant and you are right without a biopsy you can't be 100%. 
This decision to have this operation was not taken lightly and the vet we use is the best around with a very good reputation, if she felt this wasn't right for her we would have never gone ahead without her advice.
take care
jane

Thankyou for your kind words

> what i meant to write was the vet stated that 75% OF THESE TUMOUR  could turn out to be milignant

Actuallly less than 50% turn out to be malignant.

Had a bad time recently.  My girls' tumour has grown a lot and has now made the gland come away from her body so the lump is just sort of swinging there.  This is causing problems when out walking so I went back to the vet and got a chest x-ray.  Turns out, it's not spread to her lungs so today she is off to get the worse couple of lumps removed, a spay and a dental.  Full MOT!!  The vet was unable to do a full strip removal as it was both sides but he hopes that once he takes the hormones out of the equasion(spaying) that it will halt the growth in the other lumps.  Fingers crossed anyway.  My poor lady.  Bang goes the holiday this year too lol!!! I suppose, I don't like leaving the muttleys anyway.

I'm so very sorry to hear about your girl.  How did things go today?

hope everythings ok.

Poor girl....  hope all went well and she picks up quickly.

Fingers crossed everything went well for her .

Thanks for asking, JeanSW.  She is doing OK.  She was still pretty rough last night when we got her home.  The vet had said that had it been anyone elses dog, she'd have been in overnight.  So it was warm, comfy bed and she slept like a log.  She woke up around 10ish for some dinner and then I carried her upstairs to our room to watch her.  She sprang up this morning out the bed, had a big ole stretch then ran downstairs for brekkie!!lol.  Life in the old dog yet!! She is recovering remarkable well considering what she went through yesterday as apparently the surgery was very fiddly.

My vet (My hero) managed to do almost a full mammory strip on both sides and a spay through the one incision.  He took away one side and then went under the skin to take away the other to save wound problems when closing up.  She also needed 3 teeth out and a full dental. 
Total cost? - £580
My girl still with us - Priceless!!

Fantastic !, great to hear the old girl has done so well.

What wonderful news. Hope she keeps inproving.

So pleased all is well,what a brave girl , good nursing and good vet is the key every time.

Sheila

> Total cost? - £580
>

very reasonable, in line with the cost of a C section with Spay, in normal surgery hours that our Lexi had in 2010.

I am so chuffed for you.  Smiling here, that your girl is still with you.  :-)

I totally understand your "hero."  I have total faith in my vet too, and it's a hell of a responsibility for them, knowing how much trust we give them.

I know you will spoil her and love her as she deserves.  Hoping that she goes on to a speedy recovery.  :-)

Thanks everyone!  She's still improving by the hour.  What a star!

JeanSW, He said it was how he would treat his own dog, so that was good enough for me!

Reason I put these posts on was to help others with our experience.  I was so worried about the surgery and recovery but now I'm just mad I waited through worry!!  As my vet says, cos dogs live in the moment it's just a crap day for them and then life is back to normal.  It's us that put human emotions on our pets to make the surgery a bigger thing than it is.  He says he gets lots of owners like me that think that it's just ruined their time they had left but as he says, if it can make the dog feel a bit better even for a day, is it not worth it?
Also, I'm so chuffed with her teeth.  They are like puppy teeth again!! And her breath is beautiful!!

>Reason I put these posts on was to help others with our experience

Which is why it is so important for people to come back and update.  I do understand that, if the outcome is not positive, some folk just wouldn't want to discuss it.  But it is so good for someone searching desperately for information after a diagnosis.  I know, personally, that, having had 2 dogs with luxated patellas, I would recommend the operation.

I know your girls operation was of a far more serious nature, but strangers reading your post, will be given a certain amount of comfort if facing the same operation.  It doesn't matter if you have had dogs for 50 years, you can always have a dog with an ailment that you have never encountered previously.

So thank you for posting updates about your girls operation.  (I am so pleased, as can imagine how you are feeling.) 

ELATED!! :-)