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Showing posts with the label Mast Cell Tumors in Dogs

Mast Cell Tumors and Surgery

I have two big dogs, lab mix, litter mates. Super sweet and funny. About two years ago my male dog, Syd, had a Mast Cell Tumor and surgery to remove it.( see previous post ), We have been tumor free since then, however, about a month ago a lump showed up on his right side (on his eighth rib), see photo, Mast Cell tumors can look many different ways on dogs. It is very important to get any lump or bump checked out with your vet, it may save the life of your dog. The first tumor was a size of a pea on the skin, (in his groin area), the vet had to remove an area about the size of an orange to remove it all. Like an iceberg, you only see part of the tumor. This tumor was the size of an egg, so we were anxious, knowing how much had to be removed last time. The vet assured us that this tumor was located in a “better” area. I won’t go into detail (I’ll add links to helpful pages if you need more info on Mast Cell Tumors), Before photo of Syd’s Tumor (below) A little wobbly but up and abou

Syd and Surgery

We have been majorly stressed out at my house. It has been a rapid trip starting with the discovery of a small tumor on my male dog, Syd, after looking at bumps on the internet, (thank goodness for Dr. Google), I was convinced that it was a Mast Cell Tumor . I was going to just dismiss it, due to the fact that it was about the size of a large pea, but we have always owned dogs, and this one sent my inner voice whispering. Better safe than sorry.  So I made an appointment with my Vet and got in that day! The vet did a fine needle aspirate, suspecting that it was a mast cell tumor, and after looking at it in the microscope decided it was, it was sent off for a closer look to a vet lab. They recommended surgery, with wide margins taken to try and get it all, evidently the tumor can be just one of the symptoms of Mast Cells Cancer. When we picked Syd up, we discovered a much larger incision than we had expected, the vet ended up taking about an orange size of skin, lymph nodes a