Check Your Dog(s) &Cat(s) Regularly-They Could Have a Cancerous Growth
Jun 26 '05 (Updated Oct 08 '07)
The Bottom Line Check your pets for any type of growth, and make sure the vet tests them for malignancy. Lastly, love your pets.
My 2 rescue dogs, Lacy (4 years old-lab/border collie mix) and Mika (3 years old-Shar-pei/lab mix) got into a fight about 5 weeks ago. (basically they love each other, play well with each other, but there is this one little issue). As Mika is pretty new to our house, they are hassling on occasion over who should be top dog in the house. Although Mika starts the fights, she seems to get the worst of the wounds. I took her to the vet, and they cleaned all of her wounds and injected antibiotics.
Everyone was pretty well healed, and I decided to call the rescue organization I adopted her from, to advise of the situation (adoptachow.com located in Los Angeles-and not just chows) and she gave me the phone number of a "dog whisperer". After speaking with him I learned to be more assertive with the girls, became a better "pack leader", correcting Mika when she tried to dominate Lacy, and ensuring that things did not escalate.
In brushing her with my Sharper Image Ionic Bath Pet Brush (see review if you wish), I noticed what looked like a fatty deposit/growth on her left hind leg. I assumed it was something left over from the fight, but decided to keep an eye on it for a week, and see if it shrunk up and went away. After a week, and seeing it change in size as well as color (from black to skin color to spotty) I took her in to her vet. He thought it was something inoccuous also, but just in case did a fine needle aspiration. He looked at it under a microscope, and when he came back in the room looked like he was going to cry.
He told me Mika had a mast cell tumor(malignant). She has had the surgery, and is doing well. We took a mile walk today and she did great.
I'm not sure what the future will hold for her. The tumor came back Grade 1.5 (1 means nothing further necessary; 2 means there may be recurrences and 3 is the worst grade for a tumor). There were clean margins, and he went deep. They said I could take her to an oncologist if I wished but it wasn't necessary. I shall feed her organic food (already do) get her an excellent multivitamin, keep up the exercise, and give her a lot of love.
If I seem matter-of-fact about this, believe me I was beside myself with worry. Many, many thanks to pogomom (Helen), and SCMRAK (Rex) for their support.
Please, please check your dogs and cats regularly when petting or brushing them. No need to be paranoid, just observe. If you see a growth, no matter how innocent it may seem, check it out with a vet anyway, and have them do a fine needle aspiration. If the vet or I had let it go, her future would be a lot shorter (perhaps 4-5 months)as it was a very aggressive growth.
For anyone with dogs/cats with cancer, you may find these support groups of benefit:
http://forums.delphiforums.com/petcancer
http://vetmedicine.about.com/mpboards.htm
http://forums.delphiforums.com/dogbytes
(for any dog lover)
http://dogs.about.com/mpboards.htm
(the dog park)
Update:
Mika had a couple of little growths about a year after I wrote this editorial. This will sound very strange but rather than surgery, the vet froze them off.
I also gave her a small dosage of prednisone for several months.
Mika is doing great, though there have been a few more fights and resultant surgery for her.
In dealing with the fighting I am doing something a little different. Mika is adamant that she is the Alpha Dog, even though she is smaller, weaker, etc. I read that she should get treats first before Lacy, come in the house, go out of the house first, get the leash put on, taken off first. Everything with the Alpha dog should be first. It is what they expect as members of a pack. We'll see how this goes.
I have decided to just keep on with her medically as I am. No more medication, no more surgery, and love her. It turns out she is 8 years old now, so older than I had thought. The pound may have misjudged her age.
Thanks for reading!
Suzi
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Member: Suzi
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Compromise-Art of slicing the cake so each person thinks they have the biggest piece.
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