We have a 14 year old dog, Ringo, with a mast cell tumor on his penis sheath. The vet said a couple years ago that she really wouldn't want to surgically remove the tumor due to its location and his age, and said that we could do things to slow it down but it's ultimately going to get the better of him.
He has been on Benedryl for the past year or so, which has slowed the growth of the tumor but not stopped it. The vet said as long as the tumor doesn't interfere with his daily life to try keeping him on the Benedryl as long as possible because the next step, cortisone, presents a lot of health risks, some worse than the tumor.
Over the past week or so the tumor has been growing at a faster rate but hasn't been interfering with Ringo's daily habits. This morning part of it started oozing/bleeding. I have a call in to the vet to see if I can get in ASAP but if the bleeding doesn't stop I will take him to the emergency clinic. The timing for an EC visit isn't very good but I can't let poor Ringo suffer. We've had the guy since he was 4 months old, but even more stressful is the fact he's DH's dog and DH is out of town until tomorrow.
Please keep our little guy in your thoughts, hopefully the bleeding will stop and I can get him in to our vet soon.
He has been on Benedryl for the past year or so, which has slowed the growth of the tumor but not stopped it. The vet said as long as the tumor doesn't interfere with his daily life to try keeping him on the Benedryl as long as possible because the next step, cortisone, presents a lot of health risks, some worse than the tumor.
Over the past week or so the tumor has been growing at a faster rate but hasn't been interfering with Ringo's daily habits. This morning part of it started oozing/bleeding. I have a call in to the vet to see if I can get in ASAP but if the bleeding doesn't stop I will take him to the emergency clinic. The timing for an EC visit isn't very good but I can't let poor Ringo suffer. We've had the guy since he was 4 months old, but even more stressful is the fact he's DH's dog and DH is out of town until tomorrow.
Please keep our little guy in your thoughts, hopefully the bleeding will stop and I can get him in to our vet soon.