Mast Cell Tumor Surgery and Benadryl
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Updated: December 12th, 2018
The mast cell tumor is very common in the Pug, Boxer, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Shar-Pei and other breeds. This tumor most commonly occurs in the skin as a raised, inflamed nodule or mass. Sometimes it is found internally in the liver or spleen.
The cells that make up this tumor are called mast cells. There are some unusual aspects of these cells that should be paid attention to.
First, they secrete a substance called histamine, which most have heard of in the word “antihistamine”. Histamine is released in the body during allergic reactions and it causes some nasty things. First, histamine causes inflammation, which is no fun for anyone. Redness, swelling, pain… all parts of inflammation. If you squeeze a mast cell tumor, many will create a red, swollen effect due to the histamine that gets liberated.
Histamine can cause serious harm to the body when released in larger amounts. When a dog experiences massive histamine liberation, her blood pressure can drop through the floor, causing life-threatening shock. No blood pressure, no blood getting to vitals like the brain and kidneys. Bad news.
Imagine if you were to do surgery on a mast cell tumor loaded with histamine. This is more than just squeezing it, folks. We are talking scalpel action, along with some pulling to free up the mast cell tumor. Imagine the amount of histamine that could be released.
So, it is wise to make sure your vet is on the ball. Since doing surgery on some mast cell tumors can result in shock, make sure you double check that your dog gets an injection of Benadryl before surgery. This can block the effects of massive histamine release. Also allow your vet to place an IV catheter and deliver IV fluids or meds during the procedure to keep the pressure up.
Dog cancers are all different. Each tumor in dogs behaves differently and needs it’s own special treatment.
Stay tuned!
Best to all,
Dr Dressler
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Dear Dr. D,
My 14-year old English cocker had two histiocytic/epithelial growths removed two weeks ago. The dermatologist recommends lomustine once a month for four months to slow the reoccurence of these. How long do the incisions need to heal before beginning the lomustine regimen?
Hi my 13 year old jack russell has a grade 2 mast cell tumor on her lower bellie. she is currently on predisone which has helped a little, my question is she is a very difficult patient evan a general check up at vet requires her to be placed in a gas box so as to knock her out as no one can touch her. I am at my wits end as i love her equally as my own children. I dont no if surgery to remove the tumor will be to stressful for her and how she will cope after ,my vet would put dissoluble stiches. i’d appreciate any info thankyou
Dear Helen
sorry to hear about your little one.
One of the problems with these tumors is that some can be very dangerous, even life threatening. If this were my dog, I would consider the surgery. Discuss with your vet. If your little girl was my patient, we would consider Kinavet, diet change, apoptogens, and the other steps you can take in the Guide, under veterinary supervision. Last resort is Neoplasene.
Best
Dr D
Dear Dr. D-
I am pretty glad I found your site today! My 18-month-old boxer puppy Becky is having a suspected mast cell tumor removed from her left “elbow” Monday morning. I was reading up on you recommendation to administer Benadryl prior to surgery and will certainly ask my vet to do so…it certainly can’t hurt!
I am concerned about them being able to get clean margins when they excise the tumor given that its in a rather boney, non-fleshy area. She just successfully completed a lengthy regimen of prednisone and antiobiotics for boxer acne and we noticed the suspected tumor at that visit. While the boxer acne vanished with the medication, the suspected tumor has more than quadrupled in size over the last month. I am concerned about the implications of such rapid growth in such a young dog. Does this bode poorly for her to make a full recovery?
Dear Patricia,
I assume this was aspirated to confirm the diagnosis?
The most predictive bit of information for you will be the Grade of the mast cell tumor, which is part of the biopsy report.
see this link:https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/dog-cancer-words-you-should-know-grade-and-stage/
Once you get the path report back, you will have more information you need. It would be wise to get the Guide– it is an easy read and will help you a lot. Best
Dr D
Dear Dr D,
I’m writing to your from Poland.
My 7-year-old American Staffordshire Terrier female –Asia was diagnosed with Mast Cell Tumor a year ago. She had two tumors completely removed – a coetaneous one on her back and a subcutaneous one on her left thigh. The tumors were diagnosed as low grade II, stage I. From March to December 2010 she was on prednisone. Two oncologists – one from Poland and one from Holland have been taking care of her.
All her blood, urine tests, ultrasounds etc. have been ok and she’s had them done every month since March 2010.
In August 2011 I spotted another subcutaneous tumor on her right rear leg “ankle”. Although at that time she had been on prednisone for almost 8 months, the tumor got smaller and bigger every now and then. In January’11 her Polish vet performed a fine needle biopsy of that “ankle tumor” and it turned out to be MCT grade II again. Then I took Asia to Holland for further exams. Again Asia’s had all the blood, urine tests done, lymph nodes checked, ultrasounds etc. and all is fine. Since the tumor is subcutaneous and is on Asia’s ankle her vet from Holland is very much against surgical removal of that tumor, so also no other exam like histopathology is possible to assess further characteristics of that tumor ( stage, mutated C-kit receptors etc.) .
Since it’s impossible to exactly assess the tumor – if it’s low grade II or bad grade II ( although the vet from Holland says that it seems to be a low grade II – considering Asia’s history, good results of blood, urine tests etc. and the fact that the tumor has been on her “ankle” for some time and did not metastasized) the vet from Holland has put Asia on Masivet and decided to treat the tumor as a marker. After 3-4 weeks we should know if Masivet works or not. If it doesn’t, we will only know that the tumor doesn’t have a mutated C-kit receptor but we will still not know if it is a low-grade II or bad grade II tumor.
If Masivet doesn’t work, the vet suggests considering radiotherapy – but it doesn’t work on low grade tumors:(. So, if this tumor is a low-grade II, radiotherapy is useless here. So….I’m confused and don’t know what to do next. How can we get rid of this tumor? Is it possible without surgery in your opinion? Do you think electrochemotherapy could be a solution here?
I’d really appreciate your help as here in Poland we don’t have educated vets, let alone oncologists ( my local vet-oncologist can’t help me as we don’t have radiotherapy for animals in Poland and Masivet is not used here either)
Kind regards
Joanna
Dear Joanna,
I am not sure why the recommendation against surgery was made. Maybe they are worried about delayed healing due to tension on the surgery site? Also, I am not sure how a fine needle aspirate yielded a grade, since that is done with a biopsy. I would not treat this as low grade just because there are no signs of spread (yet). My feeling is to get this thing off and if needed, immobilize the joint with a splint if needed to allow healing.
I hope this helps,
Dr D
Hi Dr. D –
My 7 year old Boxer just had surgery on his mast cell tumors today. He had five of them removed. Upon getting him home, I found another, potentially two more that neither myself nor the vet had discovered prior to his operation. Is this of huge concern?
I’m feeling like putting him through the surgery and paying all that money to get those tumors removed was a waste, because not all of them were taken off. Does removing the majority of them help, or do all of them need to be removed for him to successfully recover? I really hope I didn’t put him through all of this for nothing. 🙁
Dear Sarah,
this is tough. You might want to consider an oncologist consult, Apocaps (you should read the reviews on Amazon), dog cancer diet, benadryl, and an antacid, as minimum action steps. Consider Neoplasene topical as a last ditch choice too…
I hope this helps
Dr D
our dog has had lumps for 2 or more years…first few vets diagnosed as tick bites.
the needle aspirates came back as MCT.
we saw an oncologist, and a board certified surgeon. He had surgery, and we ust got the biopsy results back this minute shane had 7 tumors removed and they missed one(ut its small)
but the tumors were grade 3 of course. he is only 7 and this sucks. grade 3 cancer idk what to do.
when we met the oncologist he told us that palladia has bad side effects in 25 percent of the patients….my dog is gonna die in a few mnths, and we put him through surgery for nothing. he had a tumor on his paw removed and now is limping…and it didnt help..hes still dying.
idk what to do anymore.
how do you afford palladia? are there charities that help out? or do you have a highly successful occupation for yourself?
idk what to do..i;d lie to try masivet…but it’s so pricey..even palladia is…i can;t believe he has grade cancer.
My dog is currently taking 50 milligrams of masivet two tablets once a day. He is a jack russell and has been on this medicine approx. 5 months, he is 16 years old. All of a sudden the mass tumors are coming back and starting to burst, what is the best thing to do at this point? Can we up the dosage of the masivet? Please give me any advise if you can, Thank you
Dear Martha,
I am sorry to hear this. Your dog is coming out of remission and you need to go start a rescue protocol. Have you been feeding your boy the Dog Cancer Diet? I’d be using that, and I use Apocaps for my patients. There is a lot here that may not be addressed- you have read the Guide? If not, I would as it is an easy read with a ton of good info.
all my best,
Dr D
hi my dog sophie is 16 years old and has a mast cell tumour on her right hind leg. it has changed and enlarged in the last two weeks overall she has had it for approx 2 months. on monday the vet did a biopsy and says that there is nothing to be done. he says she probably has between 4 to 8 weeks at the most. i am at a loss to know what to expect as the vet vet just said ” we will know when the time is right to have her put to sleep” this i cannot envisage at the moment as she is eating well, going to the toilet as normal, and jumping up and down when going for a walk (except when raining, she hates the rain!) what can i expect to happen in the next few weeks? and will she be suffering? thanks for any advise
My cat has cancerous mass cell tumors, all the work up showed that he is healthy but he is not eating or drinking, he was given shots and meds to help him eat but he is still not eating, he comes in the kitcken crying like he is hungry but he does not eat, I have been feeding him baby food and forcing him to drink water, how long is he expected to live?
My dog is 3 yrs old and he had is 3rd maste cell tumor removed.. this on was a grade 2 and was about 2inx2in back fo his ear flap.It was removed on friday august 27, 2010. He know has lots of discharge( where we have to use a warm cloth and help the fluid out) he is on metcam 40mg 1 day/ cephlex 500mg 2 tablets twice a day/ benadryl 50mg 3xs daily. he is also starting to loose his fur with sores….pls help…I despartly need info…we are scared that he my loose his life from this surgery…i took off work for 9 days to help my poor dog…. shoud i take him to a differnt vet…please help us from Edmonton, Canada…
Thank you for looking at this…
From Lucille ( Cipek’s mom)