# When your pet was diagnosed with Cancer,,,,



## Payton (Jan 23, 2009)

I have a question, when your dog was diagnosed with any type of cancer, I know most of the vets took biopsies of the tumors they could see, remove them send the tissues out, but after that, did the vets ask to do any other types of chest xrays or other ultra sounds or scans, that you would see tumors at .. spleen.. ect? This way you see the entire picture of what you are dealing with.???
I know some of you are sent to an oncologist and the dog is treated with the chemo medicines, but if you do not have the entire picture, did the oncologist say the meds could help other tumors that pop up?

Or has the vets just treat one issue at a time..

When my mom had a tumor, the doctors investigated are there any other tumors to see what would be the best course of treatment , and know what they are dealing with in terms of how much the cancer has spread and know what meds to use... in terms of the chemo meds or /radiation..

I was just wondering.. I guess more time on my hands,


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

When Katie's mass on her shoulder came back, my vet took chest xrays to see if there was anything else. Unfortunately, she had lung cancer also. 

A good vet will take xrays, sonograms, etc. of the chest and abdomen to see if there are any other signs of cancer.


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## NuttinButGoldens (Jan 10, 2009)

I've learned one thing after losing 3 Goldens to Cancer. I want a Chest X-Ray right away.

In fact, if one of my guys won't eat, I want a chest x-ray.


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## KatieandAngie (Dec 24, 2008)

Our Katie had a hemangiosarcoma and all we ran was an ultrasound, mainly due to the fact that it showed a ton of lesions on her liver and several other organs. That as well as her age (she was 13 years old) negated the need for any addtional tests. The vet put her on metacam and we were lucky to get 3 more wonderful painfree weeks with her.


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## Kelbys'Dad (Jan 19, 2009)

With Kelby we started at our vets with x-rays. The next day we were at a specialist who performed an ultra sound. The following day she was in surgery. With the way Kelb's masses were situated, they did not show well in the ultra sound. We really didn't know the complete extent of what we were dealing with until she was in surgery.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

I was one of the fortunate ones, the tumor on my dog's spleen, found on an ultrasound, turned out to be benign but they *highly suspected* hemangiosarcoma, so they did chest x-rays before deciding whether or not to recommend a splenectomy.


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## Doodle (Apr 6, 2009)

When Chip was diagnosed with mast cell cancer, our vet took chest/abdominal xrays to determine if there was any obvious spread. After his surgery was done and pathology was back, we saw an oncologist who did more xrays, blood tests and biopsies to check for metastasis so we'd have the "whole picture" before they made their recommendations for chemo.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Well I think alot would be what are the symptoms, what is the expected type oof cancer and what do the other tests show. Not all cancers produce tumors and not all are treated with the same agressive measures. I am hoping this is just a general question and there is not issue you and your dog are dealing with, but if that is the case please post more specific information.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

It completely depends on the type of cancer suspected. With lymphoma, for example, you may not do x-rays or ultrasounds if there don't appear to be internal symptoms. While lesions in the digestive tract are possible with some kinds of lymphoma, they're much rarer, so if the vet didn't see any symptoms of them, it may not be worth looking. 

With osteosarcoma, one of the first things they'll do is get a chest x-ray, because the lungs are the most common place for metastases, and knowing whether the cancer is still localized to the bone or not is crucial for understanding what kind of treatment to pursue. With osteosarcoma, caught early, sometimes an aggressive amputation of the affected bone (if possible) provides an indefinite period of halting the cancer.

With hemangiosarcoma, you're talking about a cancer of the blood vessels, so the first thing they'll want to do is visualize it, probably with an ultrasound (depending on location). 

Some kinds of chemo help prevent the spread of metastases or shrink the metastasized tumors.

If you had questions about a specific kind of cancer, you might get more helpful answers, though.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Payton said:


> I have a question, when your dog was diagnosed with any type of cancer, I know most of the vets took biopsies of the tumors they could see, remove them send the tissues out, but after that, did the vets ask to do any other types of chest xrays or other ultra sounds or scans, that you would see tumors at .. spleen.. ect? This way you see the entire picture of what you are dealing with.???
> I know some of you are sent to an oncologist and the dog is treated with the chemo medicines, but if you do not have the entire picture, did the oncologist say the meds could help other tumors that pop up?
> 
> Or has the vets just treat one issue at a time..
> ...


With Maxine, my vet did the biopsy. He I believe did a punch biopsy. I know he looked at the sample and saw malignant cells. He did not know what it was so he sent the sample for lab work. Labs came back it was osteosarcoma. We scheduled an appointment with the oncologist. When we were at the oncologist they took xrays of her chest. This often spreads to the chest, and if it had they would not have thought of further treatment as it would be too late to help her. It had not yet spread so the next option was surgery, however before the surgery, the oncologist surgeon required that a ct scan be done. He had to know EXACTLY where this was and how big, he would not open up the dog and discover something he could not operate on. 

So in my case there were steps of which each needed to be "passed" before going further. However we chose not to do surgery on Max as she is over 12 years old, and just not sure it was the right thing to put her through. So far she is doing ok, I am completely enjoying every day we have left.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

I should add Max's tumor was in her mouth. Not a very common place for osteosarcoma, but it does happen. That is why he insisted we do a ct scan before moving forward. 

Many dogs do have limb amputation, but usually that is a pain reliever and the cancer still takes the dog. Such an icky illness.


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## Allie (Nov 30, 2008)

So far, Allie has had radiographs, CT scans, blood work, and the surgery(amputation of the ribs) time will tell how long we have.
It's chondrosarcoma or osteosarcoma - young or old dog cancers.


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## Duke's Momma (Mar 1, 2007)

Hi, Peyton

Confirmed through CSU via needle aspirate lymphoma.
Appt. with a vet not an onco. but versed in chemo and had an ultrasound done to check kidneys, liver, and all internal organs & internal nodes to stage disease.
Appt. with onco at CSU and accepted into trial
Started chemo.

Wow - that's our journey in a nutshell!


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## Meggie'sMom (Dec 24, 2007)

Megie's lymphoma was diagnosed with a needle aspirate, then a biopsy was done on one of her enlarged lymph nodes to confirm and stage the disease. My local vet did these and actually removed the entire lymph node under her neck. 

Once we saw the oncology staff at NCSU they did a chest x-ray, liver biopsy, ultrasound of the spleen and bone marrow aspirate. All done to know if the lymphoma had spread, so again it was for staging. They want a base line before beginning chemo to compare to later tests if they are necessary. 

Meggie's tests came back t-call stage IIIa

After chemo if we wanted to do the half body radiation treatments, we had to repeat several tests to restage her b/c they refuse to do the radiation treatments unless the dog is in actually in full remission. 

All of this was very helpful when Megs later came down with aspiration pneumonia from developing a megaesophagus. The tests for myasthenia took up to 10 days to return and in the mean time the oncologists were betting that her lymphoma was back. Running a few of these tests showed absolutley no sign of cancer and they could rule out restarting her chemo and also began to call her "miracle dog" since she is t-cell.


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## PC Mom (Oct 30, 2009)

Mac has osteosarcoma. When I brought him to the vet for the lump on his leg, they x-rayed the leg, told me it was cancer, and then ran chest films that day to see if it had spread. We met with a cancer specialist (not an oncologist) the following week who repeated both sets of x-rays with the same result. In osteosarcoma, at the time of diagnosis over 90% have metastisized to the lungs microscopically. 

We amputated the leg since there was no sign of metastisis but chose not to do chemo because his immune system is already compromised because of other issues. 

That was 6 months ago and he's doing great!

We did a repeat chest film in September, November and will again in February, though we won't change our course of treatment, it just gives us some idea of what we are dealing with time-wise and what we need to watch out for.


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## Claire's Friend (Feb 26, 2007)

We didn't know if Erin's lump was cancer until we removed it. But before I put a 17 year old dog through anything I wanted X rays and ultrasounds. Once those were clear, we went ahead with the surgery.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

It's been 6 years since our first experience with cancer and this weeks traumatic experience. In the 6 years, things have definitely improved from suspicion to diagnosis.

Beau, hemangiosarcoma July 2 to July 14 2004. It started with blood work, then immediate chest x-ray where tiny tumors were seen in the lungs and spleen. A sonogram was scheduled the next week (it took that long for us 6 years ago) and then "exploratory" surgery and splenectomy for July 14. The surgeon opened Beau up and called us immediately--the cancer was everywhere. We let Beau cross the bridge that day. That was a horrid 2 weeks yet every day was special because we knew what was coming diagnosis wise. 

Barkley, Thursday morning collapse in the street on walk. 1 hour later, blood work shows very low RBC, X-ray one hour later shows masses in spleen. 2 hours later sonogram reveals more tumors in spleen and free fluid seen, 24 hours after the collapse splenecotomy begins. We are barely 48 hours out from Barkley's collapse and now just waiting the pathology on the spleen. I'm not sure a MRI or anything else will tell us more.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Dallas Gold said:


> It's been 6 years since our first experience with cancer and this weeks traumatic experience. In the 6 years, things have definitely improved from suspicion to diagnosis.
> 
> Beau, hemangiosarcoma July 2 to July 14 2004. It started with blood work, then immediate chest x-ray where tiny tumors were seen in the lungs and spleen. A sonogram was scheduled the next week (it took that long for us 6 years ago) and then "exploratory" surgery and splenectomy for July 14. The surgeon opened Beau up and called us immediately--the cancer was everywhere. We let Beau cross the bridge that day. That was a horrid 2 weeks yet every day was special because we knew what was coming diagnosis wise.
> 
> Barkley, Thursday morning collapse in the street on walk. 1 hour later, blood work shows very low RBC, X-ray one hour later shows masses in spleen. 2 hours later sonogram reveals more tumors in spleen and free fluid seen, 24 hours after the collapse splenecotomy begins. We are barely 48 hours out from Barkley's collapse and now just waiting the pathology on the spleen. I'm not sure a MRI or anything else will tell us more.


 
Anne, the advances you've seen in dx and initial tx in the past 6 years is good to know.


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