[Carol4dogs]

I am responding to the original poster to ask her to do a search on Mast Cell tumors. Depending on the stage of the tumors and how successful the removal of them was with wide margins being taken, the prognosis for this type of cancer can be surprisingly quite positive.

I have an 11 year old Weimaraner who had two tumors removed three weeks ago, and one of them was a grade 2 mast cell tumor. This is the third time that this dog has had this type of tumor removed over the past several years. All have been either grade 1 or grade 2 MCTs, and no treatment was done following their excision. I find that any tumors that appear, disappear only to reappear at a later date are most likely MCTs. My vet aspirates the individual tumors and removes any that appear to be MCTs upon microscopic examination. The tumors themselves are then sent out to a lab for a pathology report. So far, we have been lucky and this girl has recovered very well.

Supposedly, there are some dogs that seem to be MCT factories and their tumors never seem to go beyond grade 2...such appears to be the case with my dog. Hopefully, yours will be as lucky. The important thing is to have any suspicious lumps examined and removed asap if they appear to be MCTs. I never let them go too long and have the chance to advance to a more serious grade 3 or grade 4 tumor...both of which have a less favorable prognosis.

One other thing, this time the tumor was so large (the size of my fist) that the vet injected prednisone directly into the tumor and waited a week for it to go down in size prior to removal. This tumor was in the thigh muscle and the object was to reduce the size of the tumor, prior to removal so that less tissue would have to be removed. I have to say, it worked, the dog recovered beautifully and was home and acting as if no surgery had ever taken place. Her movement has not been affected at all. Hopefully, your dog will respond as well as mine has.....we will say an extra special prayer for you and keep you in our thoughts.