any experience with an enlarged spleen in GSD - Page 1

My 6 year old male was diagnosed with an enlarged spleen that seems to be swelling larger over time as well as cause the palates in his blood to go down.

the vet suggests that we remove the spleen thru surgery.

another vet says that we can monitor it for awhile and see if it imporves then in one or two months if it does not then operate.

Does anyone have any experience in this regards where they have seen an enlarged spleen improve on its own ?

has anyone had experience of having their GSD's spleen removed. any side affects post surgery ? how did the dog do after the operation etc.

any experience in this regards would be appreciated

Jeffrey

No, experience with surgery, but I have known 2 dogs die of spleenic cancer. It is apparently very common in GSD's.

Debby

Remove it. Make sure the vet staples the stomach while he is in there as well.

Jeffrey,

Dogs can survive without a spleen.

However, as you are probably aware, the most common cause of spleenamegaly is hemangiosarcoma (very common in the middle-aged GSD):

http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/dehemsarcoma.html  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemangiosarcoma 

http://www.caninecancerawareness.org/html/CanineCancerHemangiosarcoma.html 

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1638&articleid=441

Has your vet done a splenic or abdominal aspirate for biopsy? IMO, this should be the first step to determine is there are any cancer cells.

My personal recommendation, would be to have a spenectomy now to prevent a tumor from hemorraging into the abdomen. However, if your dog has hemangiosarcoma, please understand that the disease is highly metastatic and has a grave prognosis.

Perhaps, I'm being an alarmist.

Good luck to you, Jeffrey.

Louise

Hello again Jeffrey,i think that Louise has given you some GOOD advice.I have also lost a dog to that paricular spleen cancer and i wish that i could of known early enough to help my dog.I would look into the tests so that you are armed with all the facts.I beleive this is something you need to be diligent with.I wish i could offer some help for your dog but this is all i know.Good luck with your dog

Speaking from experience, Louise has excellent advise. I work as a Veterinary Technician at an Emergency Hospital and have seen close to 50 GSD's with enlarged spleens, it is very common. We ALWAYS remove them for biopsy. There is no point in a watch and see approach with an organ that bleeds and can rupture. Your vet can also ultrasound, if equipped, to see where the bleed is, if he is bleeding, and what the spleen looks like. It should be smooth, not ridged and bumpy. Take Care.

My 91/2 year old retired SchH3 has ne of the ugliest spleens on ultrasound... looks exactly like the picture labeled "splenic hemangiosarcoma" .. tests were inconclusive, but that picture stays in my mind and she has been having gut issues off and on.

It is a catch 22,  dogs can live without their spleen.. so can people but.. how well is directly related to whatever else is going on. I have had people tell me to remove the spleen but one of the vets in the clinic did with her dog and he only lived a couple of months and he was totally miserable and sick the whole time. Another friend did remove her dogs spleen and it was partially torsed and she lived for 4 more years.

My girl is really happy and doing well most of the time, when she has what I call an episode - we work thru it and then she is fine.. if we opt for the surgery and it is hemangiosarcoma, removing the spleen is not gonna stop it and may like Louise said make things way worse. I would prefer for her  to be happy and have fun but its a really personal thing and you have to weigh all your options.

Good luck

Denise

Non GSD, but a large breed mix.  Had a sleen torsion at 3 years old.  Lived to 7 years old.  Did blood cell counts every three months for the first year, then to six months. then yearly.  Good quality food I think is the key to help support them.  My dog was never sick after he had his sleen removed, still as strong and athletic as before the surgery.

With all being said, yes, in the ones we have seen at the hospital, about 1/2 were caused by cancer. It is personal choice if the client wanted the dog euthanized on the table during surgery if any other parts were visibly affected. They sometimes get a mottled area coating or around them if it is cancer and has spread. One of the other techs had a 9 year old GSD, Marley, whos spleen was enlarged and we removed it only to find it looked really bad and areas of the liver looked affected. She opted to go through the surgery and had 6 wonderful more months before she felt Marley's quality of life was being affected. But there are also cases that we removed the spleen and the biopsy was fine and the dog came back for a 6 week check up healthy and fully healed. I hope you have a happy outcome and your dog enjoys good health in the future.

I would remove it, my "old man" had GDV about 6 months ago and the doc removed the spleen while in on the surgery because it was getting in the way as she was trying to decompress the stomach.  Plus, old GSD's very commonly develop hemangiosarcoma of the spleen and I knew he could live without it.  I would definatly heed the advice of having your doc staple the stomach if you do have the spleen removed, it leaves a large void in the abdomen and can increase the risk of stomach torsion.