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....

I am so sorry to hear about your lovely old girl, but i would like to add my 2cents if possible - lymphoma or lymphosarcoma (the 2 names are interchangeable) is one of the most responsive cancers to chemotherapy and even if your dog is 13, as long as her bloods came back as normal and her chest rads were clear of mets then i would consider chemo as an option. i am an oncology veterinary nurse and can tell you that there are many protocols out there, including very simple ones that could put her into remission with a good quality of live for many, many months. CHEMO IS NOT THE SAME IN DOGS AS IT IS IN HUMANS. the goal of chemo in pets is for quality of life and extension only, cure is pretty much a bonus, but the extra time of seeing your dog happy and healthy can make all the difference in the world to you before it is time to say goodbye. if your dog only has her submandibular lymphnodes up then she is probably a stage 2 which is not bad at all in the scheme of lymphoma (there are 5 stages) and very likely to acheive a remission. her age, as long as her staging is positive, is not an issue in regards to treating cancer - we've treated 20yr old animals with success! my last bit of advice is to check out vetoncologyconsults.com (these are the oncologists i work for) there is a lot of accurate info there. also ask your vet about a COP protocol - he should know what the means. if you decide to do the absolute minimum, even pred alone can help for 2-4 months, but if you do start to think of chemo as an option, hold off on the pred - even tho it is included in many lymphoma protocols, if it is given before chemo then you add in chemo agents it can actually disable the modality of the chemo drugs. please feel free to pm or email me if you have any other questions - i am more than happy to help! best of luck

lea, i really don't want to sound like the messenger of doom, but speaking from my oncology experience peripheral blood tests only indicate cancer in 2 situations - an increased calcium (along with other symptoms) may indicate lymphoma and certain changes in a complete blood count (along with other symptoms) may indicate leukaemia - but there is no way to rule out cancer on a peripheral blood test. i'm hoping i'm interpreting correctly that your dog's bloods came back normal - which is great!, but if it has an enlarged liver you would expect the liver enzymes to at least be elevated indicating a problem of some sort. looking forward to hearing how your dog goes this week on the AB's and steroids.....and still very happy to help with anything i can!

Lea - sorry to hear about your dog - cancer in your pets can be trying and traumatic. I am an oncology vet nurse in Sydney and may be able to offer some sort of assistance. My first bit of advise is to get a biopsy...either ultrasound guided or surgical, but you really have to know what you are dealing with before you can decide on the best course of action for you & your dog - wether it be surgery, chemo, alternative therapies or a combo of all treatment types. You should also get a full bloods work up, and 3 view chest rads to check for metastisis. Once you have a histological diagnosis of the tumor, it may be worth while asking for a referral to a veterinary oncologist, even if it is just a phone consult - while most GP vets are great, they are usually not completely up to speed on current treatments and prognosis statistics. If I can be of any more assistance, please PM me - I am more than happy to help.

so sorry to hear about your puppy......what breed is it? if there is an acute renal failure have the vets ruled out toxicity like from raisins, grapes, panadol, etc? i would seriously be talking to your breeder to find out what problems they may have had in the litters? it could be hereditary/genetic. will keep everything crossed for you and your pup

sorry to hear, thoughts for your and your dog!

i'm an oncology and emergency vet nurse - if you need any help or advice, please feel free to pm me! keeping fingers crossed for you!

sorry, this may seem like a silly question - but why don't you use stomach protectants? its great that the honey is working when symptoms appear, but many stomach protectants like sucralfate prevent the symptoms from even appearing - we prescribe sucralfate for many of our MCT patients with advanced tumors and stomach upset, and have even been on the medicine myself - there has been no adverse side effects that i have seen....& if you can get the metomide scripted by your vet to the local chemist, it will be very inexpensive....just a question.

I am so happy your dog is on the mend - but I am pretty shocked at your vet! There is a known outbreak of parvo in your area and they didn't want to at least do a parvo test + a faecal float? Not all parvo diarrhoea is bloody, and if the vet was worried about contaminating your baby, they could have at least asked you to drop in a faecal sample and they could have run the tests.....In our clinic we have noticed a much more persistant parvo virus than usual and even vaccinated adult dogs are coming down with it. sorry if on a soap box - just really surprised at your vet....

sorry but who is pat colby? as veteren emergency & critical care and oncology vet nurse i have seen hundreds of tick cases of varying severity and i have never heard of vit c as a treatment for it. the ticks produce a toxin and that toxin has to be reversed....unless the vit c is used as a supplement!?!? i wouldn't rely on vit c as a treatment for tick paralysis....

anaesthetics can be tricky, it all depends on what drugs your vet used for induction and for the GA. some are metabolised thru the liver, others thru fat, etc....so many varients. plus if your dog was stressed by the experience that can also contribute to the grogginess post op - especially if he was hyper and they gave him more than the norm to calm him down. and i hate to say this but from experience, most GP vets do their surgeries mid-day and not early in the morning - for all you know they could have done him at 3pm - but as long as he can protect his airway, is oxygenating and not having any other complications, your vet can still send him home 'groggy'. see how he goes, keep him comfy and warm, make sure he drinks water and if he can hold down some food let him eat. hopefully he will be back to normal by morning. best of luck!