~Anne~

It turns out the growth on his spleen is now over 8cm and has doubled in size. I should know the date of his operation after today. I need to coordinate a suitable date so I can take time off work to be with him. Initially I had hoped we could just do chemo to shrink the tumour but I have been advised that the risk of a bleed will be too great. The spleen bleeds are apparently also painful and I don't want him in pain.

I have one who hates his nails being clipped and he will not accept the dremel either. I think I'd be worried about a vet who recommends a GA for nail clipping too!

When they said sedate, are you sure they meant 'general' ie putting him under or were they perhaps referring to light sedation ie giving him a sedative such as ace, Valium etc. If it just a sedative, I'd do it. It means less stress for him and you and his nails trimmed. I'd seriously doubt they would be suggesting anything stronger to trim nails anyway.

My apologies, I read your post wrongly and thought they had offered you another pup. The rest of your post is an over reaction in my view. Possibly warranted given the stressful situation you have found yourself in, however, no one is saying you are responsible. Most have looked at it from a detached and objective view point. When you seek views on a public forum you should stress that you only want views you agree with if it upsets you to see a range of views, some opposing. Many who are responding in this thread are not breeders. I am not a breeder. We all have differing views and we all are looking at the situation from different perspectives. I think you should remain being a member here. You may not always like the responses to your posts but you will most certainly get very broad range and many, many very credible responses from knowledgable people.

I don't want to turn this into a euthanasia thread but determining his life and the quality of life is not a 'he's worth it' issue. ALL dogs are worthy of a life but it isn't always the best thing for them. A car is not a living breathing thing. You cannot compare a dog that is made of living cells to a car. I can understand your anger, your grief and the stress at the situation you have found yourself in but sometimes there is no fault to lay. If you gave birth to a child with severe congenital issues and you didn't set out to achieve that, would you also be so harsh on yourself? Some conditions cannot be screened for. Some conditions cannot be prevented. Of course there very well may be a slack ass breeder in this situation who has done the wrong thing. In which case, they should offer you compensation. They've offered you compensation with another pet even though they believe they did all they could to ensure healthy pups. They at least are trying to negotiate some kind of offering which is better than being told to piss off. It's always hard with pets because you become attached though and that feels like a slap in the face. You love the one you have. It is hard to look at the situation objectively because you are so close to it. Your pups issues may be a twist of nature. Only you, the breeder and maybe a judge can work that one out to a conclusion however.

You've just reminded me to notify the Council of Monte's death so the NSW CAR can be updated. I never realised I also had to contact Vic dogs though.

I aggre too with whomever said that young dogs don't often show too many symptoms. I personally know from my experiences that I can only pick most BOAS symptoms once a dog hits maturity. Stenotic nares (the pinched nostrils) is a huge issue with pugs particularly. I've pointed this out repeatedly in discussions on this forum over the years and been battered about because of it. I even went as far as posting pics of only the nostrils of some very well awarded pugs to prove how easy it is to see and to ignore. I've never ever met a pug without stenotic nares. Never ever! If you buy a brachy breed you must accept that even the best of breeders out there breeding theses dogs cannot stop BOAS as I stated in my post above. More of a concern is the hemi in my view and the unexplained problems with infections. I know the decision may be hard but it seems to me that this pup would be better off being treated palliatively only.

With BAOS there is never any guarantee that the off spring won't be affected because the breeds are selectively bred to produce brachy features. You can try to avoid BAOS but you cannot guarantee or breed away from it totally..... unless you breed to elongate the features, and the size of the skull.

Its great it is a relatively easy fix to it seems. I too am battling cancer with my dog. He's now had 6 surgeries removing tumours in the last 12 months. The worst are the lesions on his spleen which we suspect are tumours. We are currently considering chemo to shrink them or, at worst, a splenectomy. At this point I'm leaning more towards chemo. He's had enough surgeries to last a lifetime. He's now 11 years old. I am undecided though which way to go and I hope my next chat with the vet will give me clarity. It's easy to say "do the surgery and he will live longer" but is that for me or him? He only knows the stress and pain of major surgery and that I am somehow linked with it by abandoning him at the clinic each time.

I'm not 100% sure of the difference? They are an impound facility (so, pound), not a rescue, if that's what you mean. http://sydneydogsandcatshome.org/ The difference in this particular example is that scdh is a privately run facility that acts as a shelter for several councils. Pounds, or impound facilities, are local government owned and managed.

We have fabulous news on the path results. It was a benign growth called a trichoblastoma and harmless. Boof is recovering well from his surgery. I feel awful putting him through so many surgeries. The alternative is worse though I think. It's really hard to look at it all objectively. He doesn't understand why I keep leaving him somewhere where he undergoes painful and stressful procedures. Boof's regular vet is on holidays and returns next week. When he returns we will discuss what our next steps will be regarding his spleen.

I use Malaseb and a damp cloth for Oliva's facial folds. She is prone to problems in the folds. I leave it for a while then dry it throughly.

Thanks Glenda. Keeping Boof quiet is pretty easy. He's a bit of a sloth. I'm hoping the latest MCT is low grade otherwise he will also be undergoing chemo. I'm yet to discuss in detail with the vet, what the expected outcomes will be. We have to keep him quiet for the meanwhile to prevent further bleeds. When I have more info I will give you a call to get your experiences on the surgery if that is ok.

My baby is back home. His war wound from this round.

If it doesnt wash off it certainly isn't flea dirt. Flea dirt virtually dissolves in water. Edit to add: fleas do not lay eggs on dogs. The eggs are laid in the environment. They are white in appearance and difficult to see as they are so tiny. Flea excretement and dried blood is what you see on infested dogs and cats.

The results of the ultrasound are not good. The lesion on the spleen has grown and there has been a small bleed. Boof will undergo a splenectomy once the pathology results from the tumour are received.

Why would she test a skin tag though? Skin tags are harmless. They are as they are named - skin tags. They're not tumours or anything else. Vets are qualified to be able to determine the difference between a harmless skin tag or something more sinister. If you really are worried, get a second opinion on what it is but I wouldn't be stressing about a skin tag if it is indeed a tag.

Boof is booked for surgery on Tuesday to remove another suspected MCT. A needle aspiration today showed grainy cells. While he is there he will also have his third ultrasound to see if there are changes to the lesions on his spleen.

:laugh: I have my fair share of the bloody things and the older I get the more that come up. I've had a few frozen/burned off.

Boof had a skin tag that was like an extra nipple. Over the years it began to grow longer. We eventually removed it, many years after it first was noticed, after it started to become irritated. I'm not sure if he scraped it on something or it was just a gradual process. Skin tags are harmless generally.

I'd be thinking it may also be seizure activity. Seizures can all be very different. It might be worthwhile discussing further testing with your vet too. It could just be epilepsy but it might not be either.

Ulterior motive was obvious. If you want to be taken seriously, then perhaps be more upfront. It makes people suspicious and not in liens to engage when you know there is more to the story. It's great you came clean pretty quickly. As for your friend's case, I don't know them, nor do I know any of the facts, so I wouldn't be prepared to comment one way or the other. The RSPCA are not perfect. They've made errors but they've also saved a lot of animals from ongoing abuse.

I don't think there is much need to comment on the alleged overpopulation problem as this has been covered by Steve and Mita and various others and from various perspectives. There isn't, and never has been, a dog overpopulation problem. If the problem was that simple it would be pretty easy to fix. For me personally, I am not interested in puppies. I love them - they're cute, cuddly and oh so funny but I haven't the patience to deal with the very early months of a dogs life. I prefer adult dogs. If I were looking for another dog, regardless of breed, I would be looking at rescue and breeders to see who had an adult dog that met my requirements.

Nothing I wouldn't have done when rehoming my own rescues. Happy to help where I can in future too.

Better epilepsy than disease. Although blood testing does not rule out many other causes of seizures. At least with epilepsy you know you can gain some control and she can lead a full and happy life. Most dogs live very well with epilepsy, as do humans.