Question:
Well, just last week Toby (my 8 yr. old shih tzu) had a problem wuth his leg that turned out to be a mild sprain, the doctor gave him steroids and he got better in a few days. I was absolutely thrilled.
About two or three days ago I noticed two small bumps protruding from his butt area. I was concerend and consulted the internet to see what the probable diagnosis would be..everything I read indicated perianal tumors. The web results indicated that these were most common in older, unaltered males...of which Toby fits the bill. I was horribly nervous and worried for a couple days, and took him in this morning. The doctor said that he would like to remove them, that I found them "very early" and that these types of lumps are very rarely malignant.
Unfortunately, my doctor, as I've detailed before.. is not fond of needle biopsies. He likes to remove all tumors before making a diagnosis. He is an absolutely phenominal vet though, and I would never want anyone else working on Toby. So, basically, I'm taking Toby in tomorrow for the removal of these tumors and the removal of his testicles, which was advised by both my vet and everything I've read...citing that the testosterone produced is the cause of these concerns. Toby is behaving perfectly normally right now, but I'm a basket case. I'm slightly optimistic because everything I've read indicates that the tumors are rarely cancerous (backed up by my vet) and if, god forbid, they are... I found them extremely early. Yet, I am still concerned about the anesthetic process and can not shake a fear of the worst biopsy result. Toby underwent a tumor removal on one of his front paws with general anesthetic last winter, and came out okay. I just pray he has similar luck here.
During the aformentioned situation I drew a lot of confidence and hope from the imput of those on this and other boards regarding the anesthetic proceedure and personal experiences that paralleled Tobys. I hope tgar you guys can give me some more feedback with this problem, because I'm absolutely heartbroken and terrified and need some support (aside from my mom, no one really understands my feelings or my attachment to little Toby). I'm kinda writing in a very nervous, and half thinking state.. so I'm just going to list some questions and I'm sorry if that comes out wrong.

1. Have any of you had experience with neutering an older dog like this ? I had heard that it was dangerous, though the doctor didn't seem overly concerned. I know that it's neccessary because of the testosterone issue but I am unnerved by it.

2. Again, I'm horrified by the prospect of an anesthetic proceedure at this point. Shih Tzu's because of their noses are at more risk anyway, and though he was fine through the first ordeal, I am scared about him having to deal with another surgery. The horror stories are there, and though the doctor has told me that he uses the safest type of anesthetic and state of the art monitoring systems, I can't shake the fear.

3. The actual bumps. Of course my main, and most terrible, concern is that the tumors will come out as malignant. I am fortunate in knowing that the vast majority of such tumors are benign but it is still a prospect that makes me tear up when I even consider it. Have any of you dealt with these perianal tumors ? If so, what was your outcome.

Again, thanks so much for reading. I am 20 years old, but have a relationshop with my animal that is probably most similar to those between the elderly and their pets. I live in the middle of nowhere and have been homeschooled throughout my schooling career, because of that Toby has been .. quite literally... my best and only friend for all those years and I am attached to him in a way that I can't describe. I adore him, and a problem like this is very difficult for me to even endure.. I try to be the strongest that I can, especially since he can read my sadness...but it's hard, as I'm sure most of you (who are all hugely concerned animal lovers) understand. I haven't slept in days and have atrocious nightmares whenever I try, so I'm really upset. I originally called the doctor last week (when I was on vacation and unable to take him in) and his assistant "asked him" and told me that he thought he had seen them during the work with the leg and that it was nothing to be concerned with. I, selfishly, would have loved to take that explanation at face value and forget it..but it clashed with what I was reading on the net, and it struck me as insufficient. I pushed myself to take him to the vet as soon as possible for his best interest, and apparently it's good that I did. I will continue to do whatever I need to do for him, regardless of money or it's impact on me.. but I am truly suffering with the sadness of it and need some imput. Everyone tells me that I should stop imagining the worst case scenarios, especially since most of the feedback paints them as unlikely, but - as most of you can probably attest - it's hard to put those out of your mind when you care about an animal THIS much.

Thanks so much for reading and any info or feedback means more than you can know,
Russell

Answer:
I don't know anything about those type tumours, but I'm sure your vet has seen enough of them to feel confident that they are harmless.

As for the neutering, we have neutered dogs much older than your Toby, and they were just fine. I personally had my own 12 year old dog anesthetized and he came though it very well. Older animals (or animals whose health is compromised) are usually given the anestheic Isoflurane, which is very very safe. Actually, I think there is a new one that is even safer.

If Toby is otherwise healthy (and I'm assuming he is) the risk of anything going wrong is probably very small.

Neutering is a very simple procedure, and not invasive. In itself, it's not dangerous at all. The danger is in doing surgery on an animal with heart, kidney, etc problems. You are doing the right thing by having him neutered.

I know it's tough when no one understands how attached we become to our pets, but all of us here know and DO understand!

Answer:
I don't know about the tumors, however, I can try to reassure you about anesthesizing an older dog. I had a 18yo poodle. He had to have his teeth cleaned every other year, the last time when he was 17. Because of his age, the vet would do pre-bloodwork and he would do fine. I do understand your feelings and anxiety. My dog/s is/were my babies. When he died, it was like losing a child. I'm sure losing a child is much, much worse, but then I've never had children. Try to be calm. Dogs are very intuitive to our emotions and you don't want him to feel your fear. Be strong for him. Not easy, I know.

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Update -
Thankfully Toby made it through the surgery alright. The vet successfully removed 5 bumps from Toby, one on his head, another on the shoulder and three near his rear. Those on the head and shoulder were cysts and do not need to be sent away for biopsy, however he recommended that the butt ones should be sent away although he said that he thinks they should come out alright.
I'm about one week into the process of waiting for the biopsy results. Toby has been pretty much back to normal, scampering around, eating and behaving as usual and playing very happily. I, on the other hand, am still VERY anxious. I have good days and bad days but I'm very consistantly caught up in worrying about the results. I thought I would stop by and ask a few questions in hopes of easing my mind.
My vet diagnosed Toby's bumps as perianal adenoma. I have found some information about them on the net, most of which indicates that the likelyhood of them being malignant is only about 15%. Still, it's that percentage that concerns me. I'm wondering if any of you know of any sites that deal with canine cancer and treatment. I'm wondering if there's a possiblity that, even if the tumors are malignant, that they would have been caught early enough for the removal to have proven curative or, additionally, if there are any other ways of combating cancer in it's early stages in such a problem. My doctor is a really great vet and saved the life of a few of my animals after others had given up, but he's not one to indulge speculative concerns. I was hoping someone could refer me to info regarding the treatment of this kind of cancer in dogs or give me imput from their own experiences. My doctor did say I caught them very early, so I'm especially looking for info regarding combating cancer, probably in the earlier stages. I've had trouble finding info on that. I'm, of course, hopeful that I won't need to worry about these scenarios, but it would be nice to know that even bad news wouldn't neccessarily be hopeless.


Russell

Answer:
Russell,thank's for the up-date on your little dog Toby,I have no answer to your questions,just wanted to commend you for your love and devotion,Toby is one lucky little guy to have you and I wish both you and Toby the best of luck

Answer:
Russell, I'm so glad to hear that Toby came through with flying colours! He is one lucky little dog dog to have a owner so caring.

I have some advice for you. Don't borrow trouble! Stop worrying about Toby until you get the results. You may be worrying for nothing at all.

I know what Toby means to you, but if you spend your days upset and worried, you can't enjoy his company fully and this wastes time. Take your lead from him - he takes pleasure from each day and doesn't worry about tomorrow.

Just take it as it comes, and deal with anything that arises WHEN and *IF* it arises.

All this took me a very long time to learn, so you are getting the benefit of a lifetime of experience. Hope it helps!! We're here to listen any time!

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Well, guys..good news. All last night I endured awful nightmares that involved me waking up from bad dreams to find that the dreams were real and that Toby had received awful news. Over the course of the night, the worst possible scenario played out in my head over and over. When I really did wake up, it was to a phone call from my doctor telling me that Toby's results were in and that all three tumors were benign. It's amazing how it happened. The results came in over a week sooner than expected and I am estatic that little Toby is okay.
I want to thank all of you for how tolerant and helpful you are with everyone's problems, a group of such caring, empathetic people really do make enduring an animal problem much easier. I found a lot of stuff on the web that scared me, but when I came away from this board I always felt more optimistic and hopeful. I also come away from this learning that any future pet should and WILL be neutered early, to prevent these kinds of things from occuring. Again, this is just fantastic news for me and I want to thank all of you for making the wait a bit more endurable. You guys are spectacular.

Russell

Answer:
See, told you that you were probably worrying for nothing!! And even something good came of it all - you now realize that spay/neuter is a good thing!

I'm so glad your baby is o.k. and you'll probably have Toby around for many more years to come. He is a lucky boy to have someone who cares so much about him.

Glad we could help.

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