My lovely girl and a decision

[nannytothequeen]

My lovely old lab is coming up to 16. I have had very little expense in vets bills over the years and now she is only on some anti inflamatories to help her with her joints. She has stayed with me through the death of both of my parents and a nasty marriage break up that almost broke me. I now have lung cancer and am waiting for treatment. She has developed a sore on her nose. At first Ithought it was a cat scratch gone nasty., but I took her to the vets when it wasn't healing. They think its a kind of facial cancer and I need to consider putting her to sleep. But at the moment it is small and it doesn't bother her. They could try and remove it or I could leave it. I always said that given her age I would be very minimal in her treatment because it is all about her having a good end to her life now. But I so want to give her one roll of the dice with its removal to give her an extra year or two perhaps. My friend thinks I am being selfish and not thinking of her. Any thoughts?

How is considering removing it not doing the best for her? Remember animals can’t understand why they feel rubbish or are going through certain treatment.
Worth trying a removal/biopsy? We had a girl cat with a mass in her stomach. Turned out to be benign. But not extensive and aggressive treatment your dog won’t understand?
As supervet says. The length of their life is their gift to you. The quality of their life is your gift to them.

Absolutely second what wolfiefiefan has said. I would certainly not rush to pts, not until she began to show signs of discomfort, obviously age is a big factor with general anaesthetic so you should take advice on if your vet thinks she would pull through the operation, but for me personally it would be to soon to pts so I would either leave the growth and monitor her closely or risk the op and face the possibility she may not pull through. I am so sorry you have to face this decision and also very sorry about your diagnosis, I wish you all the very best OP

Ps your friend is wrong, it is very clear you will put the needs of your dog before yourself, your love for her is evident.

Have you been given the option of reremoval? I would imagine there would be issues with margins due to its position. Is there any likelihood of spread? Lots of factors to consider.

I think it would be reasonable to monitor and all the while she has quality of life keep going xxx

Don't PTS. My father in law had a similar cancerous growth on his nose - and he looked like he was dying when he had it, then he had it removed and now he's super well. He's 82.
Give your girl a chance.
Hope your treatment goes good too.

The vet saysthat removal is possible. Most people she says wouldn't do it as the operation is reasonably expensive. But I am a Brit in NZ and I find that NZ folk are less attached to their animals. OK. My gut is to get it removed. If it comes back then I can reconsider. She is my absolute darling and I am far more in pieces than I was about my mum even or my own diagnosis.

It sounds like your DDog has a good quality of life still. I'd be asking the vet about

• suitability for a general anaesthetic
• likelihood of spread
• timescales; how fast is it likely to grow?
• how much tissue would need to be removed, and impacts of this tissue loss on the DDog (will the sense of smell be affected? It is so important to dogs)

The key issue is how long it will be before the cancer starts to significantly affect quality of life vs impacts of treatment on quality of life vs expected lifespan if treated. For instance, in a 16yo large breed dog, if the vet said the dog would have 6-12 months of good quality life without treatment, I probably wouldn't treat it beyond anything to keep her comfortable. On the other hand if they said that the dog would survive a GA, would only continue for a month or two without treatment but would have a year of good quality life with treatment, I'd operate.

If the vet thinks she is in good enough health for the GA, I would go ahead, the lump will be biopsied and you would then have more information regards treatment going forward.

I would go for a biopsy so that you can then work out where to go from there.
I'm sorry you're having a rough time.