Introduction
Your dog is 35 times more likely to suffer skin cancer than you are, four times as likely to develop a breast tumor, eight times as likely to suffer bone cancer, and twice as likely to develop leukemia.
(Texas A&M Veterinary School)
I hope you aren't reading this page because your pet is in serious trouble. If so, you have my sympathy and prayers.
What To Expect If You Go To The Vet
With a Pet Having Lumps, Masses,
Or Other Types Of Cancer
(your vet may do things differently)
A Good Exam & History: When people bring in a sick pet to the vet, cancer is often not suspected. Cancer is not detected until blood work, radiographs, or ultrasound is done.
Other times your pet has obvious lumps, bumps, non healing lesions, or obvious masses, and that's why you brought your pet into the vet.
If your pet does have masses on the outside of the body, your vet will be especially careful to note how long these masses have been there, have they gotten bigger or changed much over time, do they hurt and so forth.
Are the nearby lymph nodes enlarged.
Do they feel fluid filled or solid?
Is the mass mobile or firmly attached? Is it spherical or irregular in shape?
Are they just moles or warts or cysts?
Are they just fatty tumors which are fairly common in middle aged and older dogs?
Are they related to recent injections?
Are they related to skin inflammation or ingrown hairs?
Or are these lumps and bumps possibly cancer? And, if so, metastatic and malignant? or benign? These are the big questions that we will want to answer.
Often, an experienced veterinarian can assure you with great (but never perfect) accuracy on physical exam alone that a bump is not serious. Other times, it won't be obvious and testing will be appropriate.
If needed, here's what we'll recommend:
Diagnostics for lumps, and masses:
1. After cleaning and clipping hair if needed, we'll stick a small needle in the lump and see what comes out and look at the fluid if present under the microscope. This simple test will help confirm if the mass is just a fatty tumor, cyst, or abscess.
If the lump is a small abscess or cyst, we will often "lance" and express and hopefully cure the problem on the spot. This costs $0-15 depending on how much fun we have. Other times local or general anesthesia and minor surgery is needed to get the job done right and that's more expensive.
2. If no fluid comes out when we stick a needle into the lump or the lump is too big or deep to make a needle stick an appropriate test (an example are the chain of lumps found in breast tissue), or if the fluid is suspicious, then cytology and/or biopsy are appropriate.
Some vets do this in house; I send them to a lab. Since to get a biopsy involves anesthesia (unless very superficial), we often surgically remove the mass at the same time.
3. Radiographs are often appropriate and if your veterinarian has an UltraSound, he or she may want to use it to better define the mass, see if the mass involves the bone, and to see if there are internal masses not evident on external exam.
4. Blood work is not likely to be needed for the diagnosis of the lump or mass itself, but, remember that what you see on the outside may only be the tip of the iceberg. Internal organs, anemia, infection, hormone and electrolyte problems may also be present.
And if anesthesia and surgery is needed to remove a mass, then blood work is recommended or required to make sure anesthesia will be safe.
Diagnostic tests for other types of cancers:
For those pets without obvious tumors, we often become suspicious of cancer because of routine radiographs and blood work. Once cancer is suspected, your vet may recommend biopsy, endoscopy if available, ultrasound if available, Cat Scans or MRI if available... or referral to a specialist or major veterinary medical center.
Treatment Options for Lumps, bumps, cysts, and masses
A. We might decide to do nothing except monitor if we think the mass is one of the many typical benign masses we veterinarians see on a regular basis. $0-1,000 depending on how many times you ask me if I'm absolutely sure it's not cancer (just kidding about the cost...but not being sure is the problem with not doing lab work, isn't it?)
B. Simple lancing or removal under local anesthesia if small enough.
C. Anesthesia and Surgical removal. I do this the old fashioned way...with scalpel and scissors...other vets might use a surgical laser or even "freeze" the mass.
These methods sometimes have advantages but are generally more expensive.
D. Post op antibiotics and medications for pain and inflammation if needed
E. Recheck. Remember that masses can be unpredictable and recur.
Choices if the biopsy results are not benign:
A. Pray that I removed 100% of the mass (often unrealistic) and it won't come back or isn't already somewhere else in the body.
B. Make the patient comfortable and treat minor secondary problems and maximize the delay of major problems through aggressive nutritional support etc...sometimes there's a long time of quality life prior to eventual deteriation.
C. Referral to an oncologist. Great strides have been made in the treatment and control of some malignant cancers. Cancer therapy can be expensive and have unfortunate side effects and can often be futile, but not always, especially for certain types of cancer...so please give this option some thought.
D. Consider Alternative Medicine. Most of the alternative treatments being heavily promoted to the new age crowd I've tried with very poor results so be careful where you place your faith.
Treatment of other types of cancer:
Check the links above to your left; we have information sheets about the many types of different cancers that we see in pets.
I am simply not very knowledgeable about the latest advances in cancer therapy, but you should know that great advances have been made, and state of the art, aggressive cancer care is available in most U.S. major cities.
In general; here's what's available:
Nonaggressive care: some people elect to simply make their pet as comfortable as possible and treat symptoms.
Medical therapy offered by your local vet or specialist: This will usually involve some type of chemotherapy along with conventional medications for secondary problems. Click here to read our information sheet on chemotherapy.
Radiation Therapy: available at major veterinary medical centers.
Combination Therapy: Combining surgery, medications, and radiation is recommended for more serious cancers. This type of aggressive care requires special equipment and expertise. It's available.
This page is about "what to expect when you go to the vet" with a pet who has cancer
On other pages I've written a little about each of the different types of cancer we see in pets:
Osteosarcoma (Bone Cancer)
Squamous Cell Carcinoma (Often on the ears of white cats) (Solar Cancers)
Leukemia... a type of cancer as well as an infectious disease
FIP; Feline Infectious Peritonitis
Information about the following cancers soon:
Mammary Cancer in Pets
FibroSarcomas
Prostate and Testicular Cancer in Pets
Warts & Moles
Lipomas (Benign Fatty Masses)
On Other Pages:
The Pharmacy Page; about the medicines we use as well as information about alternative medicines
Our Pages About:
And For Fun; Did you know...
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time television were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Coca-Cola was originally green
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the US Treasury.
Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear & smell better.
The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven: $6,400
The average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000.
Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
That San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David; Clubs - Alexander the Great; Hearts - Charlemagne;
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the
air, the person died in battle.
If the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle.
If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural
causes.
Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
"I am." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.
("I do" is the longest sentence)
The term "the whole 9 yards" came from WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific. When arming their airplanes on the ground, the .50 caliber machine gun ammo belts measured exactly 27 feet, before being loaded into the fuselage. If the pilots fired all their ammo at a target, it got "The whole 9 yards."
Hershey's Kisses are called that because the machine that makes them looks like it's kissing the conveyor belt.
The phrase "rule of thumb" is derived from an old English law which stated that you couldn't beat your wife with anything wider than your thumb.
The name Jeep came from the abbreviation used in the army for the "General Purpose" vehicle, G.P.
The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
The only two days of the year in which there are no professional sports games
(MLB, NBA, NHL, or NFL) are the day before and the day after the Major League
Baseball all-stars Game.
Cancer
(Veterinary Oncology)
What To Expect When You Go To The Vet With A Pet Which Has
Lumps, Bumps, Masses, Tumors, or Cancer
Brought To You As A Courtesy Of The Foxnest Veterinary Hospital in Beautiful Seneca, South Carolina where
We're All God's Creatures
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