Cancer?!

**swanny320** · 09-13-2011, 06:06 PM

Two months ago I noticed an odd lump on the cheek of my yellow lab puppy. At the time he was 10 months old. I watched it for about a month or so. It would seemingly come and go....get small, then enlarge again. I thought maybe it was a lymph node that was swollen because he had a skin infection at the time. Two weeks ago I took him in to have it checked. At the time the vet gave him some anti-inflammatory meds and asked me to check back in two weeks, which I did. Today I took him in for the re-check and because it had not gone down, they did a needle aspiration and came back to tell me that they suspected cancer due to the rapid cell division and presence of lymphocytes. They are sending the slide, along with blood to a pathologist for review but warned me it didn't look good. If it turns out to be cancer, they want to do surgery of course but also chest xrays and aspirate lymph nodes throughout his body.

So I don't know why I am posting...maybe just looking for someone who has experienced something similar and can give me some hope and some advice. He turned 1 year old on Saturday and I cannot believe this. He is my baby. His name is Trooper, btw. He is gorgeous and the sweetest thing I ever encountered. If you pray for dogs, pray for him. Thanks

**lisa** · 09-13-2011, 06:23 PM

I am so sorry you and your pup are dealing with this. I have no experiennce or advice in this area, but you have all my good thoughts and prayers...please keep us posted.

**dek** · 09-13-2011, 06:49 PM

My pup is my baby as well, I can't even imagine having that happen. Will send good thoughts for you and Trooper! Let us know what comes back from pathology....

**Sophiesmama** · 09-13-2011, 07:37 PM

Oh my goodness! I pray its not cancer! We love our pets like they're our kids! I sure seems like a year old is awfully young for cancer. I wonder if something got in there and festered up? Lets hope that its something like that. I am sending you hugs...Pam

**rayluckgoo** · 09-14-2011, 05:57 AM

Wishing you a good pathology report as well. No real experience in that area. I was a vet tech for ten years in a rural area and never saw cancer that young. I can imagine how scared you are.

**jzgrlduff** · 09-14-2011, 02:16 PM

I went through something similar with Frankie when he ws 14 months old. It turned out to be a mast cell tumor and they did surgery immediately. It came back as the "good grade", which means it was cancerous but we caught it early enough so it probably shouldn't come back. It didn't, and he's 6 years old and healthy as a horse today. His was initially detected with a needle aspiration, also.

I pray the same for your baby. Do the surgery right away.