my_malamute

Wow Arianwen, sounds like you certainly have an interesting life story...so what do you do now? are you still in the veterinary field or you got out of that? i'll email that pic to you, thanks for putting it up for me..... Hey Meriment, sounds like we're all about the same age glad you survived the fireworks ok

Arian are you saying you're 24? and thank you for your compliment so are you studying medicine? Thanks again for your reassurance i like the benign option :D if i've got anything to do with it she will be here for another 6yrs minimum

Well there was a picture of her sleeping.....anybody know of a site who will host your pictures for free?

So what is a Leimyosarcoma? is there anyway that i can rule that out as being a possibility? the information i have read so far says that it is extremely rare for fibroids to be malignant

Ah ok, so really the tumour Tasha had could still be either malignant or benign there's no definitive way of saying either way until pathology has been done?

Meriment, i'm in Carramar so just up the road gotta love fireworks. Thankfully Tasha doesnt get upset at anything, except occassionally ambulances and then only Victorian ones....something to do with the frequency. Thanks again everybody for all of your help and advice....it is certainly appreciated

Hey Arainwen well it certainly didnt cause her any discomfort and there was a very rich blood supply there....she certainly will be getting desexed once she is over this surgery. I'm just glad that it is gone...get your results!!!! that's an order i'm sure the Doctor would have been more persistent with you if there was a problem..

Hhahaha Isaviz, the way i feel at the moment a half a bottle of whiskey would go down very nicely! although it will have to wait until after Tasha is better sadly....can't keep an eye on her through beer (or in this case whiskey) goggles....tell ya what though it is exhausting worrying about your animals....i feel like i could sleep for a week! Meriment, those good vibes are flowing i've done a brief bit of reading on those two types of tumours and normally the leimyosarcoma is associated with connective tissues etc and the fibroleiomyoma is associated with urethral cells....so it's looking good to be the fibroleiomyoma based on location etc..fingers crossed Does anybody know of a concise and detailed online site dedicated to canine cancers?

Hey Guys and Girls, seriously you are all the best! you don't even know me but our common bond and love for animals definitely surpasses that bundary. By the way, if anybody was wondering i'm 26 and live in Perth.. Ok, just got her back from the vets...she's sleepig very soundly in the loungeroom at the moment as she is still a little groggy. She walks like she's drunk half a bottle of whiskey poor girl. I have given her lots of cuddles and she has given me lots of licks to pass back to you all. The surgery went as well as could be expected. Apparently it lasted about an hour and a half. It is definitely a tumour and is best described as a mushroom with a stalk and a cluster of berries like head. Overall the head is about half a golf ball in size and the stalk is probably a little smaller in diameter than a 5c coin. The vet said that it was sitting right above the urethra so he got as much of the stalk off as he could but didnt want to go to deep at this stage so as to cause damage to her urinal tract which would make urinating difficult for her. He has cut it back to healthy looking pink skin and left about a half centimetre stub there. He hasnt hesitated a guess as to whether it is benign or malignant. He has said the two possible types are fibroleiomyoma or Leimyosarcoma......i'm hoping it's the fibroleiomyoma as that is a benign hormonal tumour whereas the leimyosarcoma is malignant. He also mentioned Lipomas but said with 100% certainty it is not that. She also had a small lump removed from her front leg which i asked the vet to take out and send off for pathology. So now it's a wait and see game.....he did say the the tumour has most likely been growing for a few months but inside so it wouldnt have been noticeable. At the moment i'm just glad that she's home and ok. I'm confident that it will come back as the fibroleiomyoma...based on what i dont know but i'm just confident...even if i have to tell myself that to believe it will be ok...she is healthy, hasnt shown any signs of deterioration whatsoever so yeah...the vet reassured me there was nothing i could have done but i'm still feeling down about my baby being sick... Has anybody had any experience with a similar type of tumour? Thanks again for your support and encouragement...

You guys are the best Thanks Meriment for your concern....i'm just about to go and pick her up. Apparently the surgery went for some time. It was definitely a tumour of some sort.....i'm going to get more details from the vet when i talk to him shortly and then when i get back i will give you an update and hopefully you can share some more wisdom with me....thanks again everybody for your thoughts and compassion it is truly appreciated

Thanks pampa, i'm looking forward to that sigh of relief this is her first ever time getting any surgery as well so she's going to be an interesting patient....she certainly had a chorus going in the vets yesterday

Thanks Arianwen.....your post is very reassuring...i'll be happy when she is feeling more comfortable....i'll be sure to keep you all posted. At the moment the vet isnt sure if he will desex her tomorrow or just remove the tumour (if it is that) and then get it examined. I have asked him to make a professional call on that but said that either way she will be getting it done...if not tomorrow then when she has recuperated from this surgery. I gave her a big hug and she gave me a kiss or twelve to pass back she certainly is loved and spoilt..she gets home cooked meals every night although she is a snob! do any other Malamute owners find their dogs can be snobs?

Thanks A Pup....it's appreciated...

Thanks anne, your thoughts,a nd everybody elses on the forum, are very much appreciated....the odour that i smelt is best described as a fishy smell and although the discharge was clear it was kinda sticky... I should have been more attentive and dealt with it when i first noticed it....

Thanks Jintanut, your good wishes are truly appreciated...

Hi Anne, thanks for your reply....the vet acknowledged it he didn't make a comment as to the implications of it though. I didn't take her to the vets at the time....i should have....did your vet say what caused it?

Thanks Sidoney, i looked on the Merck Veterinary manual and saw a photo of a prolapse in a cow and it looks almost exactly the same albeit a lot smaller... Would the fact that she hasnt rapidly lost weight, is not lethargic, has a very active appetite, gums are normal coloured, eyes are normal coloured and she is healthy for a 10yr old dog work in her favour for it not being cancerous? again i know it's difficult without the histology etc and i know there is no definitive answer without it but all those current stats have to work in her favour right?

Isaviz, i forgot to mention that she certainly will be getting spayed after this... and ouch! but it's all sorted now so that's good

Thank you meriment.....it's a weird emotion when your animal is not well...thanks everybody for sharing it (hope that makes sense)

Thanks Haven and Isaviz, at the moment i can't think of what to say other than thanks....when we went in this morning he seemed a bit shocked actually...he brought out a book showing us what tumour he thought it might be but i'm not a vet so i cant tell whether it is a tumour or something else....he did say it has a good blood supply...hopefully it is something other than a tumour. He apologised to me when i went to pick her up this afternoon for not being able to do the surgery today and for painting a doom and gloom picture about it being cancer this morning. Isaviz, by to you i'm guessing you mean your dog i am hoping that it is a prolapse rather than a tumour. I forgot to mention that during the day, with it being exposed to air etc, it has gone dark and shrunk a little, it's probably about golf ball size now.

Hi everybody, my name is Dan and i'm new to this forum. It's funny how when a situation arises you look everywhere for the answer but prior to that you never give certain things a thought.....this is one of those situations and this is what has brought me to this forum. Today has been crap! now that's off my chest i was wondering if anybody could share some advice/experience etc I have a 10yr old Alaskan Malamute....she is the apple of my eye, my best friend, my child....i've been with her longer than my wife (as you can tell i love my dog). She has always been well looked after, regular vaccinations etc etc etc...when i told the emergency vet that she was 10yrs old she almost fell over and said she looked more like three....given the situation i was in that made me feel a bit better. I'm going through a stage at the moment where i am feeling i could have done something differently...for starters gotten her spayed (yes, i know some will be reading that she isnt spayed and thinking you're an idiot....don't worry! at the moment i feel like it's my fault anyway so you don't need to tell me)...walked her more, patted her more.... A few weeks ago my dog woke up in the middle of the night to let me know she wanted to go outside to the toilet...i got up to let her out and i stood in a puddle of fluid. It wasn't urine as it was sticky and had a pungent odour. Initially i thought she had lost bladder control..i kept an eye on her and it seemed to disappear save 1 or 2 drops every now and then. At the beginning of this week she started bleeding as if she was going in to season (her season is September and she went through it then) so that got me concerned. Last night i noticed she was licking her self more than usual this morning she was still licking so i lifted up her tail to find a mass protruding from her vagina. It was bright pink in colour, smooth but almost grape cluster like. Of course i rushed her to emergency, the vet looked at her and said i would be better off taking her to my normal vet which opened in an hour. I felt more comfortable taking her to her own vet as i could tell my dog wasnt calm with her as she seemed to be very nervous around her...I took her to her own vet and he had a look, said it is most likely a tumour, and she is due to be operated on tomorrow. She is home with me at the moment with a cone on so she cannot lick it. She hasn't lost weight, gotten lethargic, lost her appetite, had diaorrhea or been throwing up, her pupils are ok and her gums are normal, she still has a wet nose and it isnt causing her any pain. Has anybody had a similar experience and what was it? I know nothing supplements actual histological examination but what is the likelihood it is cancerous? Thanks everybody for taking the time to read my post.....and thank you for your thoughts. I'm going to go give my puppy a pat now and tell her it will be ok....