mammary strips?

Bearsmum

Bearsmum

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Hi just looking for some quick words of wisdom, we were set to go and view a rescue dog tomorrow, but had a phone call today to say the vet had seen her and advised she needed mammary strips on both sides, I know nothing about this and a quick google suggests that biopsies would be needed first. I've been unable to get hold of my vet for a chat, but a very knowledgeable friend has suggested we call off, her reasons are the dog is liable to be much older than the 8 years we are being told she is & that the tumours are highly likely to reoccur whether malignant or not, I have no problem paying for whatever treatment she may need, but don't feel I want to go through the heartache of months of treatment only to lose her, accept there are no guarantees in life, I just want some decent odds of having few fun filled years.
Anyone know of a cocker spaniel or maybe small Labrador, 6-9 years old looking for a ten star home; only pet other than a very old tortoise, two adults both working from home, large detached bungalow, good sized enclosed garden AND a huge wood burner which stay alight all winter - I feel the cold! Plus I've just ordered a new fleece for my old dogs Tuffy nest
Thanks
 
8 is not too young for mammary cancer nor for the need for stripping them out. I must admit even one tumour removal from my 8 year old labs chest has aged her a lot either that it was spaying her she was 8 when they did it and she looks and moves like a much older dog now
 
I can't help with the mammary strips, I don't know anything about it. Would the rescue agree to paying any ongoing vets fees? I know you might still lose her at a young age but you could think you were giving her a retirement home?

As for rescues - Black retreiver x rescue have some lovely dogs.
 
A lot of vets don't biopsy as mammary lumps have a high chance of being cancerous and the cancer can spread very fast, poking at them can accelerate spread too.
I would want chest xrays to make sure it has not spread to the lungs.
Life expectancy is not great after mammary tumours and it is huge surgery.
 
The vet removed the lump from Willow's sternum and biopsied as mammary carsonoma but said there was no spread and no cancerous tissue at the margins so life expectancy was not impared. While it is nice to know I am not certain she wont succumb at another time. However they spayed her at the same time and I am sure that is why she has aged so fast. My friends dog was spayed at 6 months and before she was three she was moving and behaving like a very old dog
 
Clodagh said:
I can't help with the mammary strips, I don't know anything about it. Would the rescue agree to paying any ongoing vets fees? I know you might still lose her at a young age but you could think you were giving her a retirement home?

As for rescues - Black retreiver x rescue have some lovely dogs.
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They would 'possibly, but it's the grief of ongoing tests & operations that concern me the most, there are lots of dogs without known health problems looking for homes, so I'm not sure I want to take one on which has, will have a look at other rescues, there will be the one for us out there somewhere,
thanks
 
It’s very unlikely to re-occur post strip (that’s the point, you remove the mammary tissue plus you’ve made the chance much less as presumably she’ll be spayed too. It’s two pretty big operations, and they’ll need to check it’s not already spread already.
 
I've had three bitches, who have been un-spayed and as a consequence all three developed mammary tumours in later life. One was really bad and had massive (advanced) lumps on nearly every gland, the other two were caught early and the tumours were whipped off immediately.

In all the cases, it made no difference to their life expectancy and all of them progressed to secondary tumours elsewhere within 12 months of the mammary surgery. Two lung tumours and one heart, all of which proved fatal.

I believe the statistics for mammary tumours is something ridiculous like 90% will be malignant, so there's little point in biopsy - I didn't bother as it wouldn't have changed any treatment the dogs had. Mammary tumours can re-occur if the bitch remains un-spayed, so that's something else to think about.

The recovery from a mammary surgery is very straightforward. Couple of stitches to take out in ten days and that's it so the surgery isn't a trauma for you or the dog at all and there wouldn't be any ongoing surgeries to think about, unless you count neutering but that could probably be done at the same time. I'm all for having just one anesthetic and taking a list!!

Granted it would be a lot to take on and if your heart isn't in it, then don't bother. Personally I don't really care if I have a dog 6 months, 6 years or 16 years as long as they have the best life I can offer.
 
It’s 50/50 benign vs malignant so generally worth sending them off in a younger dog, but needle biopsies tend to be inconclusive. The strip is a much larger wound and comparatively (to say neutering or lumpectomies) commonly has complications due to its size and the tension over such a large area.
 
rara007 said:
It’s 50/50 benign vs malignant so generally worth sending them off in a younger dog, but needle biopsies tend to be inconclusive. The strip is a much larger wound and comparatively (to say neutering or lumpectomies) commonly has complications due to its size and the tension over such a large area.
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I'm genuinely interested in why it's worth biopsying in a younger dog? How would it affect the treatment if malignant or not? I'm honestly not being facetious, just nosey as it wouldn't make any different to me knowing if removed lumps are malignant. Is it a chemotherapy thing?

I've had other lumps biopsied with my woofs, when my vet thought one was a spiral tumour but wasn't 100%. Hmmm, thinking about it, this was in a fairly young dog. I may be talking myself out of my own question :)
 
Poor little dog.... I’m such a soft touch, all I can think is that she has no chance of finding a home now! I appreciate that not everyone wants to take on heartache and I am honestly not judging anyone for that, but I’d love to give the little soul a home now so she has some love in her last few months.....
 
deb_l222 said:
I'm genuinely interested in why it's worth biopsying in a younger dog? How would it affect the treatment if malignant or not? I'm honestly not being facetious, just nosey as it wouldn't make any different to me knowing if removed lumps are malignant. Is it a chemotherapy thing?
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If it’s benign you can leave it at that, you know the dog will live a normal length life and won’t have further mammary issues now there’s no tissue left. If it’s malignant you may want to grade and stage it (sample the local lymph nodes, xray the chest if you haven’t already) to see if it’s spread and give some idea of prognosis. If it hasn’t and you’ve got clear margins (that the lab will confirm) depending on what it is, you may be in that same group as all clear as above and although you’ll need to monitor closely you can carry on life as a normal dog and live well and a normal life expectancy. If it has spread or you’ve not got clear margins then you may consider more treatment. The nastier types you’ll be looking at weeks not months to live. Some vets will stage before the surgery especially if it looks nasty so you can PTS before the surgery and they don’t need to go through that only to prolong what’s soon inevitable in the case of lung spread. Some the nastier ones you may strip the first side then while that’s healing it the results come back and you can decide not to ‘bother’ with the second side especially if healing has been poor. Always pretty gutting when that happens. Steroids are bad for healing but good for slowing tumours and reducing inflammation with different side effects to NSAIDs so that’s another choice you’ll base on the lab results assuming they’re not going for true chemo.
 
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