Heartbreak

Now that I have had the unfortunate and heartbreaking experience of losing a much loved family companion to Mast Cell Tumors (MCT), I would like to take the time to share the experience as well as information about MCT.

My boxer developed a few random lumps over the years, starting at age five, that tested as lipomas or fatty tumors. They all looked similar in that they were wide, soft, and not very deep. The appearance of lipomas can vary and I have seen them as large as a basketball on more than one occasion. They are more unsightly than problematic....usually.


At around nine years old, he developed a lipoma looking tumor on his left thigh, not too far from the stifle. Because the million other tumors he had were lipomas and it looked/felt like one, I did not have it checked like I should have. The size and shape remained consistent with time. Around ten years old he developed a dime size tumor near his jawline that very rapidly changed consistency from soft to very firm and lumpy as well as changed to golf ball sized. I took the old guy in to have all of his tumors retested along with the two untested ones. The old lumps were tested again as lipomas but the one on his neck and thigh were both MCTs. My heart broke...

The vets I work with and I began to discuss treatment options. Due to his age and the unlikelihood of it working, chemo/radiation was voted out. He was still his happy, bouncy self but the mass was beginning to interfere. This left us with three options.... 1)Leave the mass and allow him to have a longer life but due to the interference not necessarily one of quality; 2) Remove the tumors, run the risk of it coming back and spreading but possibly have a better quality life; and 3) euthanize. I just could not put him down because he was himself and still fine. We agreed on option 2.

I got almost 4 wonderful months with my boy before I lost him when it metastasized. It was swift so there was very little time for him to be uncomfortable....literally you could find nothing to within only a few days it was back and far bigger than it ever was on his neck and across his shoulder with severe edema.

I made the appointment and he went swiftly and pain free. The vet who did the surgery apologized for not being able to do more. Little does he know how much he already did...he made it possible for my guy to be happy right to the end.


Mr. Melvin Butterbean Wigglesbutt
I cannot believe it has already been a year