My dog has a cancerous tumour on his leg - wwyd?

[ThatchersCold]

My dog is 14 and the love of my life. He’s a little jack Russell sized mongrel terrier. He’s had various lumps on one of his hind legs which the vet has been aware of but wasn’t worried about. However one lump has recently become quite big, about golf ball sized, and he has been biting and chewing at it and making it sore.

I took him to my usual vet on Monday, and she said she would like to do a biopsy, and depending on the result, possibly remove the lumps that were bothering him. She said that there was just about enough skin to be able to stitch him back up, but it would need doing sooner rather than later. The quote for the biopsy was £480, and the removal of the lump was estimated at ‘upwards of £600’.

I have been feeling uncomfortable at the thought of putting him through all that surgery (the biopsy would be under a general too), and wondering if it’s fair to him at his age.

I went to see another vet for a second opinion today. She suggested that we did a fine needle test (withdrawing cells from his various lumps with a needle and sending them off for testing). This should tell us what kind of cancer he has, but there is no need to knock him out for it. It is a lot cheaper (£127). Her opinion was that it would be very difficult to remove the lump, and may involve skin grafts. She said for a younger dog you would maybe think about it but probably not for one his age. She suggested steroids to help with the itching of the tumour.

Obviously I’m getting ahead of myself here, because until we know what kind of cancer it is we can’t really decide about removing it. But now I’m completely conflicted as both vets have very different ideas of what the best thing to do is. Money is an issue, but my mum has offered to lend me it as she knows how much my dog means to me.

In my heart I think the second vet is speaking more sense, the surgery would be very stressful for him and probably take a long time to heal, and of course the lump may just grow back again.

I want him to be around as long as possible, and give him the best chance, I certainly don’t want to have to be having him put down in a few months and wishing I went for vet 1 and the surgery, but is that fair on him at his age? I really don’t know. More than anything I want to choose the option with the least suffering for him. Wwyd?

From what you have said above (although I would want to do more research into the needle biospsy. accuracy of results etc) I would go for vet no2 and do the needle biopsy.

Depending on results of that I would then rethink. I may return to both vets and discuss the options with the results of the biopsy.

I would also have the biopsy first, based on what you have said. About 15 years ago I had a dog that had a single, large lump on his rear paw at about the same age. There were questions about whether he would have enough skin to cover the wound and instead I had it tested. It was not cancerous so we just managed it for the rest of his life.

He died a couple years later of something totally unrelated.

I don't there is a right or wrong answer here. Whichever option you decide has its pros and cons.

How traumatic will a needle biopsy be with no sedation. How long will it take? How effective are steroids in treating as yet an unknown lump?

Can the first vet do the biopsy and removal at once so if it's cancerous might that give him more of a comfortable life even if it returns?

Vet 1 said that we can’t be 100% until after the biopsy results but in her opinion she is pretty sure it looks cancerous. He has always had allergies and she said that dogs with allergies are more cancer prone so it’s very likely.

It’s not possible to remove the lump at the same time as the biopsy as vet 1 said that some cancers are best left alone, as they will just come back more aggressively if you remove them.

The needle biopsy is less accurate and can be inconclusive, but she said that tends to be case with smaller tumours where it’s harder to get enough cells, but she’s confident his are big enough to be successful re getting a result. I asked if it would be distressing for him and she said it shouldn’t be, tumours don’t have much in the way of nerves in them, and it’s a very fine needle.

I’m a mess, I really can’t imagine life without him.

Then I would do the needle biopsy with the information you have given.

Although difficult you owe it to him to not fall apart over this yet. You do not know what you are dealing with until the biopsy. So get him booked in and enjoy every second of the weekend with him and make decisions when you have more information - do not dwell on what you do not know will happen - he certainly isn't and just wants a fun normal time.

I would do the needle biopsy too, and go from there.

Apart from the tumours, what's the rest of his health / quality of life like?

He’s generally in great nick for his age, bit arthritic but that’s loads better since I started giving him Yumove. He’s such a happy little thing, still loves going for walks and playing with balls. Vet 1 (who has known him a few years) was marvelling at how great he looked until she saw his back leg and was like .

I’m doing my best not to fall apart, I really lost it after seeing vet 1 but have managed to be a bit more pragmatic about things since then. He’s getting even more cuddles than usual though. And I just cooked him 2 salmon fillets for his dinner

One thing he has started doing though is coughing a lot when he’s out walking, he coughs three or four times then sort of retches like he’s going to be sick but he never is. Now I’m wondering if maybe the cancer has spread to his chest?

I'm a vet. I would suggest the Vet 1 plan rather. I would do bloods first, to assess general health and ability to undergo a GA. Then a quick GA and biopsy (as opposed to fine needle aspirate) as it is more likely to give a definitive answer and yet is quick and not too invasive. While under anaesthetic I would want to radiograph his chest (requires GA or sedation and at least two views, would establish whether there might be spread to the lungs, other lung pathology or evidence of heart failure). That would be my approach. There is no absolute right or wrong. Good luck.

I remember what a friend of mine said. She died of cancer a few years ago now. She was vehemently against pet treatment for cancer, her rationale being that if her, much loved, dog had cancer she would not put her through chemo. She said chemotherapy was for her family, she could not make an animal go through that for her. She herself endured more than 50 rounds of chemo. She knew what she was talking about.

I am also generally not in favour of chemotherapy for animal cancers but surgical removal is quite a different story and I also think that it is important to establish if possible what is going on with this little dog who is currently in otherwise good shape and enjoying his life. If he was unwell the approach would be different.

I definitely wouldn’t put him through chemo.

That’s interesting villainousbroodmare. Ive just had another look at the quote they sent through and noticed that she put that she MAY be able to remove the largest tumour (the one that is bothering him) but this depends on whether there is enough skin. The estimate does not include chest x rays.

Now I’m even more confused. If the lump is too big too remove without skin grafts, is there even any point in doing biopsies?

Remove at the time of the biopsy I mean.

I am so sorry you little dog has these tumours. I know you must be extremely worried. I have nit RTFT and others' advice but
In your position I personally would definitely follow the second vet's advice and then make decisions step by step from there.

I wholeheartedly agree that you should not make him go through any major operation/discomfort.

This is a rather icky pic of his lumpy leg. Take a couple of weeks ago before he started chewing at the lumps.

Yes I am really worried, I can’t tell you how much he means to me.

Aree with villainous and def chest X-ray to check for metastases first

My mum has 2 JRT x border terriers that are 16 this year , one of hers had a golf ball sized lump removed from her upper front leg last year and it came back as non cancerous . We went for straight removal to avoid too many anaesthetics , as it was the OP was delayed for a couple of weeks as her liver was not good on pre op testing so she had some pills for that for a couple of weeks first . We were very concerned that there would not be enough skin to stitch her up but the vet did a lovely job and 3 months in you can’t even see where it was done despite it actually being quite a long incision .

Meant to add she had some dental work done at the same time and it all cost about £7-800 .

Fine needle aspirate can be helpful in many cases but not always.

It's so difficult to make these decisions. My 10 year old Frenchie has a tumour in his flank, we did the needle aspiration which showed it to be benign but we agonised over the decision as he has some long standing chronic health issues and as a brachycephalic breed anaesthetic wasn't an option

He has recently just had pancreatitis, we came within a hair of putting him asleep due to the pain and the level of intervention the vet was suggesting, however we have gone with the least stressful option on antibiotics and diet change and he seems to be recovering well.

I have no answers but we are trying strike the balance between keeping the pooch alive and not making his time intolerable. Sorry op not very helpful...

I suppose the thing is whether or not you want to have a go at doing something.

If you do - I would - then you should proceed in sensible steps which will not involve creating significant pain or distress for your dog but will give you reliable information on what is wrong.

I would personally strongly recommend chest x rays as you are describing a new chest issue. That might be something other than cancer so could be quite treatable. If budget is an issue, I would not worry at present about abdominal ultrasound as from what you say, there are no specific clinical signs pointing at pathology in that region.

If you wanted to, you could ask that the tests be conducted on separate days in which case the blood test should be done first.

The needle aspirate is significantly less likely to give good information, which is why I'd suggest a biopsy.

But you could decide to call it a day relatively soon and not pursue diagnostics.

The one thing you can't do is to have a coughing dog with a rapidly growing, distressing mass on his leg battling onwards without any clear plan.

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