I think my dog has a mast cell tumour

[Ilovecurrywednesdays]

My god I feel like I could vomit at any moment.

My dog, a 6 year old staffie, has had a lump on her side for a while, probably a year and a half, could be more. Its now about 1.5 inches big.

Shes been to the vet who I've trusted for years with my animals, who up to now has been some sort of wizard who has sorted out many benign things that I've instantly thought were bad news (my mind always jumps to the worst, then I'm prepared).

Hes always said this lump was nothing to worry about, even when we've said it grows then shrinks and bothers her some days then she'll be fine for weeks. She has other lumps that just stay the same size and are hard and just on the skin. Vet said these are all just fatty lumps and he wouldn't recommend removing them until they really bother her because of general recovery, anesthetic and so on.

I've never pushed for the lumps to be tested because I trusted him. This is the vet who i asked for a 2nd opinion and saved my last staffie from a really invasive surgery in her mouth recommended by an emergency vet after she had a stick lodged in her throat and some remained deep in her throat after emergency op that they cpuldnt get to. The stick that remained turned out to be a normal bone. She was scheduled for surgery with a specialist that afternoon and his knowledge of staffie bone structure that morning prevented that unnecessary op.

Today the lump escalated. She was unsettled, she went very hot, was trying to nibble at it etc. Then she was fine after about 2 hours.

So, I googled.

I'm devastated. I'm 99% her symptoms are MCT. It all fits with the fluctuating changes in size, her nibbling at it, it getting worse, the hot/red in her skin and her being agitated probably being histamine release etc., and the other lumps being on her ear and foot, so more than one.

Shes at the vet on Monday. I know people will say to wait. But I have a very strong gut feeling about this and everything fits. Putting aside the anger I feel at the minute I'm distraught. I have actually just been physically sick and she immediately came over to me licking my hands and burrowing in for cuddles while I can't even look at her because I've let her down in the worst way imaginable. I'm supposed to care for her, and I've let this happen to her, and it may now be too late to cure her.

Is there any hope at all? Has anyone else's dog had a lump like this for ages that was a MCT and it turned out fine? Or a lump that went up and down and it was benign? Or at least fine for a few years so I just get a bit longer with her?

Please please no stories of awful outcomes i am honestly falling apart. I loved my other dog very much, but this one.....she is the animal love of my whole life.

I'm babbling on here because I can't talk to DP as I partly blame him right now. he's the one that took her most times and I am suspicious that he wouldn't have asked many questions or even told the vet the full background, so I'm also kicking myself over that.

This 1 million times.

Thank you everyone for 'listening' to me drone on.

I'm a little calmer but only because I've had a wine I think.

My most treasured little princess is next to me while I'm watching my ipad.

Wine, snoozy dog and Good Girls on Netflix. My happy place.

I'll update on Monday.

Back from the vet. She's booked to have them removed in 2 weeks.

Vet said no reliable way of knowing if the one im most bothered about is worrying until its removed and sent off. I get the feeling he did say this last time dp took her and dp did his usual shithouse trick of not passing info on/listening properly. He tends to hear just what he's interested in and 'forgets' the rest of a conversation.

He gave it another good poke/feel though and I was watching his face for any clues and he genuinely seems unfazed so I'm hoping he's doing his usual wizardry thing and going off his million years experience of these things. He once correctly diagnosed my elderly cat with a certain cancer just by feeling her, she had no symptoms at all apart from losing a tiny bit of weight.

Feel a bit calmer I guess, but now I've got to wait 2 weeks and then try and get through dropping her off in the morning then waiting 😩

I'll be wearing one of my old jumpers for a couple of hours a day so it has my smell on and will take that in for her 🥺

He is right, no way to know til biopsied. Hopefully they can get nice clear margins when they are removed
Hope it all goes well

Our dog had a MCT recently removed which he had for over a year. It fluctuated in size in a way which caused it to sink down under the skin so took ages before a vet could actually look at it. They then did a biopsy before removing. I would question the vet not doing this before removal as if it's a MCT it needs a big margin taken off around it rather than just the lump. Be aware if this is the case the wound is likely to look quite dramatic.

I've also known others with MCTs and the only 1 who had to be pts due to it was just because the lump was on his bits so couldn't be removed and was causing him discomfort.

Fellow staffy owner! 👋

He already said he'll take a good few cm out around the lumps just in case (after i said i dont care how she looks after it, she'll look no different to me) and already warned me she will have a large wound 😔

Thank you for sharing your experience that has helped ease my anxiety a little, I'm very grateful.

How did you help your dog recover? I've seen surgical t-shirt type things but they look quite tight....or I've seen like a donut type thing that looks better than a cone of shame.....

Just told my manager who said I'm OK to fully wfh for 2 weeks after she's had it done so I can keep an eye on her ☺️

Same here, mct got my beloved pup a few years back but he was 13. He had many, many lumps and bumps over the years and the vet always said just to leave them be so we never thought anything of them. Then one day, in around November, one on the base of his back appeared and it kept growing and growing fast. By January, we decided to get it removed and the biopsy showed it was mct. In hindsight, we would never have gotten him that operation as was just too old to recover and it was the recovery that killed him, not the mct.

I'd definitely say not to panic yet because lumps and bumps can be perfectly normal and if it is a mct, providing they remove it all, your young fit dog would have a good chance of recovery. It was all just too traumatic for my old boy.

Some benign lumps can grow and decrease in size. However most often you can't tell what a lump is for sure without removing it. Personally I get most of them removed from my especially lumpy dog because she grows them in stupid places. But the one that grows and shrinks had a fine needle aspiration showing it's a sebaceous cyst. Vet advised it didn't need removing unless it started to bother her. They can get sore.

The wounds were much bigger than I expected, 1st one was in his chest, it had a drain in and was covered in a netting tube.
He did feel very sorry for himself in true staffie style!
2nd one was at the base of the tail

We were lucky that someone could be around most of the time so cone wearing was minimal....he did get used to it in the end tho.

My Lab has many lumps, one mast cell removed in summer. He’s still here bumbling around.

I was told to take a T shirt in due to where the cut was situated and the possibility of it getting rubbed, knocked and subsequently infected. I would potentially cut up an old T shirt ready just in case. I made a lucky guess on where to put the holes or legs- but had I been told I would have done it in advance.

Ah thank you so much I'm definitely feeling a lot calmer, especially hearing that there are experiences of benign lumps going up and down 🙏

I've managed to not Google anything connected to my health for months after I learned a harsh lesson, and its been great, but now it seems I've transferred it onto my dog. I'll admit now I also made the stupid mistake of posting elsewhere first (like a vet learning site type place) and I got a horrible reply that i saw before it was deleted by mods from a vet nurse telling me I shouldn't have left it this long as its 100% a MCT with it fluctuating in size, that as id left it its now almost certainly beyond curing, and if they knew who i was theyd report me to the rspca for neglect....that's when I googled 😔

Was it really a vet nurse 😕who knows who they are really. Awful thing to say.

My boy has loads of lumps, he’s had them for several years. Vet said to me, leave them alone. I think you get two options, a syringe sample or punch hole biopsy where they drill down quite deep - this was years ago, then maybe a full biopsy. Vet said if you have a biopsy you may as well take the whole lump. She was 95% sure the lumps were just fatty masses. She said to me, you can’t keep taking the lumps off him, he will be sore and it’s no way for him to live.

We do the best we can, based the advice of people who are only human at the end of the day.

Good luck OP hope your dog will be ok, I’m sure everything will be fine.

We used the normal plastic cone + a surgical suit as he kept bothering at the wound. He's also a big wimp and needed 1 of us to sleep downstairs with him for the first week. Unfortunately his didn't heal well and the stitches came open but all OK now, we just had a slower healing process with an open wound. The issue was that as such big margins need to be taken it can leave not much excess skin for stitching up.

My beautiful girl has had her surgery today. I can't bear how uncomfortable she is 😔 she won't settle, she keeps trying but just can't do it. I've got every blanket in the house covering the whole of the floor downstairs so it's soft for her to lie down wherever she feels but she won't.

I know this is normal but my god this is gut wrenching to see. At least she's eaten and enjoyed it very much.

Vet has sent the lumps off for testing, he thinks one in particular looks suspicious and it's not the one on her side but he said hopefully just removing it has worked as it looked 'neat' (?) so we'll see.

I'm so glad she's home. Will be sleeping downstairs tonight so I can keep an eye on her. Please keep your fingers crossed that the lumps are nothing worrying 🐶

Bless her. It’s awful when you can’t explain or help!

Thanks for the update OP. Will be keeping everything crossed for your girl.

They make you feel so sorry for them dont they?
Hopefully she will settle later and you will both manage a bit of sleep

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. My darling boy was always unsettled the first night he came home after an op, hope you both manage to get some sleep.

I'm dreading April, bitch operation which means uncomfortable nights on the sofa 🙈

It's gut wrenching to see them unwell isn't it?
Hopefully she will settle knowing you are there with her
It's great she has eaten already
Fingers crossed her results are positive

@Ilovecurrywednesdays how's your girl doing?

Morning! Ah bless you for checking in.

Shes ok, she's got a seroma now where the biggest wound is but it's not massively bothering her and its not huge so should go down soon. She's been as good as gold with her donut thing round her neck. Been some very funny moments where she can't get through gaps because of it 😬

Shes back Friday for stitches to come out and biopsy results 🤞

Shes had a few stitches out and seroma drained a bit. Biopsy results not back yet but should be Wednesday when she's back anyway for other stitches to come out.

He said when he said one looked suspicious he just wanted to assure me that means absolutely nothing as he's removed loads of lumps over the years that he was certain were not good but they were either benign after labs or cured by removing which ties in with what a lot of you had said ❤️

@Ilovecurrywednesdays aww Fingers crossed you get good news soon

Just thought I'd update in case anyone else comes across this thread in the same position.

They were all mast cell tumours unfortunately. Low grade thankfully.

2 of the lumps came back. One very aggressively and very quick. This was only about 3 weeks after my last post.

Vet went back in and removed them both again. The aggressive one was on her side so she had to have a huge area cut out 😔 she now has a 10 inch scar bless her. Recovery from 2nd surgery was awful she really struggled.

he said as they were low grade last time it would be low grade again, and if they come back again the problem won't necessarily be the lumps themselves, more that she can't keep having them removed.

There is another option if needed, he mentioned an injection that has something like 89% success of 'dissolving' the tumour, but healing is a bit brutal as it leaves an open wound for weeks, and the best option is always complete surgical removal so its 🤞 the second surgery has worked.

He says he got decent margins this time. She's had monthly check ups and so far so good.