Has anyone had their dog spayed and also both sides of mammary glands stripped?

LilacLouisa

Nod_Off wrote: »

A full mammary strip is a pretty tough op to go through and not one I would put my dog through if the x-ray shows secondaries in the chest area.

I hope the test results come back ok and that she can have the op. Do you know how old she is?

She was 5 last month. She has had a rough time, not only was she is season when she arrived but she had just had a corn removed and was all bandaged up - now this!

hethmar

Fingers crossed for her xxx

UKTigerlily

Aww good luck. My rescue had a mammary tumour removed when Spayed, not the same thing I know but she was fine, gl x

LilacLouisa

Well we have had a dreadful night and are on tenterhooks this morning waiting for a call from the vets. Poppet however has had a good night, was bright and breezy yesterday evening just as she is this morning.

When my daughter felt Poppet's tummy she thought one of the lumps felt smaller, so we are hoping like mad that is a good sign and perhaps it is just something more temporary than was first thought. Of course we know nothing about this type of problem, but hope springs eternal.

Thank you all those who replied, I hope your day goes well.

hethmar

Please update us when you have news.

Nod_Off

Hope you hear from the vets soon - it's horrible waiting for results and not knowing what you are dealing with.

All fingers, toes and paws are crossed in this house for her.

LilacLouisa

At last we have had some good news, it was late last night when we got the message, Poppets blood test was clear. I can't tell you how thrilled we were.

We realise it is only the first hurdle (how apt is that for a Grey) she may have to go for a chest x ray now, and the centre have contatced Head Office to ask for funding. As we have already decided we will pay for it ourselves if not, we will pay at least part anyway. They have so many Greys coming in that funds are at a premium, just like every other rescue centre.

The only thing that would change our minds is if it would diminish her quality of life greatly. I have been guilty of hanging on to a dog too long because I didn't want to say goodbye. I was 19 then and after the worst of the grief had passed I vowed in future to think of my dog and not myself.

We will have to see what transpires, Greys are not very good with anaesthetics, but there seems to be improved anaethesia these days, which can only be good.

Poppet herself is the same irrepressible minx, but even when she has run off with one of your shoes and anything else she can find, she comes to you wagging her tail and with her lovely smile, to be cuddled and it just melts your heart.

Please keep your fingers crossed for her.

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhh Lilac, really pleased to hear the blood tests are clear & fingers crossed for everything else.

I also agree with you about quality of life and I'm a great believer that, if something can be done which achieves a good quality, pain free life for a reasonable amount of time, then go for it.

DMs dog had a tumour removed at the beginning of March - touch wood, she's doing fine and will continue to do so for a long time.

Chemo was briefly discussed but the vet said to DM that she wouldn't recommend it as dog is very nervous away from home, terriried of new people & hates travelling in the car so putting her through a 2 hour journey (each way) to a strange vets with strange people & treatment each week, would be so stressful for her..... it would probably be too much for her.


However, I've also seen some people (usually on some vet program on TV) putting their pets through ops, chemo etc and when they/the vets are questioned, it turns out it may give an extension of life of only a couple of months compared to doing nothing (apart from pain management of course). In cases such as this, the question (for me anyway) always has to be "is that in the best interests of the animal".

Please keep us updated.

LilacLouisa

Thanks for the reply. I agree with you over the chemo, as far as I can see it seems to be traumatic for the animal and possibly not worth it for the length/quality of life, from what I have seen anyway.

Hopefully one day soon there will be better treatments, things seem to have forged ahead with some of the human treatments, so maybe the same will happen for animals.

I hope your Mum's dog will be with her for a long time.

Take care.

LilacLouisa

Well we were told that this op would be a nasty one, but we didn't realise just how nasty it would be!

We took Poppet in for her op on Monday, we were dreading it and spent an anxious day waiting for news that the op was a success and that Poppet had come through it ok.

We had been told that it was advisable to leave her in for the night, but we were hoping to pick her up the next morning, but we got a call to say that she was very bruised and also had high blood pressure. They were giving her methadone because she was in a lot of pain, and another drug to lower her blood pressure.

They had done another blood test to determine if she had become anaemic, and so she was kept in again. The next day (Wednesday) we recieved a call to say that she would have to stay in as she now had emphysema, and there was also blood in her urine.

She has come home this afternoon, still passing blood in her urine and still with emphysema, but we have to take her back in the morning to have her drain removed. Her poor little body is purple at the moment with bruising and obviously she has a big scar on her tummy, but we are so delighted to have her back.

The emphysema is not in her lungs, but underneath her skin, if you run your hand gently along her body it feels like bubble wrap.

Sorry for the long post btw, I am just sitting up with her tonight to make sure she is ok and thought I would bring the info up to date.