My 6 year old Goldie had a Mast Cell Tumour of the skin removed from the left side of his flank 9 months ago.

I've just found another suspicious lump on his neck - have already spoken to the vet and he'll be taken in on Monday to have it checked out and probably a needle biopsy carried out.

I'm just curious about the prognosis for dogs with mast cell tumours of the skin when the tumour is NOT removed/treated. Not saying I'm going down this route, I'll go by the advice of the vet IF it's a MCT - I'm just curious really. Presumably there are cases where the MCT has been left with no ill effects?

I assume that the MCT is removed because it's an aggressive form of cancer and can of course spread to the internal organs, especially if there is a tumour in place already wheich can spread its' grief elsewhere.

Any thoughts please?

Thanks

Good question. I don't know the expert answer, I'm sure your vet can help guide you in your decisions but I can tell you our experience.

Scout was diagnosed with MCT in October. The vet never even talked to us about IF he'd have surgery but instead cleared her schedule the following day for his surgery. I have, however, read about dogs and owners who feel like they've endured too many surgeries and/or the location would make it impossible to remove.

In our instance the vet told us after the surgery that had we done nothing, Scout would have had weeks or a month or two. The only way they knew the stage and grade was by taking it out. Sadly, they didn't get it all though

Some people treat just with prednisone, Benadryl and diet or chemo and no surgery.

So sorry you are going through this again. The decision making can be rough. Let us know how it goes and what your vet says.




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Try this website, and the have links to more websites at the bottom of the page.

College of Veterinary Medicine

Thanks for the helpful replies. So sorry to hear about Scout.

When my dog was initially treated 9 months ago the vet said that if another mast cell tumour appeared in an inoperable site then there is a new drug called Masivet (Kinavet in the US), official drug name in Masitinib. Apparently results from it have been very good, but of course it's not cheap. Forget the price though, if my dog needs it then he'll get it.

Are you using daily antihistamines?

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I've read about Kinavet...looks promising. Scott's chemo drug is lomustine. He's also on prednisone, Pepcid and Benadryl.

Hope you and your vet come up with a great plan. I understand completely about cost and finding a way no matter what. I've stopped counting our expenses.


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I hope Scout is on low dose Pred. Harley was on high dose but that of course was for the platelets and the side effects were not good. Within two weeks, he had lost 6 lbs (went down from 86 to 80). I got the weight back on him but he never regained muscle mass.

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Yep, low dose now. Was on a very high dosage at diagnosis and post surgery but we had a lot of no good side effects. He takes 10mg every other day. And he recently gained back 5 of the 8 pounds he initially lost.


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No - should I be using them? Wasn't aware of that if so.

Keeping Goldie in our thoughts that this newest lump isn't mast cell. There is just too many Goldens fighting this terrible disease.

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