Quote from FairPhantom on May 31, 2022, 6:41 am

Hi Everyone, newbie but we just got some potentially devastating news, and I'm just trying to get some feedback.

My dog (pit/beagle mix) has had a growth on her front right leg for a while now. Vets have seen it, never really mention it was anything to worry about. Most likely a wart from everyone who's seen it. No need to spend $$$ on surgeries to remove it, just leave it be. Well, we moved last July, and current vet who came highly recommended, mentioned back in Jan that if we really wanted it removed, it would be silly to have 2 surgeries, so we could schedule the dog for a teeth cleaning, and while she's under they would just take care of it.

Anyway in the past 2 mo it has grown a bit. Bring the dog in for pre-surgery bloodwork and vaccs she needs prior to her teeth cleaning, and vet right away notices the growth, and does a procedure, I forget what it was called anyway tells us it is a grade 2 mast cell tumor.

My poor hubby is beside himself. I'm upset, but I guess I'm holding it together better, because I'm trying not to worry about it until we're told there's something to worry about. My dogs bloodwork came back perfect as per the vet, there wasn't anything to worry about as far as a white blood cell counts or anything to indicate that anything has spread. She goes in next week Tues to have the tumor removed.

My problem is we feel so horrible. This started out as a tiny little bump and over the past few mo it's gotten larger but at a very slow rate. Even though she's gone to the vet for annuals and occasional boarding no one's ever mentioned hey this should get checked out until now. I feel if we had it checked out sooner, we could've caught it earlier at grade 1, which is the best possible outcome. Not that grade 2 is a death sentence, but it's definitely not as a good as catching it at grade 1. Also is the fact that we won't know what stage it is (yeah, there are grades, then stages, and so on) until after the removal and biopsy.

Everything that I've read on the internet is so contradictory. It's on her leg. So the fact it's on her skin and on a limb as opposed to her face or muzzle or being internal gives a much better outcome, some reports mention that dogs w/ these tumors on a leg usually have 100% removal and never suffer a recurrence. But it's on her front leg, right at the front of her elbow, which really doesn't have a lot of skin and tissue so when they do the removal, it also seems there is a chance they might not be able to catch all of it. So I worry immensely about the tumor regrowing and spreading. One article I found specifically mentioned yeah there are conflicting reports so some reports will say everything is fine, others will tell you of impending doom, how some dogs may need chemo, etc and how the chemo generally will only extend the dogs life by 1 mo, 2 tops... so yeah I'm freaking out a little.

My dog had always been healthy, and if she is in pain or not feeling well you would never know it by how hyper and active and happy go lucky she is all the time. I'm just nervous cuz I really don't know what's going to happen. Right now the vet didn't mention this was something to be extremely concerned about, but I just can't help it. Gotta stay strong for my hubby, he just feels like this is our fault because we should've been better dog parents and requested the lump be looked at at the smaller stage even though we were told it was nothing back then...