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I just got a first time email from city-data saying there were 2 new replies to this thread! So sorry...I would have replied earlier...just didn't know. I'll investigate what a DM is but for now......Bella goes to Dr. O'Neil at Portsmouth Veterinary Clinic on East Main Road. They don't do this type of surgery. Dr. Sweet at Ocean State Vet Service ( East Greenwich) was her surgeon. They are also affiliated with Bay State Vet Emergency Service in Swansea MA. We had our consult and follow up visits there. Much closer for us! Where are you?!?? We are in downtown Bristol!
Neither of these 2 practices were holistic in approach and didn't think changing her already "holistic" brand of dog food was necessary...but I did any way. Followed Southward Bound advice and its easier than I thought. Never knew a dog could love broccoli so much!
Let me know if I can help anyway at all! I'll keep checking back in here.
PS... If you are in the East Bay area and go to Mt Hope Animal hospital....please get a second opinion !!!
Second opinion is always a good idea!!
Fishwife, you are in a great area for veterinary care. We used to live not all that far from your neck of the woods, so we know you have good resources available. Glad to hear your transition in diet was easy.
Yes, it's amazing what they love to eat! Broccoli, kale, spinach, zucchini, green beans...even collards and swiss chard! plus 25% protein and a medium sweet potato and all his vitamins and supplements, and Dusty eats better than I do! (those supplements are important, as is adding a 1" square of freeze dried liver to every meal.)
Keep up the good work, all of you, and know that we are all here for you, pulling for you, cheering you on, and there's always a shoulder to cry on, when needed. I hope it won't be needed, but this road is a rough one any time our canine companions are hurting, and especially when it's something like this. I hope you all come back and share how your journey is going. We can all learn from one another.
Thanks for the replies. We took Hannibal to another vet today for a second opinion -- Boston Veterinary Specialists in Dedham, MA. The surgeons there performed Hannibal's ACL surgery back in October, and he's recovered beautifully from that, so I have faith in them. Although I hate to put him through a second surgery again so soon, we are going that route. His tumor has grown considerably since we first noticed it a few months ago, so in his case it's not such a slow growing tumor. If we don't do anything now, it's just going to grow and start to impact his quality of life -- he's not even aware of it yet, and it's not causing him any discomfort now.
Fishwife, thanks for the names of your vets. We live in Franklin, MA (next to Woonsocket), and can easily get to your vets if we need to in the future.
Like for Bella, we're told it's a two-week recovery period. The vets weren't sure how much skin grafting would be involved (they may have to take some from his belly), but he shouldn't be too uncomfortable for long.
Thanks for the help. As I mentioned in one of my posts, I just want my dog to be happy and pain-free for as long as possible. Other than this tumor, he's healthy for nine-years old and removal of this tumor appears to be the best way to help extend his lifespan.
My 13 year old pal was just inconclusively diagnosed with spindle cell cancer from a needle aspiration of a tumor under his belly. I'm reading everything I can, and obsessing on what to do. My dog doesn't seem 13 at all, and isn't suffering, but rather is as happy as can be. Last weekend we walked 7 miles on the beach. I read spindle cell usually grows slowly, but I think his lump is getting bigger fast. I'm seeing an alternative vet in a couple of days, but meanwhile wonder what the "dm" is referred to here, and if anyone has heard about injecting bicarbonate of soda into the tumor? I know I don't have forever with my dog, but I'd hope to have another year or two. My regular vet thinks surgery would be complicated given the tumor's location, and from what I've read here and in other places, surgery might activate the cancer and make things worse. It's so hard to figure all this out, especially when facing such loss.
Wishing the best for you all. We're in this together.
My 13 year old pal was just inconclusively diagnosed with spindle cell cancer from a needle aspiration of a tumor under his belly. I'm reading everything I can, and obsessing on what to do. My dog doesn't seem 13 at all, and isn't suffering, but rather is as happy as can be. Last weekend we walked 7 miles on the beach. I read spindle cell usually grows slowly, but I think his lump is getting bigger fast. I'm seeing an alternative vet in a couple of days, but meanwhile wonder what the "dm" is referred to here, and if anyone has heard about injecting bicarbonate of soda into the tumor? I know I don't have forever with my dog, but I'd hope to have another year or two. My regular vet thinks surgery would be complicated given the tumor's location, and from what I've read here and in other places, surgery might activate the cancer and make things worse. It's so hard to figure all this out, especially when facing such loss.
Wishing the best for you all. We're in this together.
This is all too much. Too much cancer in our dogs, too much pain, too much heartache. All we can do is the best we know how, with the help of vets and many "second opinions". It's a difficult journey, to say the least.
I'm sorry to read your post, as it has been so sad to read the others but, as you said, we're in this together and maybe what one person learns will help another; one's experience will encourage another. If there's anything good about this it's that it can be a relatively slow growing cancer. I understand, though, that this may not apply in every case as there are different kinds of spindle cells. Sorry, have not heard about injecting bicarbonate of soda. I'll have to ask our vet about it.
You're doing the right thing by trying to do as much research as possible, and getting all the opinions you can from the vets available to you. We were willing to travel great distances but fortunately had the resources we needed right here close to home.
As for the "dm" -- go to "my settings" (top/across the screen), then look down the left hand column for messages. A 'dm' is a direct message between posters, like a private message on facebook.
Good luck to you. Hopefully you'll have a long and pleasant journey ahead of you with lots of good times yet with your old pal. It's bittersweet, but we'll take all the time we can get with our furry friends, and protect and care for them and love them. They would do no less for us.
I found a small lump on my 6 1/2 year old female Great Dane's side3 weeks ago. I went into my vet's office and my doctor did a needleaspiration and it came back as a spindle cell tumor. Originally thislump was not visible to the eye just to the touch and now it is thesize of a silver dollar. It appears to be growing fairly quickly. I foundan additional one on her other side just this week that is super small. Ourplan is to get these two tumors removed tomorrow morning. I am so nervousreading that air will likely make it grow and spread. My vet feels veryconfident with this surgery but, with all of your posts and knowledge I amgoing to go ask a few more questions to make sure I am making the rightdecision for my little girl. Thank you all for your wealth of knowledgeand your encouraging words. I have taken so many notes from your posts to askquestions and regarding diet. I already feed a homemade stew of veggiesand rice but, reading your diets you have posted I think it is timeto switch it up a little to make sure I have no carbs, no grains, no chicken,and no sugar.
I found a small lump on my 6 1/2 year old female Great Dane's side3 weeks ago. I went into my vet's office and my doctor did a needleaspiration and it came back as a spindle cell tumor. Originally thislump was not visible to the eye just to the touch and now it is thesize of a silver dollar. It appears to be growing fairly quickly. I foundan additional one on her other side just this week that is super small. Ourplan is to get these two tumors removed tomorrow morning. I am so nervousreading that air will likely make it grow and spread. My vet feels veryconfident with this surgery but, with all of your posts and knowledge I amgoing to go ask a few more questions to make sure I am making the rightdecision for my little girl. Thank you all for your wealth of knowledgeand your encouraging words. I have taken so many notes from your posts to askquestions and regarding diet. I already feed a homemade stew of veggiesand rice but, reading your diets you have posted I think it is timeto switch it up a little to make sure I have no carbs, no grains, no chicken,and no sugar.
You're on the right track with the changes to the soup! Good for you for picking up on that and being willing to make the change. And remember, even after the tumors are removed (you don't know if there might be another lurking somewhere you can't see), a good diet that is grain free, no-carb, and anti-inflammatory to protect cell structure is good for any body.
It does sound like surgery is the best choice for you since the tumors are still relatively small and easily accessible. If ours had been like that, we would have opted for surgery as well. I wish you the best and keep in touch. Let us know your progress, any answers you get to your questions, etc. We're all in this together and, together, we can learn and fight this thing. Every case is a bit different, every dog is different. It helps to have a broader view.
Thank you Southward Bound! I went today prepared for my little girl to have surgery and I spoke with my Dr. and we looked at the second smallest tumor and how it was fixed to her rib cage and my dr. said that she did not feel good about this tumor. She felt that it was fixed to the rib to much and that she thought that she would not be able to get it all. We talked about taking a holistic approach to these tumors might be our best plan at this point. I am looking for advice. My first item is diets. If you would be willing to share your recipes I would be so grateful to you. We are looking at the drug Thymex and trying not to waste any time starting this all. Any advice would be so appreciated. My dr. liked all that you guys are doing and we are just trying to put these things into action. Thank you!
MicasMom, I use a book recommended by my vet: The Inflammation Free Diet Plan by Monica Reinagel, ed. Julius Torelli, MD, and use the inflammation ratings tables beginning on p. 135. I got the book from Amazon, but my vet said it can be readily found in used book stores and even yard sales. I did not feel I had time to spend looking for it. I do find it an excellent resource and recommend you get one. In the meantime, remember that canned Mackerel is very high in anti-inflammatory properties, as are dark greens. Sweet potato is a "good carb" but yams are not. Be careful buying sweet potatoes because many people think the terms are interchangeable. Even one of my stores didn't know the difference and couldn't assure me that what they carried were sweet potatoes and not yams. Needless to say, I didn't buy there.
I'm glad you have a vet that views a holistic approach favorably! That is a big bonus for you in this. If at any time your vet wants to talk with my vet, send me a direct message and I'll give you the contact information, OK?
I will try to send you the program that we are on. I think I have pretty much covered it in these posts, but it may be helpful for you to have everything in one place. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask here or in private mail (dm).
I found this forum while looking for info on spindle cell cancer. My 16 yr olf Min Pin just had two surgeries a little less then a month ago. He has had a lump on his back/side hip area for the last 5 years, the last 2 it had grown quite large. We had a fine needle biopsy and that came back incunclusive. We were always told it was a fatty tumor, nothing to worry. We finally found a vet that had done quite a few lympoma removals on older dogs and she went in to remove it. Thinking it was a lympoa and that she would just scoop it out, however once in there she discovered it was an ugly tumor. Biopsy told us it was spindle cell sarcoma grade 1, now it has infiltrated his abdominal wall and she couldn't remove it all. We would have to see a specialist as he would need skin grafts. I don't know what to do next. Just as he was going in for removal of his sutures he was found to have necrotic skin around the site so he had to have the same surgery again to remove the skin. He is better now, healed nicely this time around. Any help would be great. He is my first dog, my son really.
oh, minpinmomb - I'm so sorry...I hear you, these are our kids in so many ways and when they are so seriously ill, it's heartbreaking.
Did you read through all the posts? Do you have any questions about them? What I posted pretty much covers everything we are doing holistically with out lab, Dusty, and he seems to be doing so well!
I forgot to mention that our vet said it's important to give him freeze dried liver every meal --about a 1" square. I asked if I could use fresh liver, and she said yes, definitely. (I always have liver on had because I use it for training treats.)
Also -- and I may have said this --the vet told us to give him raw bones, the kind that you can most likely get in your grocer's frozen section (generally called "soup bones"). They are horizontal slices of larger bones, about an inch thick. She said the enzymes and all that are in those bones are very good for him. I sometimes have to go through the entire collection to find a package that I like. They seem to have smaller bones as well, some are quite sharp, and I don't like those so instead of discarding them I cook them with his vegetables for a broth.
Feel free to ask for any clarification you need. I can only tell you about the program we are on and it may not fit your situation. You can bounce it off your vet, or find a vet who is holistically inclined and work out a program that is right for you and your little furry "son".
There's nothing good about this awful disease, but at least it's slow growing and usually well contained.
The tumor on Dusty's leg is quite large but is encapsulated, and has not spread to his lymph nodes so we're very happy about that. I may try to take a pic of it and post it later if anyone wants to see it.
Good luck to you. I know it's a stressful time for you but take one step at a time and things should become clearer and a bit more manageable.
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(those supplements are important, as is adding a 1" square of freeze dried liver to every meal.)
Spindle Cell Tumor
