Injection site Sarcoma PLEASE READ

[hotdog100]

Hoping to pick the expert and experienced brains on here. My (young, healthy) dog has a grade 3 sarcoma on the site of 2 injections given 3 weeks ago. ISS seem pretty common (relatively speaking) in cats, but not in dogs. Can anyone offer any help/advice/info/anything?! 🙏🏻

Your best bet is to have your vet liaise with a veterinary oncologist to develop a plan based on the histological and clinical findings.
I have recently dealt with a rapidly growing sarcoma in a young dog and the oncologists did have treatment plans for these tumours. They are very involved and expensive their aim is extending life not cure.

@Lonecatwithkitten I’ve no experience in dogs but can you have them lasered off like they do in horses ?

@Floralnomad a sarcoid and a sarcoma are two very different things unfortunately.

Are you sure that’s what it is? Can you post a photo?
Giving you a bump, there are some vets on here...hope someone can help.

@Suzi888 it sounds like OP has a histology report the fact that there is a grading of the sarcoma and photo alone is not sufficient biopsies are needed.

@Lonecatwithkitten that answers that then , do dogs get sarcoids ?

@Floralnomad no they don't sarcoid are unique to equines.

@hotdog100 sorry to derail your thread with questions , we will keep our paws crossed for your dog 💐

@Lonecatwithkitten thanks for that

I’ve no idea, I just googled and hardly anything about it, apart from a scientific report. Seems extremely rare. Sounds awful whatever it is.

Thank you. We're devastated, she is the most adored family pet, 5 children here and she is the hub of our home.

My insurance only covers £1500 per condition (£3500 per year, but I hadn't read the small print). I'm so worried about this too, £500 has already gone on biopsy/tests. Is there any possibility this could be negligence and the vets could pay for her treatment on their insurance? I know, probably impossible to prove they caused it.

I'm not wanting to profit by a single penny from this, I just want to be able afford every treatment possible.

Thank you for your advice so far. I just can't believe it, it's like a bad dream.

I’m sorry. I hope you get more responses. Hopefully the vet can give you some indication of treatments and the costs involved.

Thank you very much for replying. I'm researching like mad. I don't want to 'sue' the practice, but I feel desperate!

Whilst we think in cats they are injection site, there is no study or evidence that backs that up conclusively.
Sarcomas do happen in dogs without injections the last two I have treated have been in sites you would never give an injection.

Thank you, but this is definitely on the injection site. The vet commented on that on the first exam.

I’ve injected thousands of animals. It could happen to me and it wouldn’t be anything I had done wrong as such, just terrible luck or the body having some sort of abnormal reaction to a ‘normal’ thing.

I think injection site sarcomas are so rare it’s impossible to prove what caused it, you could only sue if the vet was negligent and I’m sure that wouldn’t be the case.

I think with a lot of the rare or aggressive cancers it really is just one of those awful things rather than someone’s fault

@hotdog100 one of the reasons I suggested a specialist oncologist is I think it is important that you understand the risk benefits. The last sarcoma patient I had we considered radiotherapy, it would have meant and anaesthetic 5/7 days for three weeks and there was not guarantee/evidence of gain. This was because it is so rare there are no good quality studies backing up treatment it is all - this might improve things. My patient would have been an easy candidate a dog of beautiful temperament who quietly and gently accepted all treatment, he was an otherwise clinically well 15 month old dog. But his owner bravely decided that this was too much to ask him to go through (money was not an objection - but it would have been around 15K). We had a sad, but peaceful day in the sun a few weeks later.

He broke my work heart I was so damn fond of that dog.

Thank you so much for your advice and opinions, it's all so helpful