aniangel

Sorry to hear the news Dru, I'm an onco nurse in Sydney so if you need any help/info, just let me know... Your gut feeling about removal vs biopsy are spot on, get it removed! a week here or there won't make a difference. Once the histo is back make your decisions from there. Will keep fingers crossed for a low grade!

Diesel, pls contact me if you have any questions, I am on oncology vet nurse in NSW and happy to help you out. If it was my dog, I would treat. Lymphoma & chemo are not as scary as you are imagining right now and I highly advise you see a specialist oncologist! cheers, Lynne p.s. I sent you a private email as well!

prednisone is known to alter moods in humans and dogs, due to the fact that it is a drug that crosses the blood/brain barrier, but that is usually a side effect of long-term usage. i would double check with your vet, escpecially since you don't know what caused the seizure....

actually blood and bone can make dogs sick if enough is eaten - like an organophosphate poisoning!, i'm hoping that jake is ok since there are no new posts

as an emergency & critical care vet nurse i can say there is NO SUCH THING as a 'pet friendly' snail bait. use 'natural' remedies such as beer or traps, or get a chook or a duck to control the snails! we can treat and cure many pets that have ingested snail bait, but it is usually very expensive for something that can be easily avoided! when you see a dog dripping green tears and seizuring from the snail bait it breaks your heart.... stay away from snail baits!

i know a vet nurse who had ringworm and got prescribed grisolvin...she was told to stay out of sunlight....not sure if it applies to dogs as well.

from what i can gather from your post, your dogs allergies are located mainly in the feet? which suggests a contact allergy... staffy's are prone to allergies of all forms, but contact allergies are quite common. i agree that you should check your yard for potential allergins, but do you find the allergies are seasonal? steroids on a short course (without causing long term damage) may be required to control the initial flair up, and i fully recommend looking into natural therapies for long term management, but sometimes you need "conventional" medicine in combo with natural therapies to control medical situations.

as a specialist oncology vet nurse, i can tell you that 30$ won't cover the cost of a fine needle aspirate which is the basic first step test that should be done! did your vet stick a syringe and needle into the lump, extract cells and look at them under the microscope? if not, go back and ask for it to be done! i dont want to put fear in you, but you can't tell by just looking what a lump may or may not be.

i think it all depends on what you are getting for your money...what is included in the health screen? the GP vet i currently work for charges 87$, but that's for a c7, includes at least a half hour check and chat, and will do a urine screen at no charge as well! another good friend vet charges 55$ for a c3-c5, does a really throrough check up too, at least half an hour of chat and exam. alot depends on the type of vaccine you need & want, but if you are getting quality one on one time with a good vet, and you know your pet is being looked after thoroughly, who cares what it costs? as for the kennel cough vacc, i personally don't opt for it, but that's because my dogs don't board. you do have the right to say yay or nay to what levels of vaccination you want for your dog. titres are becoming more popular in australia, but the cost is usually more than a vaccine....you have to weigh your pro's and con's.

has your vet done a skin scrape or a needle aspirate of the skin where the hair is falling away from? that would be my starting point...also how old is your dog? if the skin isnt red and inflammed where the hair is falling out, it could be something as simple as a skin mite....ask your vet to do a scrape of fine needle aspirate of the area. its not expensive, its not hard and its not really painful. if your vet blows you off, go to another vet!

its obvious that you are the person that knows her best and what the best way to go is - you love her! that totally shines thru i hope i didn't offend, it wasn't my intention, just wanted you to have information to help you make the best choice for her...i'll be thinking of both of you and keeping fingers crossed - if i can be of any help, just let me know

thanks for the info - i wouldn't solely trust a fine needle sample, especially with a result of spindle cell - its way too generic - and could still go either way (mind you this is without seeing the cyto report), and even if it doesnt appear to be from the bone on xray, it still certainly could be, the description on here just made me a little suspicious. pain associated with osteosarcoma is most pronounced with appendicular (or legs) but i have seen scapular, spinal, sacral and rib osteos that dogs have barely blinked at when they are palpated, mainly because they are not in a weight bearing area. a CT would certainly be able to establish the tumor's site and extensiveness. and even a blood test could give you an indication if it was an osteo (not 100% tho), they are commonly associated with an elevated AlkPhos level. of course, not seeing the FNA i certainly can't say for sure, but you can still look into pre surgical radiation (this type is available in sydney) or chemo to try and shrink the tumor to make the surgical removal easier if it is a soft tissue sarcoma. no matter what type of soft tissue sarcoma they are, ie spindle cell, they all act the same way and are treated the same, with the only differentiating factor being the grade - and the chances of a soft tissue sarcoma becoming a higher grade is a likelihood more than a 'may' unfortunately. sorry to get technical.....i love my job and the science of it all, plus nursing veterinary onco patients is something i have found a calling in! enough from me and my ramblings! no matter what the decision is regarding treatment it is obvious she is loved and cared for and in great hands, i just get frustrated with a lot of the 'old school' veterinary assumptions and spiels that are given to the public and just hope i can provide some more specific info when needed!

Hi Pix - sorry to hear about your girl....I am an oncology vet nurse in sydney. soft tissue sarcomas are locally invasive and you need large margins to successfully remove the tumor, which i understand is a problem here. they can also be treated with radiation therapy successfully, but the only veterinary machine that can get to the high doses you need to treat is in Melbourne. Chemo is always a distant 3rd choice when dealing with soft tissue sarcomas. if i may, i would suggest you have the lab have another look at whatever sample they have - or ask you vet to consult with a veterinary oncologists about the results. was it a fine needle aspirate or a proper biopsy? your description on x-ray of the lump as well as its location makes me wonder if it couldn't be an osteosarcoma (bone tumor) they are difficult to diagnosis even on biopsy and they can look like a soft tissue sarcoma on histopath. either way, i wouldn't suggest waiting for the lump to get bigger before doing anything surgically - soft tissue sarcomas can change their grade and become more aggressive even when left alone. best of luck and if i can be of anymore help, feel free to PM me......

i'm so sorry to hear about your dog's troubles and i hope i can offer some assistance. i am an oncology vet nurse in sydney. my first bit of advice is go see Charles Kuntz and SARC - not only is he a specialist surgeon, he's a specialist oncological surgeon - he's your best bet in melbourne. secondly, get her there quickly. he can tell you ALL your options and help to treat her post-op. from what you have said in your posts, i think what you are dealing with is a haemangiosarcoma and it is very, very serious. german sheps are prone to them. you will want a vet to do a cardiac ultrasound as well as an abdominal one, and get them to do 3 view chest xrays as well. normally haemangio's strike in older dogs, but unfortunately with cancer, there is always the exception to the rule. haemangio's normally present in the spleen, but they can also sometimes be heart based as well, with spread to the spleen. in the years i have been an onco vet nurse, i haven't heard about a correlation between vaccine's and this type of tumor - it is a tumor of blood vessels. usually splenic haemangio's are silent killers, owners come home to find their beloved dog dead in the back yard from a massive bleed - often without any previous symptoms - so be thankful you have caught this early. i think what has happened, is that your dog had this tumor growing for a while unknown to anyone. the general anaesthetic strained her circulatory system and she had small bleeds causing the anaemia and low proteins. if she had been lying mostly on one side because she was feeling a bit weak, the low proteins would have caused seepage of fluids from the vessels into the tissue space, causing the swelling. being a 4yr old dog, with no previous symptoms of being unwell before her anaesthetic, it wasn't wrong of the vet not to do any bloods beforehand, but i would think he would have complied with your wishes - but unfortunately, there could have been very likely no abnormal changes on the pre-op bloods anyway with this type of tumor. i know you are very concerned about her undergoing another op, but believe me, if it is a haemangio, it is the only option. so let the specialist do the surgery if it is within your means - and while the surgery is risky, she would be in the best capable hands with the best prospective outcome. after the surgery you would be giving her good quality time with you. because haemangios are usually so aggressive and the situation comes on so quickly you need to have the best quality time you can with her, just to take a breath and wrap your head around the whole situation. i truly hope its not a haemangio - but please get her to the specialist tomorrow if you can - if i can be of any further help, feel free to pm me....

i would recommend draining his belly, very simple procedure, won't need an anaesthetic and it will make him feel a whole lot better. i have seen similar situations as a vet nurse where animals have come in for an abdo or thoracic drain every week to keep them comfy until the time comes to say goodbye....