UPDATE: The vet just called! Lab tests back and it WASN'T cancer!!! We made the right decision with the surgery! Vet said that if we would have waited until this Monday for the surgery, he couldn't do it because he got sick, so good thing we had it done last Friday!! What a relief!!! Yesterday he started limping on his front leg, but this morning he isn't limping quite as much on the front leg that had the IV.
We dropped Bucher off at the vet for surgery this morning. We are so nervous! Keep hoping we have done the right thing! Boo has seen 3 different vets and all said that we should have the surgery! We are keeping our fingers crossed!!!
Since Bucher was diagnosed with anaplasmosis last fall, he went on the antibiotics, and everything was supposed to be okay. I have been saying that I didn’t think he ever snapped back to his normal self. We took him to the vet today, after many calls to the vets, for x-rays. He has a tumor on his spleen. We have to make an appt. for an ultra sound to see if it is contained or has spread. If it hasn’t spread the vet feels removing it should give Boo the chance to have a normal life. Has anyone else had any experience with tumors on the spleen (Boo will be 10 in October)? This was so not the news that we wanted to hear! The vet just called back and our appt. for the ultra sound is 1:00 pm Monday. Keep your fingers crossed for Boo! :(
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I am so very sorry,
My heart, and prayers are truly with you
comancheflame
Hi Lynne, sorry I am not a vet, I've only had human splenectomy experience as a pa, however i do think they share the same concern. The biggest complications are hemorrhage, cardiac arrhythmias and pancreatitis.
As far as the surgery goes, once the body is opened, your surgeon will obtain a tissue sample to determine if the mass is malignant or benign.
If everything goes well, there's a 25% chance that the mass is benign, considering there's no complications mentioned above, then it'll be everything your vet said, Boo will recover and live a quality life.
On the other hand, statistic have also shown that 75% of the cases are malignant, in that case, you'll have some tough decisions to make in a short time.
The average survival time post surgery (malignant) are roughly 19-86 days. 1 year survival rate is less than 10%.
Chemotherapy is an option and it may increase life expectancy up to 141-179 days but you'll need to take into side effects like gastrointestinal upset, bone marrow suppression. (quality of life)
Remain hopeful and believe in miracles, you and Boo are in my prayers.
this is great news! Here is a good article about a splenectomy. I love this website for everything vet related from medications to diseases.
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