Spleen

[plinkplinkfizzer]

My dog ( cute little lab ) has been ill for a few days , took her to the vet . She has a growth on the Spleen . The Vet has now operated yesterday ( Monday ) and removed the Spleen , there was quite a lot of bleeding , but she is stable .
Now we wait for the biopsy . The chances I think of it being Cancerous I think are quite high for Spleen growths .

Can anyone tell me of their experience of this , please .

[Darklane]

Yes, I’ve had two with spleen cancer.
First one the tumour was completely contained within the spleen. The vet removed it, the whole spleen, said he was amazed just how big it was for such a small dog, Cairn terrier, showed it me & it was huge.
She recovered as after a normal operation, wound healing stitches out, & was fine afterwards. Lived another two years & died of a heart attack in her teens.
The second one, the vet found the tumour on his spleen with a scan. Took him in to have the operation to remove it, I was expecting the same outcome as with my other little girl. But the vet rang me while he was on the operating table under sedation to say that she was shocked to find the “ cancer is all through him”. Did I want her to let him go there & then or should she stitch him up to come home & spend what little time he had left with me. Of course I said he wanted him home.
Took him back fortnight later to have his stitches out She said she’d found cancer on his liver as well & it was inoperable. She said she’d been researching & found that in America giving Rimadyl ( of all things) was proving experimentally to help in cancer cases. So she put him on it. He seemed fine!
I took him back every month for her to check him & she was amazed at how well he was...” He doesn’t know he’s ill”
At his check up a year later she couldn’t find the tumour, said it was in remission.
Anyway, he lived two & a half years more, still on Rimadyl with monthly checks. Till he deteriorated quite suddenly over one weekend & we had to say goodbye. So, don’t give up hope yet.

[plinkplinkfizzer]

Darklane , thankyou for telling us of your experience , it helps .

I don't think she will be home today as her heart rate is a bit faster than they would like . But she has been up for wees and a bit to eat . I will think positively while we wait for the Biopsy to return . Thankyou .