Diagnosed Hemangiosarcoma

[Guest LoveSeniorGreys]

We had two suspicious looking lumps removed from our new broodie. One came back as being a (skin) hemangiosarcoma.

Anyone have experience with this?

[Guest Fasave]

So sorry to hear this. Do you know if they got clean margins? My guy has had two soft tissue sarcomas removed (leg and back). We were able to get clean margins on both so no further treatment was required. However, one of my friends was going through it at the same time with her grey and they did not get clean margins. She was going to do radiation treatment (5 days/week for 3 weeks and about $3,000 to $5,000). She got in touch with Dr. Couto and he put her on to a new injectable chemo drug (4 shots and a cost of about $800 I think). Two years later her pup is doing well. She had to search to find a vet to administer the drug even here in the Boston MA area but she pulled it off. I would definitely get in touch with OSU if you have not already.

 

Please keep us posted.

[Guest Greytluv]

I'm so sorry to hear this. Precious broodie

 

What's the difference between a mass (or mast ) cell tumor and hemangiosarcoma? My springer, Geena, had a mass cell which was cancer. The vet got clean margins and she lived the rest of her live with no other occurrence.

[ahicks51]

If you get them small, it's manageable. Dermal hemangio is not uncommon, and they can be removed when they appear.

 

Purely anecdotal: a correspondent of mine from the greyhound mailing list noted that she thought the incidence of hemangios was smaller when her dog was raw fed. Apparently, this hound had them removed on a regular basis- I'm guessing tens of spots, but that's a guess.

 

So, Coco had one removed- very tiny, maybe 2-4 mm diameter, if that. We didn't even send it out for biopsy- simply assumed the worst, based on the judgment of a very skilled vet. 16 months later, I bring him in again for what I think is another hemangio. Instead, it's a nipple. Shows you what I know. But- being thorough, the vet found one I had missed, on his knee. Again, very tiny.

 

On the way out, he noted that a recurrence after 16 months was a long duration, and I noted that we were providing him a strict, predator model raw food diet, suggesting perhaps that could be at least partially responsible. He agreed.

[Guest GreysAndMoreGreys]

The Dermal isn't really anything to get too upset about as far as cancers are concerned.

Here is a link to the different kinds of Hemagio.

 

In the link you will see that 30% of all dogs with dermal Hemangiosarcoma develop metastatic disease.

Pretty good odds when dealing with a cancer.

 

My bridge girl Cassie had dermal Hemangio. We had it removed and it never came back. But we did keep a close eye for any others that might have shown up

[greypuppyluv]

Heather's right. The dermal hemangiosarcoma is the least worrisome of all of them. If you do a search here in H & M, the hemangiosarcoma that people have lost their greys to has generally been the visceral type (although it hasn't been technically labeled that by the posters).

 

Our whippet, Piper, had the hypodermal hemangiosarcoma and we did lose him to it but I think he had an especially bad case of it. Many whippets get dermal hemagio and they go on to live long happy lives. It may take doing a surgery or two over the span of the dog's life, but just do frequent lump checks and take her in right away if you find anything. The earlier it's caught, the better.