Thanks

Lola, my four-legged companion has had over 50 tumors removed since September of last year. Lola has been with me for nine years at the end of April. I assume Lola to be at least eleven or twelve years of age since she was a stray.

When I brought Lola into my home, she had two bumps on her. The dermatology vet hospital where I took Lola, told me to ignore the bumps because the bumps were nothing more than fat tumors. The dermatology clinic owners have a monopoly of dermatologists in southern California, Hawaii and other locations. So, getting a second opinion is impossible. Instead they put Lola through all kinds of allergy tests because she had terrible allergy problems. Not once did they mention the use of Benadryl.

Three and half years later, one of the two bumps changed colors. I knew something wasn’t right. I took her to a vet hospital to it aspirated. The bump Came back positive and the two tumors plus a third were removed. All grade 2, level 1. Had the dermatology clinic performed their job as they should have, I would’ve taken a complete different path for Lola’s health.

First of all, I wouldn’t have allowed all those various vaccines to be given to her. It wasn’t until after the fact that I learned all those vaccines are not good because of the potential diseases they can produce. I would’ve taken a more holistic approach to her diet as I now do, and eliminated many of the drugs I believe have caused her immune system to be challenged.

Recently, six active tumors were injected with a very small dose of steroid. Since Lola’s system is very sensitive, the oncologist said the amount given is far below what is normal for a dog her size and weight. Lola does react well to the small dosages.

Now I am at a cross roads of what to do. The oncologist suggested a chemo drug (the generic version) as a pill to give her. I’ve resisted this because I am frightened by the potential side affects. What do you think?

Sincerely,
Russ

I just read this article and was hoping you could comment. My dog’s mast cell tumor had a mitotic rate of 0-1 when staged back in Sept. It was excised, with narrow margins the first time and came back in 2 weeks, so the vet did it again and got wide margins, again with 0-1 MR. The tumor came back again and we were referred to http://www.fvs.com They have given him every chemo drug in the book(vinblastine, palladia, lumostine) and he has not responded at all. His lymph node was the size of a tennis ball. The oncologist gave us a drug from Europe(I don’t remember the name). It shrunk the lymph node by half but that was all.

I was hoping you could comment on how this tumor is so aggressive with a mitotic rate of 0-1. Nothing we do works. Also, if you have any advice on any other options, it would be greatly appreciated. For your info, Kramer is a 11 y.o. Weim/Greyhound mix.

BTW, Got the book and thought it is very well done.

Thank you very much for your time.

Our 5yr old Great Dane/Lab mix recently had a tumor roughly the size of a walnut removed from the back of her leg. The pathology came back as Grade I mast cell tumor, with a mitotic index of 0-1. However she has 3 other smaller growths the size of a pea in other surgically aceptable areas.

My question is are we likely to have ongoing tumors appear and what is the prognosis if we continue to see new tumors. Can we expect to have all of these sucessfully removed thru surgury given her pathology or is her outlook likely to deteriorate over time.

My vet seams optomistic but we don’t want to be caught of guard given this may not be the only malignant tumor.

Gary