Oh No!!!!!!!

[mrgoogls]

I had kind of a bad day today. last week we noticed a lump on my dogs tail. We figured it was an allergic reaction or a cyst. We got her into the vet today and it turns out it is a Mast Cell tumor.:( We got 2 different kinds of medicine. Hydrodimapine(sorry for killing the spelling) and some kind of steroid. she has to have surgery for sure. If the medicine works well it will be minor and not to bad. If it doesnt work they MAY have to amputate her tail. I am just hoping we dont need to amputate, i dont care to much about the surgery. The surgery is minor and relatively inexpensive(at least as far as animal surgery goes.) Hopefully this medicine works well!

[Debra]

Praying the medicine does the trick! Hang in there Kenny. Things will be ok.

[Pinkbirdy]

That sounds encouraging about the surgery they can do. GOOD LUCK

[mrgoogls]

thanks. like i said, surgery is probably nessesary to remove it. i just hope is shrinks enough so they dont have to amputate her tail. ill keep u guys updated on how it looks

[Mare]

Is a mast cell tumor cancerous? I hope the meds help shrink it, if not, losing a tail might help to keep it from spreading. Good luck, keep us posted.

[Honesty]

I am sorry to hear this Kenny.

[mrgoogls]

Mare, i believe it is a type of cancer, but i dont know much about it. She has been on the meds for about 2 days and it is starting to look a BIT smaller. so i guess it is at least starting to work. Also, Mare, that is sort of the idea with possible amputation. The vet said with this type of tumor they normally remove 3 cm around the tumor to make sure it wont reappear/spread, but since its on a tail, it needs to shrink quite a bit to be able to get that 3 cm without removing the tail. The bad part is, these tumors can be genetic, so once they get one it is possible to get more in the future. The vet said he has had dogs with these tumors that have had over 10 of them throughout their lives and others that had one and after it was removed they were fine. The good thing is these are almost always right under/in the skin so they are noticeable so it is easy to find them before they get to serious

[Blancaej]

I am hopeful the meds shrink the tumor Kenny. Good luck and keep us posted. Thoughts and prayers are with you both.

[mrgoogls]

we are heading to the vet tomorrow for surgery. chances are we will have to remove the tail, but obviously we dont know for sure now, we will have to wait until the vet sees it.

[ShellyBorg]

With the loss of the tail at least you know its gone. Dogs with short tails just wag there whole bodies. :D I will be thinking about you and yours.

[mrgoogls]

yeah that is very true. i will keep you all posted on the recovery

[Garnet]

Best of luck to you and your little guy. I'm sure you are worried.

[mrgoogls]

good news! we took her into the vet this morning and he wants to hold off the surgery! he said he cant feel a solid mass where it was, and thinks the "lump" now is just inflammation and extra skin from having the tumor! he wants to keep her on the meds for another 2 weeks and see how is progresses. we MIGHT not need any surgery! its like a miracle!

[Blancaej]

That is awesome news Kenny! I have my fingers crossed all continues to go well and surgery is not needed! :)

[aliray]

Was there ever a biopsy done on the tumor? The only reason I ask Is we lost our minpin to a mast cell tumor a year and a half after the surgery to remove it . Due to it's location they could not get all of it. It was on his chest wall. It is a cancer that effects their immune system. It spread to his spleen and pancreas over the next year. If it was me and the tumor was removed with no sign of spread then great. If however it didn't show clear margins then I would opt for a bobtail. We didn't have a choice, my thoughts and prayers are with you and your pup. There is a lot of info on the internet about mast cell tumor in dogs which I looked up at the time as I had never heard of it either. My dog was 14 when he developed the tumor and passed at 15 and a half. I am crossing my fingers for you and your pup. Alison

[mrgoogls]

there was a biopsy done:) i agree with you. the vet did too. he was very adiment about getting a certain margin around it

[aliray]

Thank you for the answer. After I had looked it up I read that the tumor makes the immune system release too much histamine into the system ,I had to ask the vet about that and putting him on Benedryl daily and he agreed, We now use another vet and I am much happier. I will keep monitoring the site. How old is your pup? Alison

[mrgoogls]

she is 5 , 6 on december 5th. she is on benedryl for the hystimines.

[aliray]

Good that she is young and that you found it. Your vet sounds like they know what they're talking about. What kind of dog and whats the dogs name?

[mrgoogls]

my dogs name is coco. she is a pitbull

[mrgoogls]

Alright, after a while of medication and discussion between our vet and other vets, we have decided to take the tail. Her surgery is on the 28th. over that weekend we have had to keep a close eye on her, but the vet said by that Monday she should be starting to recover and treat her almost normally.

[Turquoise]

Good Luck to you & Coco, Kenny with her surgery. I do hope all goes well and they get it all.

Keep us posted on her progress and how you are doing through this. I will be keeping you and Coco in my thoughts and sending Good Karma to you both. :)

[mrgoogls]

Well, today was the surgery. the vet said it went very well overall, and he got a good perimeter around the tumor. We got home not to long ago and she is still very groggy. We have SOOOO many meds to give her. She even needs extra sedatives for this first week, because she is normally so hyperactive. But, as i said, it went pretty well overall. I will keep updating as the recovery goes on.

[kendrafitz]

I'm so happy the surgery went well. I hope that she feels back to herself soon!

[mrgoogls]

thanks! she is really shaky still, and a bit 'off' i guess you could say. but i guess you cant really be suprised after losing her tail.

[Turquoise]

So glad to hear Coco has come through the surgery in good spirits and it is all behind her now. I bet she will wonder where her tail went, but it should feel so much better than when it as sick with the tumor. Give her a big hug for me and tell her I am sending her healthy thoughts to get back the running & playing like she used to. :)

[mrgoogls]

Haha thanks. Usually she is a big baby about everything, but now she is even worse. She is sitting on my lap right now.... the special privileges of post-surgery :)

[mrgoogls]

time for an update. so far, recover has been, ok. she has had a few problems. she is having trouble going to the bathroom because of the medicine, so she ends up scooting across the floor. In doing this now, she ripped out about half the stitches. we went back in and got it stapled this time. so far its holding up. we have to watch her 24/7 to make sure she doesnt scoot. but, overall, the actual healing is going good. she is on track for a good recovery.

[Mare]

Thanks for the update, Kenny! Healing takes a bit of time, sounds like Coco's going to recover well with all the good care she is being given :)

[Turquoise]

How's Coco doing now Kenny? Did the stitches get taken out already? Bet she is so glad to have all this behind her. (No pun intended~~LOL) Does Coco have to do follow ups with the vet to make sure all the lumps are gone for good? Keep us posted as to how she is doing and getting along. :)

[mrgoogls]

i was actually going to post a quick update today. earlier she did get the stitches/staples removed. the vet said she is healing up even faster than he expected. we had a biopsy done with the surgery. that also came back and it was only a low grade tumor. so the chance that it spread is extremely low. so no extra vet visits to check for bumps aside from normal yearly checkups. we just have to keep her on antihistamines to make sure there is no reaction, otherwise all other medication is done. looks like we will have a good recovery. she is finally back to her normal self off of her sedatives :) if i can get a picture, i will post one of how she looks now.

[Mare]

Good news! Would love to see a pic! :)

[Turquoise]

Oh awesome Kenny & Coco!! So glad to hear she is back to her old self and the future is bright and happy for her. Yes we want to see her new cute tailess self. Pics please.

[Debra]

Yes, Kenny, pics are a must! I'll bet she's just as cute without a tail as she is with one. I'm so thankful that the cancer wasn't an aggressive one and appears to be gone with the amputation.

[Turquoise]

Hey Kenny, any updates on Coco? How 'bout those photos? We'd love to see how she wiggles her hiney with no tail! LOL

Seriously, how is Coco doing? let us know if she is still in great spirits and health now.:)