Ann
Moderator
I can certainly understand your hesitation to put your pup under anesthesia at 14.5 years. I'd feel the same way. I opted to have Checkers' gallbladder removed when she was 12. We were already treating her for gallbladder sludge and fairly sure it would eventually be a major problem so I had it done before it was an emergency. You probably know that gallbladder mucoceles is an issue in Shelties. Three of mine have had the surgery to remove it.
While she was under having her gallbladder out, the surgeon found a mast cell tumor. It turned out there were two tumors. I had surgery done to remove those a few months after the gallbladder surgery. We've treated her with Chinese herbals ever since to prevent recurrence. She did fine with both operations.
A year after that, we found a golf-ball sized tumor on her front leg that came up almost overnight. It was a spindle cell tumor. That one was tough. It was so large that they had to take a skin graft from her side to close it up, and I had to take her to the vet every other day for bandage changes for six weeks until the graft took. She had to be kept immobile. We were fortunate that she was still relatively young and so good about treatment. It healed well and our vet put me in touch with a holistic vet in North Carolina who specializes in canine cancer. He does phone consults and prescribed a regimen of drops to help prevent recurrence although he cautioned me that spindle cells almost always come back. That was four years ago; Checkers is still on his drops and we have not had another tumor. Other than the gallbladder removal which was an overnight stay, they were all same-day surgeries and she did fine with the anesthesia. She is also MDR mutant/normal so we had to be careful of that, but the same board-certified surgeon did all three operations and was wonderful.
I feel like the last four years have been a precious gift and every day with her is a blessing. She is truly my miracle dog.
I'm not sure where you're located, but I do know that some locations can get FreshPet delivered from sites like Chewy.
While she was under having her gallbladder out, the surgeon found a mast cell tumor. It turned out there were two tumors. I had surgery done to remove those a few months after the gallbladder surgery. We've treated her with Chinese herbals ever since to prevent recurrence. She did fine with both operations.
A year after that, we found a golf-ball sized tumor on her front leg that came up almost overnight. It was a spindle cell tumor. That one was tough. It was so large that they had to take a skin graft from her side to close it up, and I had to take her to the vet every other day for bandage changes for six weeks until the graft took. She had to be kept immobile. We were fortunate that she was still relatively young and so good about treatment. It healed well and our vet put me in touch with a holistic vet in North Carolina who specializes in canine cancer. He does phone consults and prescribed a regimen of drops to help prevent recurrence although he cautioned me that spindle cells almost always come back. That was four years ago; Checkers is still on his drops and we have not had another tumor. Other than the gallbladder removal which was an overnight stay, they were all same-day surgeries and she did fine with the anesthesia. She is also MDR mutant/normal so we had to be careful of that, but the same board-certified surgeon did all three operations and was wonderful.
I feel like the last four years have been a precious gift and every day with her is a blessing. She is truly my miracle dog.
I'm not sure where you're located, but I do know that some locations can get FreshPet delivered from sites like Chewy.
