Anyone familiar with this ? My 5 year old female ivory lab was taken into vet approx 1 week ago, to have a marble size bump on her snout removed. It came back as positive , on a scale of 1-5 it is a 2..suggesting chemo and radiation. Any advice ?
I'm sorry your girl has this diagnosis. There's a wonderful forum member with a young dog who was treated for mast cell in the ear. If you click on the tiny link for number of posts you can skim them: https://thelabradorforum.com/members/j-d.15978/ Hopefully she'll see this thread. I don't have experience with mast cell cancer specifically but these are the questions I would ask: 1. Was the surgeon able to remove the tumor with clear margins of healthy tissue? 2. Is the proposed treatment intended to cure your girl or is it intended to prolong her life, and if so, by how long? Yes the latter is a best guess. 3. If you decide on radiotherapy, how will this effect her eyes and teeth? Can they shield her eyes?
Hi My heart sank a little when I read this. I was in your position(or very similar) back in April. Look at the thread “Mast cell tumour diagnosis” Toby had a tumour on his ear. To get a 3cm margin he had the whole ear flap removed(I have to say it broke my heart at the time but the reality was nowhere near as bad) His was a very high grade tumour but after staging twice now there is no sign of spread. He had chemo but because the ear was removed with clear margins there was no need for radiation. I am assuming that because of where your labs tumour is they cannot remove 3cm around the tumour so there is a need for radiation. I have read up quite a lot on Mast cell tumours and they are very unpredictable as to whether they will metastasise(spread to other organs) The important figure seems to be the Mitotic index which shows how busy the cells are. Toby’s was 9/10 so extremely high. Do you have that figure? I haven’t come across a scale of 1-5 only 1-3. Does that refer to the stage of the cancer rather than the grade of the tumour? Are you in the Uk? I am happy to answer any other questions as best I can. You could also look at a Facebook group called “Pet parents of Mast cell tumour dogs”
My 10 year old lab/chessie mix just had his mast cell tumor removed this morning. His was on the back of his thigh and the vet said he thought that he was able to get good margins. Now, I have to wait 7 days to see where it is on the scale of 1-3. Very worried but hoping for the best.
So sorry you are going through this too. The waiting is the worst.Fingers crossed it comes back grade 1 with clean margins and that will be the end of it. Wishing you all the best and keep us posted.
Thank you! I have followed Toby’s health journey and was really surprised that such a young lab would get a diagnosis like his. We are very hopeful for Sam’s prognosis as the vet felt like he was able to get good margins. Sam has had a lifetime of health challenges with the biggest being idiopathic epilepsy so I am hopeful that he will beat back this latest challenge.
It sounds like this is the last thing you need on top of everything else but lucky him having you to look after him. Yes it was a real shock for us at the time. Probably genetic because of his age but we will never know for sure. I have learnt a lot in the last year so whilst you cannot pm me from this site feel free to ask any questions.
When Sam was diagnosed with idiopathic epilepsy eight years ago, what helped me immensely was learning as much as I could about the illness. I Did a ton of research and joined an epi forum which was really helpful learning from others. Are there recommended sites, research studies, forums etc that might be helpful to me? Thank you again for your kind responses. Scary time for sure, but it helps to hear from other people who have gone done this road and understand.
When I first joined this group, although people were very supportive only one other person had any experience so I had to look elsewhere. Quite late on I joined a Facebook group called Pet Parents of Mast Cell tumour dogs. Some of the stories on there were heart breaking. I got some useful information but it is quite American biased in it’s recommendation of Protocols that my dog’s oncologist did not believe in.I’m in the UK. I see you are in the US so you may find it more relevant(the drug Tagamet which is an antacid is quoted many times as being a wonder cancer drug) I have since left the group. There is a vet called Dr Sue (again American) who has YouTube videos which describe really clearly what MCTs are and available treatment. She is also pushing for a new treatment available in Europe to be available in the US called Stelfonta. Injected into tumours that can not be operated on with clean margins. There is lots of information online. Most specialist vets have links on their websites to information. The Facebook group has links to holistic groups and discussions about diet/worming/flea and tick treatments/vaccinations etc. Start with the Dr Sue videos and hopefully you will not need to go any further!
We got some good news and bad News about Sams tumor. It came back at Stage 2,The Mitonic index was a 4 and the Kiupel came Back at 2 - low grade. My vet feels like he was able to get good margins so is very optimistic about his long term survival. He is recommending that Sam stay on 50 mgs of Benadryl/Every 12 hours for safety measure. We will need to keep an eye on this site as well as keep an eye out for new mast cell tumors in other location. I was hoping for a 1, but feel very hopeful with the overall prognosis.
Hi I was wondering the other day if you had heard back. As you will know from the research Grade 2 is the tricky one as it can go either way and MC cancer is very unpredictable. As the MI was less than 5 that is good news. I don’t know about the Kiupel as Toby didn’t get that. Did you get a copy of the lab report?That will tell you if the vet did get clean margins and by how much. Vet’s seem to vary on the use of Benadryl after clean removal. Did you look at the Facebook group I mentioned?It might be worth asking the vet what he thinks of Tagamet although as I said my vet didn’t agree with it. If you find another lump act quickly but don’t always assume the worst. Toby has had two further spots but neither were MCTs. Sadly you will now forever be on the alert but take it as good news and as with Toby live life to the full! You can breathe out now. All the best.
I did not get a copy of the lab report but given the location of the growth which was behind his thigh, the vet reported that he was very happy with the margins and felt very optimistic about his long term prognosis. I will ask the vet about Tagamet, however given that Sam is on 4 different drugs for epilepsy we are hesitant to add any more drugs. https://www.idexx.com/files/canine-mct.pdf This site explains the Kiupel scale. Sam’s score was very good on this scale.(2 and low level) I did go to the facebook page but have found it to be very depressing so not sure if I can follow it. Dr Sue’s videos have been really helpful. Sam has had a lifetime of health issues so we are looking at this diagnosis as just one more that we have to deal with. Scary for sure but we are hopeful that he has alot more life to live! Thanks again for your information and support! Sending good health to Toby! Best regards, Beth
Hi Beth I think that having already graded Toby as a 3 the Kiupel scale would have been irrelevant. I agree with the Facebook group. It was initially useful to realise many more dogs were going through it and to get information but they all seemed to be worst case scenarios and some not pleasant photos. I left too! You seem to take it all in your stride. All the best to you and Sam. Julie.
Hi I'm hoping for some support here. My beautiful girl Skye is 2.5 years old and has a MCT that will be removed on Monday morning. I'm heartbroken over the news. I've read some horror stories online and don't know what to prepare myself for.
Hi Cat As you will know from reading these posts there are 2-3 of us on here with experience.If you search Mast Cell Tumour Diagnosis it should come up with Toby’s story starting May last year. He was 18 months at the time. Sadly labradors are one of the breeds susceptible to this cancer. First of all don’t look at too many groups as the cases on there tend to be worst case scenarios and also some are treating their dogs holistically or following protocols not recommended by vets. Try not to panic. You know it is a Mast Cell tumour from a needle aspiration I presume but until it is removed you don’t know what grade of tumour. If it comes back as grade one no further treatment would be needed. Grade 2-3 are different but deal with that if it happens. As mentioned above the easiest explanation I found was from YouTube videos by Dr Sue Cancer vet. She has one on what MCT’s are and one on treatment options. Where is the lump? Toby was only 18 months when we started this journey. So far so good for him and we go back in December for further tests by which time he will be 3. He acts and behaves completely normally so don’t forget they don’t know they are ill but could pick up on your vibes.Easy to say stay calm when I know I didn’t! Let us know how it goes and the results which take about a week. All the best. Julie.
Hi Cat, i am very sorry that you are going through this as I know first hand how scary it is as my dog Sam is currently recovering from his mast cell tumor surgery. I agree with everything that J.D. said. Try not to panic and also be hopeful that it can be removed with clean margins. Sam is 10.5 years old and had successful surgery and his vet is very hopeful for a long term survival. Your pup has age on her side. I am hopeful for her and will send positive vibes her way. Best of luck to you! Hang in there. Beth
