Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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My dog had her surgery one week ago today. We just got the results from the biopsy and they aren't great. They said her miotic number is 27 but the grade of the tumor os "not high". They are suggesting chem but after paying $8k for tests and amputation, idk if I can afford chemo treatment too.
I'm not sure what to do? 🙁
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Sorry you find yourself here, but it's the best place for suppprt and information. Your post has been approved so others can chim inj with feedback.
I dont have enough insight into your dog's particular situation (what's her name?) to offer any specific guidance. While the miotic number is high,I do think it's "good news" that the tumor is low grade.
We do, however, have a long time memver here named Karen whose very familiar with Mass Cell. Of course, ,none of us are vets and we are not giving bad advice. Below I'm going to "copy" a reply Karen made to a ,member dealing with mass cell. Hopefully it will give you some reassurance. If I recall, she didn't do any chemo, but not sure.
....."" My first Pug Maggie lost a leg to a MCT then had more tumors show up that just sat there. She also had a poor prognosis of 6 to 9 months after her amp yet she lived almost 4 more years and did not pass from mast cell cancer. I had a couple tumors removed from my second Pug Tani and before the path report came back two more popped up. I stopped removing tumors from Tani as she got older and they just sat there, she never had internal metastasis and she lived to almost 15 years old and did not pass from cancer..."
We can tell you that, even though a prognosis might not look very good, every dog is different and we have seen many dogs far out live any prognosis or statistics. Sometimes a mass cell tumor may appear to be very aggressive and yet doesn't cause the havoc that a path report may have predicted.
How is your girl doing overall as far as recovering from the amputation surgery itself? Can we help you with any recovery questions?
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Oops!!! Just realized this was posted under "Ask A Vet" Our volunteer Vet will see this and respond💖
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
No thank you so much. This made me feel better. I understand each dog is completely different but I've never dealt with thos before at all so I'm so thankful for this group!!
Overall she is doing well and adjusting well. She had a post op check up and most likely staple removal on thec14th and right after that she sees the oncologist to see what we can do for her.
She is 10 so I know I don't have infinity left with her but before this I was hoping for at least 5 more years. Now with this all happening, not knowing is so hard.
Thank you for responding! It makes me feel so much better that I'm not alone in this
Hi Cassie, welcome. Our volunteer vet can give you some specifics on that lab report so stay tuned.
Please do start a new topic in Treatment and Recovery so we can support you and your girl on this journey. I'll look for you over there!
27 is definitely a high mitotic rate so it means that the tumor cells are dividing and growing quickly. What Grade is it? Can you post the report? Chemo is the ideal way to treat mast cell tumors but you could also consider Palladia or even just prednisone with Benadryl and an antacid or holistic treatments. They can also run a prognostic mast cell panel that gives you a better idea. I assume you have already consulted an oncologist to discuss all of the options but if not I strongly urge you to do so. You don't have to pursue chemo but they can discuss other plans.
Pam
I don't have the post-amputation report yet unfortunately. She has her 2 week check up this coming Friday followed by an appointment with the oncologist. When all of this started, they told me through all of the tests they ran that it had not spread anywhere and that they think it was a low grade tumor. But it came out of no where the end of Feb/early March. I am losing hope and feel really guilty about her leg amputation if she has an agressive cancer anyway 🙁 They told me after the amputation that I did not need to give her benadryl anymore, but I am wondering if I should start again?
The specialist sent the report to her main vet and they emailed me this:
Hi Cassandra,
We received the pathology report and see comment they are waiting on a specialized staining to look for mast cells more clearly, which I believe helps them confirm there are none seen in the other (higher up( lymph node).
What is known now is that it IS a mast cell tumor and it has spread to the lymph node in the armpit (axilla). Spread through the body is the primary concern for her long term health, so if no cells are seen in the higher up lymph node, we will be reassured - though there is no certainty that the mast cell tumor cells have no spread elsewhere (liver, spleen, other lymph nodes).
The oncologist will have the most detailed information, and I am hopeful they will be in touch with you this week about those detail and next steps.
So far as my understanding of the mitotic index is that it was 27, and that our understanding of how mitotic index is used as a predictor of a mast cell tumor's behavior is limited to tumors of the skin. That index has not been studied in MCT of other tissues, so it's not clear that the same correlation exists for Kahlua. However, if it does, the higher the mitotic index, the worst the prognosis for the patient.
Sorry to have probably not shed any additional light on a tough situation, but I did not want you to go without contact following the email you sent last week (while I was out of the hospital). And possibly some of this will be helpful to you while awaiting the oncologist.
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