spleen problem - Page 1

hello Everyone
I have a GSD male 8 years old. from past 2 month he refused going out for a walk..he was finding difficulty in climbing steps...3 days before he vomited 5 to 6 times and fell sick. next day morning he couldn't lift hips and now he is not able to walk.he dint even pass urine or motion from 3 days.. he went through blood test and abdominal scan.
Report says :
wbc-6100/ul
hemoglobin-4.7g/dl
platelets count-9000/ul
creatinine-2.5mg/dl

scanning report says spleen tumor?????

one of our vet consultant treated him and he is passing urine but stil he is not able to get up.i cant see my dog suffering. 

i love my dog to the core. i want him back with normal state..
plz someone reply to this msg...
contact number: +91-9980136784

Have they removed his spleen?

Margaret N-J

What does the vet say?  Is the dog staying at the clinic? A spleen tumor could be a very aggressive form of cancer or it could be benign, though he does sound to be seriously ill.  There is not really enough information here....

Not a good prognosis. After surgery life expectancy short. More than likely spleen cancer and possible spread to other intestines and organs. Hermangiosarcoma my dog had it and died within a week. Surgery again is without guarantees. Sorry VB

We once had a hemangiosarcoma scare but it turned out not to be cancer and our girl survived, she was only 3 at the time, she is now 8 and healthy.  I am afraid in an 8 year old cancer is the more likely scenario and as Vom Brunhaus says, in this case the prognosis is very poor even if the spleen is removed, as its more than likely spread to other organs,  However, get the correct information and diagnosis from your vet and just maybe it might not be cancer........

A friend of mine's dog had a splenic tumour .His spleen was removed and he live for a bit over 1 year afterwards.

My dog had a tumor the size of a grapefruit on his spleen last October, at age 10. He had emergency surgery to remove it, and the spleen. He recovered quickly, but I was VERY careful about his post-surgical care. We did not biopsy the tumor, but so far he is doing pretty well. I am told that if they make it for 3 mos. post-surgery, they have a good chance of living out a normal lifetime. (I sure hope so!) Splenetic tumors are often benign. Its a gamble, investing in the surgery, but a gamble I was more than willing to take for my beloved dog.

The FCE he suffered in April is not thought to be related to the hemangio according to 4 of the 5 vets I have discussed it with, but we will probably never know for sure. I'm just glad to still have him by my side.

BTW- The surgery cost me $1000., but it can and does cost a LOT more in some places, probably would have been at least $2500 where I used to live in PA. We are very fortunate to have some extremely good vets in my area who don't charge an arm and a leg for their services.

One thing I will caution you about: If you are going to have the surgery to save your dog's life, have it done IMMEDIATELY... AS IN TODAY. I lost my beloved Onyx to the same malady in 2002, when his tumor ruptured and he went into hypovolemic shock from the internal bleeding before I could get him to the Urgent Care Clinic on a weekend.

Good luck.
Shelley

thanks for the reply guys

no spleen is not removed.

vet says his iron-deficiency anemia. its difficult for vet to decide on operation...
even plates count is less 9000/ul.
he s sick he cant lift and stand on his hind legs. he l sit for few minutes and again l collapse.
he is going for scan Monday hope report is normal.. :(
but he is not eating food. i,m giving him DOXT tablets. he is drinking plenty of water..

Sorry to hear this.  Where do you live Pro?  where I live,  in Ecuador, the vets do not have the experience or the adequate aftercare facilities to do a splenectomy, it does have good success rate but is a very delicate operation as there are so many blood vessels involved and I believe careful monitoring of heart etc. is necessary in the first few days afterwards. When my girl was sick (her spleen was 20 times normal size and she was depressed and lethargic with no appetite and hair falling out at the roots) my vet even practiced a splenectomy on a euthanized dog in case he had to do this on mine.  Initially he had just done exploratory surgery and sent a sample of the "tumor" for biopsy.  Meanwhile we kept her in a small cage (to avoid as far as possible the risk of rupture) and he put her on strong antibiotics.  By the time the results came back negative for cancer (it was some kind of inflammatory process) the spleen was already reducing in size and the dog a lot better.  She recovered completely, yet the vet had originally diagnosed a tumor and thought is was almost certainly hemangiosarcoma.  we never knew for sure what this was. This was 5 years ago I cant remember all the blood tests that were done, but they did not suggest a tick born disease that could also have caused these symptoms - could this be another possibility in your case?

Is your dog on antibiotics?  It would be important to keep him as restricted in movement as possible as the risk of spleen rupture is very high.  Would it be possible to biopsy a sample of the tumor or is the vet concerned that due to the dogs general condition any operation would be too dangerous?

Let us know how things go and try to get your vet to explore all possible casues.

PS maybe I should have clarified that the original diagnosis of a spleen tumor in my dog's case was also by ultrasound scan, then the vet opened her to take a tissue sample.  This is a bit risky as I believe if it is cancer it can help the malignant cells to spread, I think most vets in the US would have taken the spleen out immediately, but luckily this was not done in this case and the dog made a complete recovery.