Dawn - Tumor decision and a little whining

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Debbie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 22, 2008
Messages
771
Location
Portland, Oregon
We have several elderlies, so here I go again with more whining about another. :sad3:

Our beautiful Dawnie is in a catch 22. I'm sure many of you have been in this situation before. I know I have :sad3:

Dawn is 27 months. We adopted her about 8 months ago. She has a pretty serious heart issue, so we never had her spayed. She does have a few uterine lumps, that have stayed small. She also has a few other tumors that have grown slowly (none more than the size of a grape). We knew she was never a good surgical candidate, so we've decided to just keep her comfy.

Well, Dawnie has a "butt" tumor that we've been watching for a while. Poor little girl actually looks like she has a testicle. :sad3: What makes this tumor even more horrid, it runs from her butt, up her front and to her tummy. Well, it's finally got to the stage where I'm really concerned now. It's just about to ulcerate, and I've been keeping neosporin on it. That's helping...but I know it's a short while before Dawnie will be in trouble.

What's really hard, Dawn is otherwise happy and healthy (despite the heart issues). To let her go because of an ulcerated tumor...it just so hard to even think about.

So now I'm in that catch 22. Do I just wait, doctor the tumor as long as I can..and then let her go with the light still shining brightly in her eyes? Or do I risk surgery (which of course, she might not make it through) to give her some more time.

I think the hardest thing for me is, I've gone through this before. The tumor is big enough, that I know it will be an involved surgery. My vet will undoubtedly not want to keep her under the extra time, to do all internal sutures. So he'll get her closed up, with externals, then she'll be recooping with a collar on. Do I want to put her through a hard recovery like that...to just buy her another couple of months? Our Phoebe just went through something like this, and it took a LOT out of her.

Dawn currently lives in a cage with my two young girls. They are way more active than her, and often use her as a trampoline (ok, not literally, but you know what I mean). I have been introducing Dawn to our group of 4 other elderlies and that's going well. At least if I have her with them, she'll get rest, be in a one level cage, and have pals that will want to snuggle more than play. I'm debating to just keep Dawnie comfy and see if being in the other cage might help to keep the tumor from ulcerating (no ramps or rambuncious pals). At least she seems to like Jim, our elderly boy. They have bonded immediately. Ginger and Phoebe seem indifferent about Dawn...but Adelina is protesting. No fights, but a lot of puffing and butt shoving.

Something else about Dawn that makes her a harder surgical candidate. She's HUGE. I know this is probably due to good eatin', but I think it's also hormonal. She is one of the biggest girls we've ever had (700grams!). She's a softball with ears. I'm sure the extra fat will make it a more difficult surgery too.

Sorry for another long rambling post, but what would you guys do in this situation?

Here's a pic of my beautiful Dawnie in her hammy:
Dawnie.jpg
 
I would say option one, keep her comfy until its time...there's just too many strikes against surgery and then the miserable collar while an old girl slowly heals if she makes it through... :sad3:

most tumours do not ulcerate... ((hugs)) still a sucky decision :(
 
I had seriously hoped Dawn's wouldn't ulcerate, but I have had a few that had, and can see this one is about to. It's just in a terrible spot that drags on the ground.

I'm hoping that the neosporin will keep it under control, and getting her into a cage without ramps will help too.

We did cover the ramp with fleece, and there's fleece in the rest of the cage too...so hopefully that will help as well (until we get her moved in with the other oldies).

I have a surgery appt for her on Wed....but am playing it by ear. I will not even risk the surgery, unless the tumor does ulcerate. And at this point, I agree 100%....about putting her through so much, with the chance she might make it. It's just such a hard call when they are otherwise happy and alert.
 
This is a familiar situation... And each time it's gut wrenching.
We had a girl with a similar tumour, it turned out to be neoplastic tissue.
She is such a lovely girl... her size can be attributed to heart disease. It can be one of the symptoms.
I'd keep her comfy until it's time.
 
She is a lovely girl, so pretty. My Vroobert was a big rat, really big(1097 grams at death). He had a tumor that got to be giant and he was suffering from end stage CHF. His meds were hardly helping and the tumor made it all so much worse for him. The vet didnt want to do surgery, but I was committed to removing the tumor before it got any nastier than it already was, but it made me cry out of worry that he might not make it. Vroo made the decision for me, he passed away laying in my lap the Saturday before his surgery :sad3: He simply licked my hands and bruxed a while, then he was gone.

I know its hard and it never gets easier. I wish you and Dawn all the luck and love in the world :hugs:
 
Thinking of you and your sweetie. :hugs: My Puce, 27 months, had a huge tumor and she passed away the night before her operation. These decisions are so hard to make too.
 
Thanks guys. I do appreciate the stories from folks who have been through this before too.

I remember when Dawnie first started to balloon in weight. She was a chubby girl when we adopted her, but she grew leaps and bounds right after that. Her heart issue was diagnosed when she arrived, as she also had some respiratory problems. We even had her on some high doses of lasix, thinking the weight gain was fluid...but it was really just fat. She's lived happily on Baytril and Enalapril ever since. She definitely has something hormonal going on, and it even affects her tail. It's super fat and squishy (I know you are all probably still thinking fluid, but I can assure you the lasix did nothing).

Anyway, since I started applying the neosporin, the spot that appeared to be getting ready to ulcerate, is no longer pink. So I'm hoping we can just keep her comfy then. We are going to move her in with our 4 other oldies today. They've had several play times and all just sit around and cuddle. So I'm hoping this will also help keep Dawn company and comfy. Something tells me, she won't miss Nammie and Scout much...since they just drove her nuts anyway. :wink2:

Fingers crossed the tumor behaves and gives our girl more time with us.
 
Do you have her on Metacam or steroids? That would help keep her comfortable and possibly slow the growth of the tumour...

These are the hardest decisions to make, I'm so sorry.
 
I don't have Dawnie on either....but thank you for the reminder!! I'll talk with my vet today. Can't believe I didn't think of that. :oops:

We moved Dawn in with our 4 oldies yesterday. Everything is going fine with 3 of them, but Miss Adelina and Dawn are having a bit of a power struggle. Addie had 3 time outs, then finally resolved herself to give it a rest. Dawn has decided to call dibs on the igloo and refuses to let anyone in, with her. Hopefully, they'll all work it out as I know this is best for Dawnie.

The first scuffle with Adelina, proved to be a scary one. Sure enough, Dawn ended up on her back and took a tiny scratch right ON that tumor. ACK! I did put Neosporin on it, and it looks fine today. But WHY right there! The rest of their issues have been resolved with booty shoving. Both girls are....um....large and like to throw their weight around. I do think they'll get this worked out.

Poor old Jim...he just doesn't understand why his ladies must disagree. He keeps waddling between the two as if to help calm them down. He was the only one allowed in the igloo with Dawn. :heart:
 
I just wanted to give a little update on our Dawnie. She's been living happily with our other oldies for a couple of weeks now. Adelina just wouldn't take to Dawn :sad3: However, she is doing just great with her two new boyfriends Nick and Ben. We still bring Addie out with her old friends. She was actually younger than the others, so she still has pep and can keep up with the crazy younger boys.

Putting Dawnie in with Jim, Phoebe and Ginger was the best thing for her. Now that she doesn't have a ramp to deal with, she lives on just fleece, soft blankets and low hanging hammocks and such...she's in heaven. She and Jim are often found cuddling, and I even find all 4 together too.

The area on Dawn's tumor that looked like it was about to ulcerate, cleared up with Neosporin and has been fine ever since. I'm hopeful that Dawnie will go on for a good while now. She's happy, and otherwise healthy....and loves the "retirement home".
 

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