# Vet says this extra Mast Cell growth is an anomoly



## Sassy (Jan 12, 2012)

*On the advice of PrincessDi I'm reposting portions of an earlier post here from Cancer forum in hopes that someone may know something about protrusions from a Mast Cell Tumor. 

My 14 year-plus Golden girl Sassy developed a Mast Cell tumor that ruptured last Wednesday. She had this lump for more than year along with many others that had been previously biopsied and determined to be non-cancerous.Still quite a shock when suddenly the relatively small lump the vet had assumed was just fatty suddenly ballooned and ruptured in one day. No warning signs that she was even ill. We got her in as soon as possible early the next morning and vet aspirated it and a test showed it was a Mast Cell tumor. Vet said if she was younger she would remove it, but given her age she's not a good candidate for surgery. So, she prescribed Prednisone to shrink it as well has Benadryl 3 times a day to block the histamine released from the tumor, medicated powder to dry up the wound, and a pain med. She also diagnosed her with hypothyroid. 

Because she had been on Deramax for arthritis she couldn't start the prednisone for three days. The aspiration irritated the tumor and released more histamine. an antibotic made her nauseous. She couldn't get up or down by herself. It was absolutely horrible. She whimpered, the sore oozed and bled lightly. The vet talked me out of putting her to sleep, saying wait until she could get on Prednisone and the thyroid med had time to take effect. I'm so glad I did!

By the next evening, she took a turn for the better. Got up by herself and ate all her food (which I changed to half a home-cooked cancer meal). Maybe it's the thyroid med, maybe the diet with varied alternative supplements, but she became perkier than in a couple of years, and seemed to have no pain!

The Prednisone dramatically shrank the tumor on her stomach. It had been the size of half a tennis ball. But then it turned really WEIRD. The tumor still had an opening line where it had ruptured. There was a black spot about the size of a quarter in the middle. We assumed it was just clotted blood. Then within hours I noticed the black whatever had grown out of her tumor. It looked like something from the movie Alien. As long and as big around as my thumb and turning blacker every minute. By the time I was able to get my vet on the phone it had started shriveling, making it look like a limp fig. I sent the vet pictures and she said she had never seen anything like it before. She advised me to resume antibiotic and just wait a couple of days. It wasn't bothering Sassy. She was even trying to lay on it. 

Still, as the "fig" shriveled, the wound around it opened. I took her in. Again, the vet said it was weird and she's never seen anything like it. She moved it around like a ball in a socket, then put antibiotic cream inside. She says the black protrusion is dead tissue, probably just skin that will fall off, but it will leave an open wound that may or may not heal up. She says she can't sew up a mast cell tumor. She doesn't recommend me flushing the wound, only putting in the antibiotic cream and continuing to apply prescribed powder. 

It's definitely dead something, hardening more but still attached. Given the vet's never seen anything like it, I can't help but question her diagnosis. Could it something other than skin? It came from inside the lump. Vet can't really say what it means because she's never seen it before. Could the tumor have died and is being sloughed from her body? Has anyone else ever experienced this with a Mast Cell tumor? Is this a good sign or bad?

It may not make a difference in her treatment since we aren't doing surgery but I still would like to know. 

I can send pictures but warn that it looks pretty gross. 
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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

As tumors grow, their blood supply shrivels and the tissues in the tumor start to die due to the lack of the blood supply. My guess is that what you are seeing is necrotic(dead tissue) coming out and sloughing however it can. I doubt that the tumor itself will go away... it is just that parts of it are dying. Tumors tend to get necrotic and infected...


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## Sassy (Jan 12, 2012)

Thanks, Sally's Mom. I'm curious if the fact that some of it is sloughing off is a good thing, that is, if it doesn't get infected. I'm putting antibiotic cream into the wound twice a day and she is also taking oral antibiotics. We also keep her in a loose t-shirt so she will not lick it or get anything in it. Hard to keep her from sleeping on that side though.


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