Older dog with a tumour

[LadyWentworth]

We have a 13 year old boy. I know this is a good age and he has been doing so well. Over the last few weeks we have seen him start to struggle with his back legs more. He has fallen up steps a couple of times, his walks have got shorter and he can slip on tiled floors. But he’s happy, generally comfortable, still keen to play at times. Now we have found he has a cancerous tumour on his back leg. The vets have said they can scan it and then we’ll know if it can be removed. I’m just worried we’ll make it worse and he’ll suffer more from the op. He doesn’t seem in any pain, apart from his legs being a bit stiff but if we don’t remove the tumour it could spread and then he will suffer. Is 13 too old for an op of this kind? How much do we do at this age? He is such a good boy

My slightly younger dog (12 this year) has had a tumour removed from her foot in February
she having chemo and still her happy active self so far.
Been expensive with co payment on her insurance but knew we had to try

We have an almost 9 year old dog who has a lot of chronic conditions which impact his life. We have made it clear at each time we won’t go down any aggressive treatment but will manage each one to improve his quality of life until it isn’t possible. We have decided to have growths removed that are easy and improves his life around places like his eye or in his mouth but have declined any investigation into his numerous other lumps in his body as they are not affecting him and would just cause distress to remove them because once done there will just be another one pop up so our decision is to leave alone.

There is no right or wrong answer to your dilemma. Some people would go all in, others would go down our route of leave alone and manage symptoms until his quality is no more. What I would say is be clear with the vets if you decide the latter as I have found they present all options including the aggressive ones (which is correct for them to do) but once you have explained your rationale for how you want to manage things then they just focus on doing that. We were just in the vets this week where one option was to have a complicated surgery which may or may not ‘solve’ his condition but we said no we would not consider it so then our focus with the vet was just the options for trying to make his quality of life more comfortable without surgical intervention.

have a hug from me. We just lost a dog to inoperable cancer. Had it been operable I am not sure I’d have put him through it, he was elderly and found vet trips highly distressing. I wanted him to feel safe and happy, at home with his people. Which is where he stayed right till the end.

whatever you decide, you’ll have decided it with love for your dog, and that’s what matters. Xxx

My old boy had a toe removed through a tumour a few months before his 13th birthday. I knew his time with me was coming to a close and the reason I had the op was to make him more comfortable for the time we did have left together. I don’t regret it as he was far more comfortable afterwards.

My 13 year old dog was diagnosed with a large inoperable tumour on his liver last August . I prepared myself for the worst but so far there is not much difference in him though he sleeps more . We were told he could deteriorate quickly but so far , touch wood, he seems ok . Not sure we would have put him through surgery had it been an option.

I'm sorry about your doggy. It's really hard when our furry family get ill.
At 13, I wouldn't be putting my doggy through an operation and the anaesthetic. I'd be having a lovely few days/weeks/months with him and keeping a close eye on him for getting to the point of needing to go.

Just before lockdown our dog who was then 11 had a tumour removed from his prostate and although we were warned that he might not get through it ( as with all older dogs with GA), he survived and had a good quality of life until a year ago when he was put to sleep as he suddenly was unable to stand and was very very poorly ( that all escalated very quickly). So he had 4 years on which I genuinely think he was happy and a few weeks when he was very poorly at the end. Your choice must be personal to you but if the vet thinks there's a good chance then it may be worth it. The insurance covered most of the cost ( we paid excess and 20%).

I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I still miss my old boy every day

Oh and we were clear right form the start, no chemo, no heroic measures

Honestly, for a thirteen year old dog who’s already struggling I wouldn’t be taking treatment any further. I know it’s tough, but 13 is a good innings 💐