You did not specifically mention $.

If possible, I would seek a second opinion - not from the Vet with which you feel uncomfortable.

All in all, from what you said, I'd go forward with the surgery with the hopes that your dog will have a few more years of good quality of life living.

Best of luck.

This post was edited by saltidawg on Thu, Dec 4, 14 at 15:14

Money-wise, The surgery is much more than I can afford, but then again, so is just getting to talk to a vet in the first place... But he is insured, so as long as the insurance company doesn't flake out on me, it should be ok. (They are dragging their feet a bit at the moment). I hope they reimburse me. I spent all my christmas savings on his pills, scan and bloodwork......:/

I have tears rolling down my cheeks as I think about the standard poodle and constant companion I had to have put down a couple of years ago. I still mourn that darn dog. I would have done anything to give him another comfortable year with my wife and I, but his journey toward the end wasn't something that could be repaired surgically.

I said all that so you get the impression I'm a softie whose main consideration was the animal's comfort and our relationship with him. Those are the factors I weighed in the decision-making process. No one wants to admit it, but finances often play a decision in these things, and I believe rightly so.

Your dog is old and there will be expense. For me, the expense didn't matter. If it did, I think I would have tried to determine in my mind how MUCH it mattered. Was expense a big part of my decision, a small or no part, or half of it? Once you establish that and accept it as a part of the decision (if it IS a part), you move on to weigh what you can logically expect after the operation in terms of how difficult the recovery will be and the extended prognosis ..... how long you'll enjoy your friend's companionship and what you expect his quality of life will be. (Those darned tears!!)

It's a horrible position to be in. Hopefully, what you decide turns out to be the best for all parties. One thing that helped me through the hardest times was staying focused on the well-being of the animal - to protect him from suffering so I could have him for just a little longer. For me, the decision was easier than it will be for you because I had no reasonable expectation that the downward spiral could be reversed.

I'll say a prayer for you and your mom, for strength, the wisdom to come to whatever the right decision might be, and that you are quickly able to find peace if your decision leaves you without your friend.

I saw your post in the "most recent posts" box. I don't usually hang out here but I'm sure almost everyone here has seen this, A Dog's Plea

A Dog’s Plea

Treat me kindly, my beloved friend, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for although I should lick your hand between blows, your patience and understanding will quickly teach me the things you would have me learn.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world’s sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footsteps falls upon my waiting ear.

Please take me inside when it is cold and wet, for I am a domesticated animal, no longer accustomed to bitter elements. I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth. Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst.

Feed me clean food that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life, should your life be in danger.

And, my friend, when I am very old, and I no longer enjoy good health, hearing and sight, do not make heroic efforts to keep me going. I am not having any fun. Please see that my trusting life is taken gently. I shall leave this earth knowing with the last breath I draw that my fate was always safest in your hands. ~ Author Unknown font color>

Take care ~ Al

I guess I should wait to see if the insurance is likely to cover it. I hate money being such a big factor, but that is the reality of it. They were supposed to contact me today with a decision. I will call them tomorrow. The vet (the nice one) checked the policy and said she couldn't see a reason he wouldn't be covered.

I'd not seen 'A Dog's Plea'. It is lovely!

Thank you both for your opinions and kind words:)

My now 10 year old lab had his spleen removed last year due to a growth which had hemorraghed. While he was younger than your dog, we too had discussed whether or not to do the surgery, as the outcome could not be guaranteed. We decided ahead of the surgery that if malignancy was found we would not have him come out of anesthesia.

He survived the surgery just fine. He spent 2 days at the specialized hospital. I do recommend not having the surgery done at an ordinary vet - some dogs require a transfusion which most regular vets are not set up to do, nor do most vets have staff in place overnight as our specialized facility does have, as the first day or 2 of recovery can have complications and we wouldn't have wanted him to be unattended.

He bounced back very quickly after those 2 days. We forced him to be careful and take things slowly but he healed beautifully and was back to himself within the week. Just over a year later now and you can't even see where that enormous scar was.

We were fortunate also to have insurance and I hope that yours will come through if you decide to have the surgery done.

Please let us know what you decide to do.

Helene

I will update:) Wow, those are things I didn't consider. I would like the vet I see to perform the operation if we decide on that course, she is award winning and highly recommended in our area, but I will definately check the faciiities and see if they have overnight staff. I know they do blood transfusions there because she was discussing that with me a few weeks ago as one of the treatment options to get some platelets into him. Thankfully he doesn't need that now.

The option to have him stay under if malignancy is found is something else to consider. I will tell mum about that one and see if it is possible.

Thanks!

Our dog at 13 years needed cruciate surgery on his knee. It wasn't life or death, he wouldn't be able to put weight on that leg if he didn't have the surgery. He was a terrier mix. We debated whether to have the surgery, because we thought he was kind of old. We ended up having it done. He recovered so well, you couldn't tell which knee had had it done. We had him PTS at age 18. By then he was deaf, had gone blind, and was having trouble getting around. But he had many, many good years after the surgery and I am so glad we had it done.

I would choose surgery. Even if it is malignant, removing the spleen may remove the cancer. Dogs usually bounce back quickly after surgery. Best wishes for you and your pup.

Thanks all! I am seriously thinking about surgery although I still have reservations. I just want this to stop one way or another. I hate seeing him so miserable. The insurance has finally agreed to pay me back so I think I am covered for the op as ongoing treatment. Plus today he has stopped eating. He is still begging for scraps and wolfs down everything we give him, but he won't eat anything we put down for him. I'm going to try to disguise his food as scraps and cook him some chicken. It won't go well if he is weak. This has been going on for a while, but this is the first time he has refused to even look at his food. He usually at least eats a bit and then more with coaxing. We need to do something asap. I am taking him back to the vet today. I hope whoever I see is willing to put him forward for surgery. The woman yesterday was not very positive, although the vet I usually see thought it was viable. I wish she wasn't on holiday.

If the vet who'll do surgery had been discouraging, "not very positive", etc to me, not once but twice, & my regular vet were unavailable, I'd find another vet.

I wish you the best.

I saw another vet who was much more patient. He took a lot of time to talk about options and gave Harry a shot of something designed to make him feel a bit better for a few days. Unfortunately, Harry took a turn for the worst on Friday evening and woudn't eat anything we gave him. By Saturday morning he could barely stand, but was too uncomfortable to sit or lie down. He stole a piece of chocolate from the coffee table, but then wouldn't eat anything else. We had him put to sleep on Saturday afternoon. I don't think he would have been strong enough to survive the op. I'm heartbroken, but I couldn't watch him suffer any more. If he had been stronger and still eating I would have still considered surgery for him, but it was obvious he had already checked out. He was done. I arrived too early at the vets so I got to sit in the grass across the street with him for a while, and watched the world go by before we went in. He didn't seem to mind being at the vets too much this time. I hope he was ok at the end. I was with him and it was very quick, but from the angle I was holding him, he couldn't see me.

Take solace from the fact your (and your mom's) decision was selfless. All who ever had to put a beloved pet down share in your grief in some small way. It's so hard. Take care.

Al

I am sorry to hear your pet had a splenic tumor. As a vet, this crisis decision you went through is a weekly drama at our hospital. The following comments are not directed at you since your beloved pet sadly sounded too ill for the surgery to be a realistic option as it turned out.

But for others in this position (and it is a common one to be in, particularly if you own a lab or golden retriever as splenic tumors are very common in these dogs as they get near 10-12 years of age). All the options and considerations have to be discussed, with liklihoods of long term survival, current health issues.. and of course, with cost of course always being a factor- usually one of the two biggest factors (rarely do we get clients who have 'lots of extra' money that cost is not a concern, but sometimes that happens. The other big factor is 'will this surgery cure your pet?' Often splenic tumors are associated with a high degree of metastasis (spread throughout the body), and if the tumor turns out to be malignant, there is about a 95% chance it has already spread to somewhere else from where it simply CANT be removed. Those pets rarely survive more than 1-6 months then. Is that short survival time worth the cost and discomfort? Only the client can make that decision. Those are the two biggest concerns. Survival of the actual surgery is rarely that big a concern.

Splenic surgeries are fairly routine, and though all surgeries and anesthesias come with their inherent risks, that is one of h the more routine surgeries and rarely is the surgery itself a big danger unless the pet has been bleeding so much that they are too anemic to survive an anesthetic procedure… aside from that, what are the main worries are has the tumor spread already, is the patient so ill from other complications that recovery would be too hard on him or her, is there blood available for transfusions should one be needed etc. And of course still the cost is the biggie. But the good thing about doing this sort of surgery on a pet, is the actual surgery is painless as the patients are unconscious at the time. It is the recovery that is painful and traumatic … so doing the surgery, if money is not an issue, is not the big question… it is more 'what will we find once we are inside?'. If there are tumors throughout the abdomen or in the liver, then usually the best decision is not to wake up the patient at all, as there is little future for them. We always ask the owners to say a goodbye before surgery in case the decision is made not to wake them up.

There are lots of kinds of cancer in the dog world, just as there are with people.. The spleen is one of the few organs a dog can easily do without, so they will never miss it. But tumors of it are usually bad (not always, though.. about 1 out of 20 are benign and then the end result is a long time cure of the problem if removed in time). Still, that is a pretty low percentage. But if you are going to have a tumor in an internal organ, the spleen is probably the easiest one to deal with in terms of surgery. Intestines are next… and then things rapidly increase in difficulty after that.

Danniboi, heartfelt condolences.

Izddr, great info. Thanks.

So sorry to hear that your pup has passed. I guess our Spencer was one of the lucky ones. I didn't realize that the chances of the splenic tumor being benign was 1/20, but for a change we beat the odds.

Dannibol, you are a true loving pet parent to have made the right decision for your pup.

Helene

I'm so sorry.

I'm glad that you had him, & that he had you, for a long time.

Thanks all!

I'm playing the "maybe I should have...." game now. I've got to stop or I will go nuts. I acted on the information I had at the time. Can't help but think if I had pushed for the op a week earlier, he might have been strong enough to go through with it. I think I horribly underestimated how quickly he was deteriorating. Agreed though, 1 in 20 are not good odds against cancer, so chances are he wouldn't have survived long anyway. Harry deserved better than to endure that as well.

Bluebird, I am glad Spencer was lucky:)

This post was edited by Danniboi_4 on Tue, Dec 9, 14 at 18:34

Harry let you know it was time and he was ready. I firmly believe dogs do that. He was 13, which is a full lifespan for dogs, so take heart in knowing that. And always feel good, even great, that you gave a dog a wonderful life and a lot of love. It sounds like you made the right decision. Kudos to you for that.

Danniboi, I'm sorry about Harry. I could tell how much he meant to you, and I know you wanted to do what as best for him - which you did.

lzrddr, thank you so much for posting, as a professional. We went through this with our 10-year-old Cardigan Welsh Corgi 3 years ago. It came on suddenly - our chow hound refused to eat, and his belly was swollen, in a matter of days. Our local vet determined that he probably had tumor(s), but would not do surgery himself, since he didn't have blood available for a transfusion, if necessary. I am always grateful for doctors who know what they cannot do.

My husband took him to the University of Minnesota Animal Hospital - 5 hours away. They did exploratory surgery, and found tumors on his liver and spleen. They gave us a few options: remove the tumors and wait for them to come back; remove the tumors, spleen, and part of the liver, do chemo, and wait for the tumors to come back; let him go.

They were wonderful, DH called us (our sons and me), and we talked it over, in tears, of course. We decided that continuing with surgery would turn our beloved Topper into a ticking time bomb - and we didn't want to see him become has miserable as he was when we brought him in. We chose to let him go on the table.

I feel like we did everything we could for him - and that letting him go peacefully was the best for him and for us. I am grateful for the care and compassion of his medical teams, both at home and in Minneapolis. And I thank you, lzrddr, for not only caring for your animal patients, but taking equally good care of their human families.

I am so sorry for your loss. I had to do that to three animals last year in the course of three months (2 dogs and a cat) and it nearly killed me. You did the right thing. Harry knew you were with him even if he couldn't see you. It sounds like you gave him a wonderful life. You did the kindest thing for him.