I have recently posted as a guest about my golden retriever Abby and her recent operation.  Just over two weeks ago after a couple of days of not eating Abby was operated on to remove her spleen and after finding ovarian cysts a hysterectomy(spelling) as well.  It was a big operation for her, she is nearly 12, and has taken her a long time to recover, but as I write this she is quite bright and has been trotting around the garden with the others.  However the vet has called me to say that the tumour was not caught in time and has spread somewhere else in Abby's body, we are awaiting the test results to show us where it has gone!  After her good recovery I'm totally devastated, we lost our older border collie in September last year through cancer and I can't believe we are going through this again!  Has anyone else had a dog who had similar problems to Abby?  Any info on cancer in dogs and how to deal with it would be gratefully received. 

I must say that I'm so pleased I joined this group as just sitting and typing this out has made me feel better, I currently live in France and the locals here don't understand how I feel about my dogs!
Many thanks.  Jan and Abby

Cancer is a common cause of death in dogs as they get older simply becaause their immune system gets weaker as they get older, depending on how wide spread the cancer is palliative care maybe what is right for your dog, very aggressive treatment in animals should be balanced with the quality of life expected with & without the treatment. I lost both my BC's last year to cancer & they became ill overnight with no prespect of treatment that would give them any quality of life

Take each day as it comes & treasure every happy one you have with her

I lost my Lab cross to a spleenic haemangioscarcoma which had spread to her lungs. She simply found moving about too much effort, and as it was the very hot summer of '01, and we'd just moved house, I couldn't bare to see her struggling to keep up with me as I moved from room to room unpacking boxes.  She ate well untill the last, and even had the urge to play for short periods, I never felt she was really in 'pain', it was just that the available space in her lungs wasn't sufficient for her needs :( She was 14 when she went, and was diagnosed about 4 month previously - the tumour by then was simply too large to do anything about, but the vet doubted she would still be with us when we moved - I was glad she was able to see our new house and garden :)  There is a Canine Cancer support group on Yahoo which I found very helpful, especially with reference to diet and alternative therapies if that's your thing.

Thinking of you, and hope you and she can enjoy what time she has left.

Jan
I am so saddened to hear the news and my thoughts are with you. My dog died in March of a nasal tumour that spread to his liver and he died on his own without me having him PTS. I searched the internet to find out what could be done for him, so maybe if you do a search on Google, you will find some related information.
If its not too advanced they can try the convential treatments like Radiotherapy and even Chemo. If it has gone too far, then it is a matter of pallative care.
I wish you all the best and I hope that Abby is not in pain.
Sarah

Thank you all for your kind words they really do help, I intend to do exactly as you have all said and that is to enjoy whatever time we have left together.  Wherever the tumour has spread to it is unlikely that the vet will let Abby go through another large operation at her age and so soon after the first one.  I have come to terms with that now but hope the end is still a long time away, however my thinking is definately different now I've had time to think and that is, that I won't spend the time we have left crying and upset and she will sense this, we'll go out and enjoy what time we have left!
Thanks again.  Jan and Abby

Read these:

http://www.first4pets.co.uk/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?pg=cancer_report
http://www.first4pets.co.uk/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?pg=autoimmune_report
http://www.first4pets.co.uk/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?pg=antioxidants

and

http://www.first4pets.co.uk/cgi-bin/cp-app.cgi?pg=ste_userpagessrch_results&searchstart=0&searchrpp=10&searchtyp=ANY&searchstr=cancer

Hi There,
            I really feel for you....
Cancer in dogs as in any animal or human is a dreadful illness.
I lost my first australian shepherd 4 years ago (age 6) to a tumour on his spine and am going through it again now with my 12 year old GSD. She has a heart tumour and is very sick. Six weeks ago she was running around like a puppy, now on a bad day, she can barely be bothered to get up and down stairs. She has not eaten properly on her own for nearly two weeks and is being syringe fed with soup every couple of hours. She still wags her tail and tries to play a little with the others, and my vet feels that at present although the tumour is large, she is not in any pain. She is very lethargic, but while she is wagging her tail and still walking around the house, allbeit slowly, I cannot make the decision to have her put to sleep. If the time comes where she really looks like she is suffering, I will be guided by my vet and have her put to sleep.
Enjoy every day with your dog, they are with us for such a short time.......
(((((Hugs)))))
Gabrielle x

My old Lab x had a tumor on his spleen only his burst inside and had internal bleeding. He had to have an emergency op came through it, but the following day it was just too much for him to go through and he finally gave up the fight, and we had to let him go. This did happen very quickly, as the vet said to me that they do grow in a matter of weeks.
He was 14 and a half.

Yes this happened to our collie cross too - we'd taken him to the vet's in the morning as I knew something was wrong- she couldn't find anything specific and we were due to go back for tests on Monday. However he deteriorated during the day and by the time we saw the vet again at about 11pm he was practically comatose - he'd obviously been quietly bleeding to death on our kitchen floor. It was decided the kindest thing to do was to let him go. This was the 1st July 2001. I have to say I still feel terribly guilty about it, still wondering if it had been picked up earlier he might have had successful surgery and a bit more time with us. :-(

Hi, my golden retriver/collie cross died two years ago from a tumor on this spleen.  It started very slowly, just an off day every week then the off days became more frequent and I took him to the vets. It took blood tests, x-rays and then a scan to show up the tumor. They said it was still fairly small but would have to operate immediatly as he had been bleeding internally on and off for some weeks. We did not have him operated on. He was 13 years of age and up until then had had a very happy healthy life. This would have been a big operation and involved a blood transfusion. The vet said if he had the operation to remove his spleen he could possibly live another year as long as the tumors had not spread to other organs. As this is a cancer which is very easily spread as it involves the blood vessels we made our decision based on the facts we were given. He was not in pain and we had him put to sleep a week after he was diagnosed as he had a very large bleed. The tears we shed (and still do) and the soul searching as to whether we made the right decision was awful, but now we realise he died peacefully at home with me holding and talking softly to him, never having suffered a prolonged and painfull life.

A dog's quality of life must always be paramount to all owners.  IMHO you did precisely the right thing, and I'm sure you already know that.

I wished my vet had picked it up earlier as well. At first he thought he had a heart problem, but when all the tests came back clear, I requested that he referred me to a specialist. I was very lucky to get an appontment the next day, but I cam ehome early on the monday and he was having a nose bleed. I took him to his appointment (his nose had not stopped bleeding all night) The specialist said that she susspected a nasal tumor, but his liver was also inflamed. He died the next day. If its caught early, then you can give as much as you can, but the guilt I felt when he died, its like I should have known and done more for him.
Everyone on this site was great when it happened.

Hi, I am so sorry to hear about your lab.  My sweet dog Chip was a cocker spaniel, beagle mix but he looked like a young lab.  I woke up Sat. morning and he was sick, I let him outside and he collapsed in the yard.  We rushed him to he hospital and the Dr. said a tumor burst and His spleen was loaded with tumors.  He said he was bleeding internally and that this is an aggressive type of cancer.  I lost it at that point.  The dr. said he could perform surgery but he would more than likely die within two months.  I saw my father suffer through many surgeries and bleeding and I did not want to see someone else I loved die slowly and suffer.  We made the decision to put him to sleep and be at his side holding him.  This was on Saturday June 11, 2005.  I am now second guessing my decision and I am thinking maybe I should have had the surgery.  I am killing myself over this and I don't know how I am going to get through it.  He meant so much to me and our other dog keeps looking for him.  I am now searching the web trying to see if I did the right thing.  I can't think of anything else.  I just pray I did the right thing to put him to sleep.  He did have other health problems and he lost a lot of blood.  I am just searching for the right answer. 

Ckaisor, please don't beat yourself up like this. I think you did exactly the right thing. All surgery would have done at that stage would be to extend his suffering. You saved him from that - other owners might not have been so unselfish. Bless you for putting his welfare first.

I think you did exactly the right thing too.  There are many on here who will know how hard the pain of making that sort of decision if but I'm sure you know inside that it is better for us to have pain than our beloved animals.

Hi ckaisor... so sorry to hear about chip, the same thing happened to my german shepherd (taz) in january this year. i was absolutely gutted.( i had rescued him some years ago, he was wondering round the field next to my house with a choke chain on that had to be cut off him as it was so small.) it was a complete shock to me as it happened so fast... but i know i did the right thing in having him pts. the vet told me that yes he could have an operation but hardly any dogs that do ever live past 3mths. i couldnt bring myself to put him through the ordeal only to gain a cpl of mths of life, no matter how much i loved him ( was a mummys boy :-) )

IMO you have done the right thing, dont beat yourself up over it, remember the good times and the love you had for him.... :-) it does get easier ... honest :-)

hi
we had two standard poodles go through this the one we operated on was 9  the vet opend her up and there was blood everywhere in her stomach the vet took the splean out, then she came home she made such a good recovery.
6 weeks later she was wavering then cloapsed in my mums arms on the kitchen floor she called the vet took her there they opend her up and lots of tumors had started growing back, particles had travled around in the blood while the vet was taking the tumor out i THINK they grew back bacause it turned out to be the cancer one,i was young so i dont really remember it that well.
Then a few weeks ago we had her daughter at the vets we didnt no what was wrong she went very quiet and kind of lathargic we took her to the vet i gess the real shock of it was that one vet told us it was old age and arthritus, mum wasnt happy so she took her back but to a vet there she trust he done her bloods something on thee wasnt write he had a thought and scanned her stomach area i wasnt there but aparentally he only put it on there for not long before seeing a huge tumor of over 7cm. We didnt operate as she was very frail at 12 we took her home for the weekend it was sunny all weekend then on tuesday it was the vet we like so we took her in and said goodbye she didnt take much to go she was i think wanting to go she didnt fight it at all we all miss her alot i still shead a tear when i read similar  storys
trust me i no how horible it is im just glad i was there till the end i think she was happy us all holding her while she went my thought are with you at this hard time
oh by the way its not hireditary out vet said we did worry, The vet told us she was never in pain not even the last day for some reason they arnt in pain with this problem at least our 2 didnt suffer
i hope she guides me through my exams!!
fiona

I have just received the results on the second test on the tumour found in Abby's spleen.  The vet has told me that the lab is unable to advise whether the tumour is aggressive or not or where it would have spread to as it is a very rare tumour and they don't know anything about it.  She also said that the lab indicated that if Abby is still well two months after the operation then chances are she will continue to be well!  I am trying hard not to get my hopes up knowing that if they know nothing about this tumour then anything could happen and also that as before Abby could go downhill at any time, at the moment she is very well.  Hopefully I will get the letter from the lab tomorrow but it will be in French so I will have to get it translated I will let you know if it says anything different.  Has anyone else had a similar result from tests i.e that it is an unknown tumour, and do you think it's good news or not!  I'm trying hard not to sit and watch her every move!!
Jan and Abby

Oh Jan, I'm so sorry to read your news - the uncertainty is horrible, isn't it?

Enjoy the summer with Abby, try not to watch her every move (I know it's so difficult) - just make life as easy for her and yourself as you can - keep posting, we're here for you, and we do understand what you're going through - lost our beloved Purdey in January, knowing that she wouldn't make it to another spring.

{{hugs}}

Margot

Hey, I justed wanted to Say we just losted are dog because of the Tumour of the Spleen, She started Breathing Heavy about a week ago and we just thought she was hot. but then she started throwing up thursday night, all thursday morning and she wouldn't move at all so we took her to the vet thursday and they did xrays and said we could get it Removed but they couldn't say it would help it was a 50/50 chance but before we could do anything she Died :( so if your dog starts breathing Heavy or acts weird Take Him/Her to the Vet and get it Checked out! Right away!! 1996- June 3, 2005

I think at the time we all do what we feel is best at the time. Ben was gone within 36 hours, and after I spoke to my vet and he said that I couldnt have got him here any quicker, and that after surgery they very often dont live for a long.
So in my way I look upon it although it was quick and a shock it was a blessing to he lived his life to the end. Even in the morning he went for his usual walk,he collapsed in the afternoon, operated in the evening.
It was a big operation for him to go through and in the end I did not want him to suffer any more.He had given up, so we let him go, and we were with him in the end. Hubby held his head in his hands and they say that their smell,goes last, so hopefully he will know we were with him.
Dont beat yourself up on this we all tried and we all did what was best at the time..