A very old stray {The Old Fella Story}

Scottiemom wrote:
Our son's dog, Jax, was diagnosed with a hemangiosarcoma tumor. It came up really fast and Brandon really can't even get his hand around it. When he stands, it's not as noticeable, but he was laying on his side the other day and Brandon saw it protruding from his side. He immediately rushed him to the vet who drew some fluid out which was all blood. It is a really aggressive form of cancer of the blood vessels and surgery, chemo and radiation are the treatments. It frequently returns and even if you do those treatments, the dog normally doesn't live long.

Jax is 12 and has really bad hips requiring pain meds. They have decided not to do anything. Please keep son Brandon and his family, including 5 year old Brynlee and Jax in your prayers as they try to make Jax as comfortable and loved as possible in the weeks ahead. He was a rescue and is a very loving dog.

Dale

This is one of the worst situations we encounter. IF this is diagnosed before the tumor (usually spleen) has ruptured, the spleen can be removed and there is a reasonable chance for long term survival. I removed several the largest being about volleyball size.

Most of the time these things have already metastasized and often we can't diagnose them (no real reason to look for them) until the spleen ruptures in the abdomen or the metastasized tumor in the right atrium ruptures. The latter situation results in acute death. This happened to our Amanda, I had enough time to get her to the hospital before she died, but didn't even have enough time to get an IV in her. There were no real signs that the tumor was there and growing, and I knew what to look for.

I think your son is doing the right thing, not easy but the humane thing for his dog.

Doug, DVM