Hemangiosarcoma liver & spleen (Canine cancer)

[cosx]

Well... unfortunately i am joining the spleen cancer subject.
I have a 11 year old Labrador.. who has be diagnosed with spleen cancer.
In my case it is more difficult because he is also epileptic. The doctor said he might not make it through the operation.
I don't know what to do. Puting him to sleep is not an option. I love him to much to do that ...

[Mellie]

I am sorry to hear this news, Cosx. My thoughts are with you and your Lab. Since he is a high surgery risk, I'm sure the doctor will be careful with the choice of anasthesia, and will make every effort to monitor his vitals during the operation.
Please post more as you need to.

[cosx]

with such a high risk .... i don't know if the operation is an option. This is my dilema. If he's operated..might not make it. if he's not operated ... might not make it also.
I'd rather let him live then gamble with his life.

[Mellie]

I apologize for the misunderstanding... I assumed that you had decided to go through with surgery.
I am sorry you are in such a difficult situation.
Only you can make the best decision for your dog. If that means not having surgery, that is your right. If you choose to go ahead with surgery, knowing the risks (there are always risk with any surgery), that is also your right.
I'd advise talking to your vet more for information. They tend to not push decisions on their clients. But you should be able to judge from what s/he says if s/he thinks surgery might be worthwhile, or if s/he thinks just palliative measures are best.
I realize it is always on one's mind what can be done to cure or treat whatever ailment the animal might have. But in the case of hemangiosarcoma, only removal of the spleen is curative.
Do you know if the cancer is localized to the spleen only? Has it metastasized? Did the vet explain what an epileptic dog might encounter during surgery? Did the vet inform you what you could do if you do not elect to have surgery?
I hope you have been well informed so you feel like you can make the best deicion.
If you need to talk to someone who has been through this process and struggle, I am here.
Again, my heart goes out to you.

[Estie]

Originally Posted by Mellie

Holly,
I read the title of this thread and immediately felt sick to my stomach. I lost my precious Waldo 5/27/05, to hemangiosarcoma of the spleen.
Waldo's symptoms did not suddenly appear. We were aware he had cancer 4 days after we adopted him (at the time he went in for his vet visit). We did everything we could for him during the next 6 months he was with us. I still wish I could've saved him. He was my scrappy-doodle.
I am currently in school for Veterinary Technology. We were required to write a research paper last semester. Waldo was still with me at that time, so I chose to present him as a case study on hemangiosarcoma of the spleen. I did extensive research on this cancer, not only for the paper, but from the moment I knew his diagnosis.
I could really tell you pages worth of information from off the top of my head. But I do not want to go on and on in my post. If you're ok with that, let me know and I'll answer any questions to the best of my ability. Or you can pm me with questions and I can share everything I know and went through.
I am very sorry for your loss. My thoughts are with you. I am sure your nooper-duper has made friends with my scrappy-doodle at the Rainbow Bridge. Waldo always was a ladies man.

Mellie -
We just lost our beautiful English Springer Spaniel (liver & white) whose name was Yogurt, to the exact same thing. I had never heard of splenic masses, and the vet did surgery that same day - July 29, 2005 - and by 5:30 p.m. our girly-girl was gone! Woke up that morning and she couldn't walk, and turned to look at me as I crossed our back deck, wiggled her butt, and her eyes said, "I've had enough. I can't take it any more." She was 13 years old, but we miss her deeply. I didn't have a clue until that morning that something was terribly wrong. When does the crying stop??
estie

[jce]

Well it has been 2 months now since my beloved 10.8 year old Golden died of Hemangiosarcoma. I stuggle everyday as there is not much repsite from this -this is my line of work and of doctoral dissertation. Pet Loss that is...as it such a matter of the heart and soul - I miss my Cecilia beyond belief and I know in time when I am able to finish my research this expereince will add an even deeper dimension to it. Till then however.....

I felt inclined to share Cecilia's story in hopes that it may help to save the life of another. It started in Feb. 2005 on Superbowl Sunday. My most healthy and athletic 10 year old Cecilia jumped off "her" couch to get ready for our typical 6 mile run on the trail with her mom and dad. Well out of nowhere she fell over and appeared to have what looked like a sezuire - lost urine control and everything. We rushed her to the Emergencey Clinic and they watched her for the day - seemed OK. Refered us to a Neurologist...we had an MRI and all looked fine. So on with life we went...then about a month later she had more collapsing episodes - she would recover quickly. Prior to all of this she had her "Senior Wellness Workup" and everything was as good as a 2yr. old so we were very confused. In March we had more blood work and found her to be "boderline" anemic. I asked if this could be related to her sezuires/collapsing epesodes and I was told no -that it was not realted. Well, this was my girl so I did all the research that I possibly could. From March to June, Cecilia continued to have these collpasing episdoes but would seem to recover pretty quickly - I still was thinking sezuire. Then one night she developed food bloat and as a result the X-ray showed an enlargement of her spleen, had an ultasound teh next day which confirmed masses on her spleen. Two days later (this was June) she was scheduled for a spleenectomy. The morning prior to the spleenectomy she must have had a major bleed because she was up all night panting, uncomfroatble, bloated etc. When we took her in for the procedure that morning they found 1.5 liters of free flowing blood in her abdomin - as well as hemangio. on her spleen which has spread to her liver. She recover from sugery very well and we began a protocol of immunonutritional supplements and chemo. Her consulting Oncologist is my Dissertation advisor and had an integrated approach. She recovered well from the spleenectomy and seemed back to her old self in a few days. False hopes.....Two weeks after the speenectomy Cecilia had another major bleed - she collapsed in the yard. I rushed her to the Hospital and her hematocrit dropped from 32 to 27 to 17 - they suggested putting her down. I asked Cecilia she said no. We carried her to the car, took her home and nursed her back to "health". We were told her hematocrit would never reach 25 and she would never run or hike again. Three days later her hematocrit was 32 and then 5 days later 37. BTW she did hike and run and swim again. I knew our time was limited so I wanted to make sure she had the time of her life. Two weeks later another bleed - recovered and then 2 weeks later one more. It was time - her spirit was not ready to go but her body was. She told me it was time. How do we do it...put our humanness aside and do what must be done to allow our animal companions to go with dignity and respect. That was the hardest thing I ever and will ever have to do. She was my best friend and so much more for over 10 years - she was the only stable, constant in my life and I had to let her go....

When you have a dog with hemangio. your world becomes smaller and more compact - my days revolved around checking her gums for re-fill time..for color - dear God please let me see pink not pale or white. I would check her gums a million times a day. Not knowing when I come home after begin out for a few hours will she be there to greet me. My once athletic Cecilia - a walk to pee must have felt like a marathon. Each bleed was gettting worse.....it was her time and I held her like it was the last time because it was. It all happened so fast by the time we found out what was causing her to collapse - time was running out and I am so grateful to have those last few weeks with her to say good-bye - but somehow it does not bring comfort.

If anyone with a Golden, regarless of age, experiences sudden weakness or unexplained collapsing check the hematocrit levels ASAP and have an X-ray or Ultrasound of the spleen and heart. Cecilia developed this in Feb. and six months later was gone....I wish we could have understood this four months earlier...things may have been different. While I know this is a highly aggressive cancer it angers me that all the Vet's we saw did not put 2 and 2 together. 10.5 year old golden, borderline anemia, and collpasing....No, borderline anemia is not normal and is not common. May my sweet Cecilia rest in peace. I miss her more then words could ever say and for me life will never be the same without her.

Namaste to all....

[Mellie]

estie and jce,
I am truly sorry you both are part of this thread. But know there are others, like myself, who understand what you have been/are going through.
It's been 4 months since I lost my Waldo to hemangiosarcoma, and every day he is in my thoughts. I cry now just thinking of him.
I have lost other beloved dogs (both Jake and Waldo passed within the last year), but losing Waldo to this cancer was a completely different kind of loss. For months before he was gone, I lived every day wondering if it would be his last. I was obsessed with checking his health multiple times a day, and spending every free minute I had with him and our other dog. Just hearing the word "hemangiosarcoma" makes me cringe.
Like jce mentioned, "your world becomes smaller and more compact."

Eh... I'll refrain from getting into another long post.
Take care! My thoughts are with you both. I'll tell my Waldo to look out for Yogurt and Cecilia over the bridge.

[smcroni]

Boy this is a tuff one. Just like the pets who suffer from this condition. Here is the story of our Ice. Ice is a 9 yo Siberian Husky. He had his annual physical in May of this year. The vet who we have used for his whole life commented how any other vet that did not know the age of Ice would never guess 9 as he was in remarkable health. No issues and other than 1 ear infection during these 9 yrs had nothing wrong. Sound hips, eyes, heart etc.. yesterday my wife and daughter thought he was getting fat. This morning first thing upon palpating his abdomen we knew there was something wrong and called vet to have him seen asap. Vet agreed regarding abdomen being filled with fluid and ran blood work and fluid checked abdomen. No detectable mass by palpation. Warned us that most likely we were dealing with a spleen bleed from a spleen tumor. Ultrasound is scheduled for Wednesday so please keep Ice in your thoughts and prayers. We are hoping the spleen an come out and things didn't get out of control but we are as prepared for the worse as we can be.

Like so many others he exhibited no real distress until last night/today. Still all he is showing is a bit of lethargy, distention in the abdomen and a bit quicker breathing pattern than normal. Vet said his red count is down and no temp. Gums are still pink to visual inspection and refill response is good. In hind sight over the last week or two he has been laying around a bit more than usual and not lifting his leg to high to urinate. Appetite is normal. Tonight he is just laying around but when the refigerator opens he is right there as always. I also have a Golden and typical issues with her at 2yo. Lost another Golden 2yrs ago who was 3 to cancer in the Lymph nodes. This one with Ice will be toughest on my wife as he is truly her baby. Thanks for all who have posted your experiences have helped.

[smcroni]

Well Ice had his ultrasound today. We were hoping for a miracle but it wasn't in the cards. He did have a mass on his spleen which ruptured and the cancer has spread to his liver . We have brought our boy home. Due to the internal bleeding we will be keeping him still as can be. It actually isn't to hard. He is not in any pain and the Vet said it will be a painless ending. Just don't know when, hours, days, or weeks. My wife is wrestling with her feelings. Feelings if he should go here at home or if we should have the vet put him down. Right now she is leaning towards keeping him home until or if he shows signs of distress. 2 vets and our research show he will just get tired and fall asleep from the internal blood loss. Keep Ice in your thoughts.

[AUSSKY]

(this is a ramble - it's a collection of thoughts that I haven't been able to face until now...hopefully they will help someone else)

6 weeks ago today I lost my beloved 10 years and 8 months German Shorthaired Pointer, Cadence, to hemangiosarcoma (heart). My story is similar to others - I became aware of something not being quite right a couple of months before when he went outside and threw up really bright bile, and lots of it (totally different to usual) and then came inside and crawled onto my lap and wouldn't leave....

I was in the middle of moving house, so I initially thought that it might be the stress of that, and then moving to a friends for a week, into a motel for another week and back to the friends while I was between properties. One day, he slipped going around a corner and just wasn't right from then - I thought he was in pain from an arthritic hip so the vet recommended that i start him on aspirin - and that made a huge difference to the quality of his life (and oddly - didn't seem to have an effect on the thickness of his blood - he still clotted rapidly and we never had pale gums)

First real symptom was lack of appetite - but had that before with prostate enlargement when younger, so I just dropped back into the forcefeeding regime which he was used to (he'd survived a spider bite 18 months before and had only made it through because I'd loved him enought to move heaven and earth to get him better and had to forcefed him at that stage) - didn't think it a huge problem, then one night his heart rate went through the roof - up to 130 beats a minute at rest - he didn't seem uncomfortable, but was breathing shallowly (I'd forgotten that!!! he actually started breathing shallowly a few months before that ...). Seemed ok later.....something else that I'd wondered about - he'd 'tripped' on a pile of rubble while we were up at the site for the new house and gone 'head over turkey' and come up screaming like he'd broken a leg...but I think he was scared more than anything - so I'm wondering if he'd had a 'bleed' (I'd thought heart attack at the time), and he had another not long after the increased heart rate episode where he jumped off the bed and 'tripped' (my usually agile antelope) and while I was holding him, his heart was all over the place (another heart attack I thought) - but everything was so non-specific.....

One day he could walk 4kms, the next day he would walk barely 50m, and that was behind you.....just too tired to walk anywhere (in retrospect - another bleed)...he just wanted to lie around in the sun. If he came in after a short walk to toilet and had a drink of cold water, it'd come straight back up - I had to give him tepid water to drink - and towards the end, it had to be even warmer than that as his system wouldn't tolerate cold water (?) - I have no idea why. His body shape changed - he thickened through the front of his abdomen, but still nothing that you could put a finger on.

The last weekend I had him, he stayed with friends and wouldn't eat - and when he came home he looked like he was bloating - but wasn't - and I watched that night and his belly subsided somewhat - the next morning, a tumour on his foot (which had been growing and was due to be operated on in 5 days) burst - and there was no way that I could have kept it clean, so I drove 100kms to the vet on the way to work to get the operation done early (if the unltrasound and bloodwork that we had already planned was ok - I knew there was something, but I didn't know what at that stage)...I asked him to check Cadence's belly out - and he said that he didn't like what he felt - and I knew then that i wouldn't see him again - so I said goodbye to him (trying very hard not to start howling and upset him any more) - and howled all the way to work and spent the next 4 hours waiting for the phonecall that I knew was coming......at a few minutes after 12 the vet rang and told me that he had hemangiosarcoma of the heart and also a 13cm tumour in his abdomen........I had to let him go - I couldn't do anything that would make him miserable........I'm sitting here with tears streaming down my face - but I hope that something here may help someone diagnose their beloved friend earlier than I did.........

love to you all, I know what you've felt......

Jane

[Mellie]

smcroni, AUSSKY...
Thanks for sharing your stories. This is certainly a difficult thread to participate in.
Last night I had a dream that my Waldo and Jake came to visit me. It was so real I am still in awe of the whole experience. And today I stumbled upon new replies to this thread. Makes me think my little angels are smiling down on me and making new friends over the Rainbow Bridge.
My warmest wishes are sent out to you both.

[smcroni]

Well Ice is still around our house. It has been 6 days since the bad news. Actually, Sunday and yesterday he was moving around more than usual. Ice used to be an escape artist as are most huskies. So Sunday night he wouldn't even get up to go outside to relieve himself. So we used the front door which we never use and he thought that was the greatest. Later in the day despite laying in front of the slider on the other side of the house when it was time to go outside he walked clear across the house to go out front. Today he is not so good. Just laying around and not moving much more than basically getting up stretching and laying back down. I think the end is near but he is getting all the love and affection from the whole house so his last days are sweet memories he can take to the bridge and share with our other dog Benny who is up there waiting for him. We aare so hoping he will pass in his sleep. We come home at least once during the day and as early as we can at days end. We will take him to the vet one last time only if he is showing signs of distress or pain. So far he is not showing either. It seems every time we think he will not make it through the day or night, someone oopens the refrigerator and up he pops and walks over to see what is for snack. Thank you for all your thoughts and I will keep you posted.

[Estie]

Jane - bless you for sharing your story. It will be 10 weeks tomorrow since Yogurt left us, and I'm still crying! (I'm probably not any help to you!!) It's just all those memories, and the places where she would sleep, etc., that brings back the memories. The worst for me is walking where we took her for walks. I'm always sobbing then. I think we'll get better eventually, but it will take lots of time!!
Estie

smcroni - keep us posted re: Ice! Just spoil him rotten!!
Estie

[Estie]

To anyone who might know - the last few months before Yogurt left us, she was extremely "starving" all the time. She would cry during the night because she was hungry, yet she had this bloated pot-belly, and I just couldn't figure it out. Why would she be so hungry? I've read here where some of your dogs got really thin.

By the way - this weekend or first of next week, we are going to meet a rescue springer spaniel 1 1/2 year old that is up for adoption! I'm soooo excited!!
Estie

[smcroni]

Well it has been a few days since an ICE update. He is still with us in body. He is really starting to slow down. Yesterday my wife took him out and decided to just follow along where he went. He went down the street about 1/4 mile all happy and lifting his leg as he went. I think it was his last time marking his turf. On the way back it was 4 or 5 steps then rest for a minute. Today is the first day in his life he refused a hot dog. I had to hand feed him his ground beef/rice/squash mix and then he only took about 3 mouthfuls. He is pretty much just laying around and only gets up to reposition himself or when we make him go out every 4 or 5 hrs. He is panting more frequently so I don't think it will be to long. Anyone who did not see him every day says he doesn't even look sick when he is laying there. We have decided to spoil him until he can no longer make it out on the leash to pee or he starts snapping and or showing signs of pain. It is so hard to see our buddy like this but he deserves the best until the time is right to send him to the bridge. He still has those bright blue eyes that make you melt when they look at you. I know once our boy is gone when we look up at the night sky and see the stars shinning bright that they will really be those baby blues of Ice shinning down on us. We are just hoping he will go to sleep and not wake up so He makes the decision when it is time to head to the bridge.

I hope the rescue dog works out for you. Giving a friend a second chance is a wonderful thing.