Friend's Dog - Seeking Advice

[punchinella]

Recently my friend's five year old female pitbull was diagnosed as having grade III mast cell tumors. If anyone has any experience in this area, treatment options or general advice, I would really appreciate your feedback. I am very concerned for her, and welcome any knowledge anyone has on this condition. I did a search of the forums, but found mostly info on grade I and II tumors, not much on grade III. Thanks in advance.

 

[Austin's Mom]

Have you tried doing a google search on it? Austin's was a grade 2, and I'm still waiting on the one that was removed on Friday.

 

[butlersmom]

I'm sorry to hear about your friend's dog. And I'm sorry to say that a grade III is not a good prognosis. Did your friend's vet suggest any type of chemo/radiation? I honesly don't think I would go that route with Butler, but you never know until you're faced with that type of decision. I opted not to go that route with my first boxer, but she was older and had been sick for so long, I just was not willing to put her through anything else.

You can, however, find a wealth of information on mast cells by googling. Good luck in your quest.

 

[Roscoesmommy]

I had a shar-pei that had a MCT grade III removed at 1 1/2 years. Unfortunatley, the tumor grew back within a week and at that point, I knew that there was no hope. The vet told me that we could do chemo but it might only prolong his life another 6 months. Since he was pretty aggressive and had to be sedated to draw blood, I knew the treatment would be a huge stress on him and his last months would not be pleasant, so I opted to have him PTS. It was definitely the hardest decision I have ever had to make, but I knew it was for the best, I didnt want him to suffer the last months of his life. Ugh, now I am teary eyed and it has been 3 years since this happened. RIP Tyson...

 

[punchinella]

Pretty much everything else I've come across has said about the same thing as all of you: not very good odds. I guess I was just hoping someone had some different approach that had been tried and successful.
However, did find out there were some discrepensies (sp?). When one lab did a needle aspiration, they found no indication of mast cells. But another lab did the biopsy and did. So the two places are going to compare notes, and try and figure why they would have such different results. Fingers and paws crossed that there was some type of contamination/mixup and perhaps she doesn't have mast cell tumors afterall.

Hoping for the best, preparing for the worst.....