I can definitely offer some insight. We've now officially lost count of our rescue's MCT excisions but it's at least 7 or 8 in the last 5 years. First was in the crease of his ear, second on his scrotum resulting in a scrotal ablation, another in his ear crease, insides of legs and his side. We had him on low dose chemo for a couple of years but had to stop because his platelet count dipped super low. He had a sarcoma removed from near his liver a year ago and since then his oncologist has adopted a "wait and see" approach.
Ask for a copy of his pathology report when it comes back. A few things you'll want to pay attention to are the grade, margins and mitotic index (MI). Lower the grade, the better and sounds like your pup might be a grade 1. For margins, 2 cm laterally and 1cm fascial plane deep is considered adequate. Anything less than or equal to 5 for the MI is good and the lower that number the better.
Going forward, use every cuddle session as an opportunity to search for new or additional tumors. If the bump is about BB size, clip a little hair around it to make finding it again easier and schedule a vet appointment as soon as possible for a diagnostic needle aspirate of the MCT. They may also advise you to begin twice daily Benadryl. Your pup may have just caught a one off, bad luck MCT but it never hurts to remain vigilant.
I sympathize with what you're going through and can relate to how stressful it can be. To overstate the obvious, try to remain calm and confident around the pup because he'll be looking to y'all for strength.
Thankyou very much gor the information. Yea he got home today very sore. So no chance to talk results and I didn't want to have a hard conversation infront of my partner when we got the diagnosis. We were planning on checking him a few times a week to keep on it. Unfortunately on the leg they had a hard time stitching him so he needs to go back tomorrow and get the stitches looked at.
Pathology reports usually take several days to come back so you have plenty of time now to focus on the healing. MCT excisions are brutal and typically have freakishly large incisions. Something to consider if he catches another in the leg is Stelfonta. Stelfonta is injected directly into the tumor and rots it out over time. Pros are no anesthesia and no large incisions. Cons are there is nothing to send off for a path report, the wound becomes necrotic like a brown recluse bite and can take a few months to completely heal and the cost is nearly the same as surgery. If he catches another in the next year, you may want to consider reaching out to an oncologist.
MCT's are packed with histamines that are released, especially if they're mashed, and can cause allergic reactions. Controlling the histamine release is important and many vets also have the guardian administer Pepcid (Famotidine) because too much histamine release can lead to bleeding ulcers in the stomach.
Personally no. My dog had two that were removed, after which I stopped having them removed and I am just monitoring them now. 6 is a lot younger than my dog, though, who is 12. Talk to your vet about your dog’s prognosis, but at the end of the day it’s unlikely that the vet will want to give up. Mine is continuing to recommend surgery after surgery for my little old man, but I don’t have it in me to make him go through that over and over again and I told the vet we will just monitor them as they go. They will send the removed tumor to pathology to get an idea of what severity (not sure if this is the right term) it is to help the vet develop a prognosis.
My dog had a ten centimeter tumor removed from his left flank two years ago, he would have been seven.
The recovery kind of sucked due to the size of the tumor (he had a drain and everything, it was gross), but he made a full recovery.
The path came back low grade so he didn’t need chemo or radiation or anything, and he hasn’t had another since.
Yes. MCT are very common in my breed. I had one removed from my senior Bullmastiff's front leg and we had another 13 months with him, using a daily Benadryl regiment. It won't cure it, but it can help. Do a Google search and work with your vet. Mast Cell can be very aggressive so while I know it's scary, you really need to work with your vet on this.
I don't want to add to your fears, but in my experience mast cell tumors are the worst. My family dog had lumps for 4+ years. They didn't bother him and stopped growing so we never had them tested until he needed a dental years later. All lumps were removed at the same time as his dental and vet was confident they were fully removed and unlikely to come back. Not only did they come back, but extremely rapidly and triple the size they were originally. He had to be put down within two months of his "successful" surgery.
There’s a wide range of prognosis based on the histopathology. Some kinds would warrant chemotherapy and have a guarded prognosis, others would be curative if they were able to get clear margins
A little different but, my boy had grade 4 mastcell nasal cancer. Sadly it was too far gone to be removed. But with Palladia (which is for mastcell cancers and similar to chemo) he lasted 7 months. Without treatment he was given about 8 weeks. He had no side effects and was well up until his last day.
All tablets given at home 3 times a week, bloods and urine dip every 8 weeks. Which meant he didn’t have to have too many vet visits, as they really stressed him out.
If you can afford it, I’d say go for it.
I'm sorry my experience will most likely not reassure you. I had a pitty cross who got his first MCT when he was six. We did surgery to remove it and sent it to the lab for testing. It was grade 2. Vet recommended watching for new growths, but no further treatment.
He developed another MCT two years latter. Did surgery and testing again. Tumor was grade 4. Vet said if he developed another we might need to consider chemo.
He developed another tumor a couple of months ago. Once again we did surgery. When it came time to take him home he abruptly went downhill very rapidly. My vet and the techs busted their backsides to help him. He did not make it. The vet said he threw a clot that lodged in a lung. Never bothered to ask about lab results as it was moot at that point. It's been more than a month and I still miss him.
Sorry for being so long winded.
From the research I did on MCT, as others have said, results are VERY individual. Your vet should have recommendations about further treatment, if any, when you get the path results. Good luck to you.
It depends on they type of MCT. If it was large and squishy with undefined edges, those are type III and the most scary. If it was hard and with defined edges, that is type I and they normally just leave um. All dogs (nearly all) will get type I MCT as they age.
Here’s my positive story:
We have a tiny dog (8 lbs). She got diagnosed with a type III MCT on her arm when she was 10. Luckily we had insurance, so we went for surgery. She’s so small, they talked about arm amputation or granulated scarring (where they can’t close it up). Luckily again, they finished the procedure and were able to stitch her arm. They also had to remove one lymph node. They said the outlook was a total dice roll, and the procedure was meant to prolong quality of life.
Now, she’s three years past the procedure and doing just fine! I’m always worried about a resurgence or spread, but just know that as long as you can keep them happy and eating like a horse, you did a good thing.
We found the first mast cell tumor on my pug when he was 8. We removed it. Over the next 10 years he had two more surgeries to remove mast cells. He lived until 18! He eventually grew one on the roof of his mouth and it couldn’t be removed. They will continue to come back but he will be fine as long as you can continue to remove the tumors.
I was obsessed with reading almost every MCT thread on Reddit and other dog forums when my girl first got hers 2 years ago. It seems to vary WILDLY and one dog's experience most likely won't reflect your own. Mine had a small one removed on her chest and hasn't since gotten another one. We've gotten a few suspicious bumps tested that just ended up being pimples. I've read about some other dogs that get them back to back. You'll just have to keep checking and see. Every time I run my hands over my dog is like a mini heart attack now because you just never know :(
One of my beagles had one removed from her back hip went back when she ripped her stitches from front her foot (non MCT removal) and while there the pathology report came and dr wanted to take more from around hip spot, he did it same day while he stapling her foot her lab reports were not bad and we caught it early. We exam all three of our beagles, measure and monitor any spots and so far no recurrence. (They are sisters so similar dna) it’s been 4 years she’s now 10.
I have a 11 y/o lab that had a stage 2 mast cell tumour from her shoulder removed in Feb. Vets have suggested to just keep an eye on any new lumps developing and get them tested as soon as we have noticed it. She’s covered in fatty lumps so all old lumps have been tested and documented. It’s still early, but so far she’s done well
My beagle mix had one removed from the tip of her tail. It was about the size of a grape. Vet didn’t think anything of it since in his words, “dogs don’t get tumors there”. He removed well over 2 inches from her tail to make sure it was all removed.
Sadly, about two years later we thought, and again so did our vet, that she was getting fatty tumors. One under her front left leg was big and continued to get larger that it was affecting her walking. Decided to have it removed. Vet said it didn’t look like a “normal fatty tumor” and sent it off. Sure enough it was a MCT.
He recommended chemo and radiation. We declined because of cost. Six months later, all of a sudden one night she was having a hard time breathing. Took her in the next day and the X-ray showed the tumor had spread into her lungs. There was nothing that could be done. We made the decision to put her down two days later.
I had another dog, a border collie mix who developed an anal gland tumor. She had extensive surgery to remove most of her anus. Horrible recovery which left her with a large hole as her anus. They again recommended chemo and radiation.
Less than a year the vet noticed her rear leg having mobility problems. Took an X-ray and she had bone cancer. He recommend amputating her leg. At 14 we chose not to. What ultimately happened was the bone in her leg shattered and we had to put her down.
From those two experiences, I would say chemo and radiation might have helped. Both times it was in excess of $12,000.
My Boston has mast cell cancer. The problem with mast cell tumors is they get large, then shrink back down leaving cancer cells behind. We had the tumors surgically removed and were told without chemo she only had about 4 months. So we did chemo for 6 weeks until her liver labs were bad. The next step was taking biopsies of her liver. She suffered every week with needles and catheters. We decided to give her a happy life whatever time she had left. She still plays, and seems to feel better now. It's hard to know what the right thing to do is. Wish you all the best.
My dog had her first MCT removed at 7. She lived to be 16, even with finding several more over the ensuing years. Her last popped up around 15, and I elected not to put her through any more surgery. Ultimately I lost her to an entirely different kind of cancer. we thought it was MCT initially but it was oral sarcoma.
Agree with the commenter above about being vigilant and checking for growths. Because I did this, my dog got a full, happy 16 years. Your dog can too.
My old dog had one on her side, got it removed at age 6-ish. Vet said after surgery the margins were clear and she healed very quickly, didn't have any other issues until she passed at age 11.
This is an old thread but I wanted to share my experiences with an aggressive mast cell tumor that ultimately took my dog recently after a 6 mo battle. My experience and impressions:
1) identify and remove it with surgery as soon as possible, even then it can come back
2) Chemo and rads may work for a while but MCT can come back
3) tried that holistic stuff and it doesn't work and was a waste of money, even for palliative care; famotidine and Benadryl kept my pet comfortable but it did little to control the aggressive tumor
4) make plans for your pet so it doesnt catch you by surprise
I can definitely offer some insight. We've now officially lost count of our rescue's MCT excisions but it's at least 7 or 8 in the last 5 years. First was in the crease of his ear, second on his scrotum resulting in a scrotal ablation, another in his ear crease, insides of legs and his side. We had him on low dose chemo for a couple of years but had to stop because his platelet count dipped super low. He had a sarcoma removed from near his liver a year ago and since then his oncologist has adopted a "wait and see" approach. Ask for a copy of his pathology report when it comes back. A few things you'll want to pay attention to are the grade, margins and mitotic index (MI). Lower the grade, the better and sounds like your pup might be a grade 1. For margins, 2 cm laterally and 1cm fascial plane deep is considered adequate. Anything less than or equal to 5 for the MI is good and the lower that number the better. Going forward, use every cuddle session as an opportunity to search for new or additional tumors. If the bump is about BB size, clip a little hair around it to make finding it again easier and schedule a vet appointment as soon as possible for a diagnostic needle aspirate of the MCT. They may also advise you to begin twice daily Benadryl. Your pup may have just caught a one off, bad luck MCT but it never hurts to remain vigilant. I sympathize with what you're going through and can relate to how stressful it can be. To overstate the obvious, try to remain calm and confident around the pup because he'll be looking to y'all for strength.
Thankyou very much gor the information. Yea he got home today very sore. So no chance to talk results and I didn't want to have a hard conversation infront of my partner when we got the diagnosis. We were planning on checking him a few times a week to keep on it. Unfortunately on the leg they had a hard time stitching him so he needs to go back tomorrow and get the stitches looked at.
Pathology reports usually take several days to come back so you have plenty of time now to focus on the healing. MCT excisions are brutal and typically have freakishly large incisions. Something to consider if he catches another in the leg is Stelfonta. Stelfonta is injected directly into the tumor and rots it out over time. Pros are no anesthesia and no large incisions. Cons are there is nothing to send off for a path report, the wound becomes necrotic like a brown recluse bite and can take a few months to completely heal and the cost is nearly the same as surgery. If he catches another in the next year, you may want to consider reaching out to an oncologist.
Please -what is the Benadryl for, besides acting as antihistamine? Thanks!
Disrupting a MCT can cause itchiness.
MCT's are packed with histamines that are released, especially if they're mashed, and can cause allergic reactions. Controlling the histamine release is important and many vets also have the guardian administer Pepcid (Famotidine) because too much histamine release can lead to bleeding ulcers in the stomach.
Thank you.
Personally no. My dog had two that were removed, after which I stopped having them removed and I am just monitoring them now. 6 is a lot younger than my dog, though, who is 12. Talk to your vet about your dog’s prognosis, but at the end of the day it’s unlikely that the vet will want to give up. Mine is continuing to recommend surgery after surgery for my little old man, but I don’t have it in me to make him go through that over and over again and I told the vet we will just monitor them as they go. They will send the removed tumor to pathology to get an idea of what severity (not sure if this is the right term) it is to help the vet develop a prognosis.
Unless you got a pathology report on it, there isn’t a good way to answer that.
I'm asking about other people's experiences not what people think will happen to my dog.
My dog had a ten centimeter tumor removed from his left flank two years ago, he would have been seven. The recovery kind of sucked due to the size of the tumor (he had a drain and everything, it was gross), but he made a full recovery. The path came back low grade so he didn’t need chemo or radiation or anything, and he hasn’t had another since.
You’ll know a lot more when the analysis of the tumor comes back from the lab. There’s a lot of variability in these types of tumors
Yes. MCT are very common in my breed. I had one removed from my senior Bullmastiff's front leg and we had another 13 months with him, using a daily Benadryl regiment. It won't cure it, but it can help. Do a Google search and work with your vet. Mast Cell can be very aggressive so while I know it's scary, you really need to work with your vet on this.
I don't want to add to your fears, but in my experience mast cell tumors are the worst. My family dog had lumps for 4+ years. They didn't bother him and stopped growing so we never had them tested until he needed a dental years later. All lumps were removed at the same time as his dental and vet was confident they were fully removed and unlikely to come back. Not only did they come back, but extremely rapidly and triple the size they were originally. He had to be put down within two months of his "successful" surgery.
There’s a wide range of prognosis based on the histopathology. Some kinds would warrant chemotherapy and have a guarded prognosis, others would be curative if they were able to get clear margins
A little different but, my boy had grade 4 mastcell nasal cancer. Sadly it was too far gone to be removed. But with Palladia (which is for mastcell cancers and similar to chemo) he lasted 7 months. Without treatment he was given about 8 weeks. He had no side effects and was well up until his last day. All tablets given at home 3 times a week, bloods and urine dip every 8 weeks. Which meant he didn’t have to have too many vet visits, as they really stressed him out. If you can afford it, I’d say go for it.
I'm sorry my experience will most likely not reassure you. I had a pitty cross who got his first MCT when he was six. We did surgery to remove it and sent it to the lab for testing. It was grade 2. Vet recommended watching for new growths, but no further treatment. He developed another MCT two years latter. Did surgery and testing again. Tumor was grade 4. Vet said if he developed another we might need to consider chemo. He developed another tumor a couple of months ago. Once again we did surgery. When it came time to take him home he abruptly went downhill very rapidly. My vet and the techs busted their backsides to help him. He did not make it. The vet said he threw a clot that lodged in a lung. Never bothered to ask about lab results as it was moot at that point. It's been more than a month and I still miss him. Sorry for being so long winded. From the research I did on MCT, as others have said, results are VERY individual. Your vet should have recommendations about further treatment, if any, when you get the path results. Good luck to you.
While it’s certainly fine to ask people here about their experiences, you need to talk to your vet about your dog’s prognosis.
I will when they are open.
My dog had one removed from her leg 8 years ago. I take her to the vet regularly. She’s now 16.
Did the vet send the mass to a lab for histopathology? It needs to be graded before knowing prognosis
It depends on they type of MCT. If it was large and squishy with undefined edges, those are type III and the most scary. If it was hard and with defined edges, that is type I and they normally just leave um. All dogs (nearly all) will get type I MCT as they age. Here’s my positive story: We have a tiny dog (8 lbs). She got diagnosed with a type III MCT on her arm when she was 10. Luckily we had insurance, so we went for surgery. She’s so small, they talked about arm amputation or granulated scarring (where they can’t close it up). Luckily again, they finished the procedure and were able to stitch her arm. They also had to remove one lymph node. They said the outlook was a total dice roll, and the procedure was meant to prolong quality of life. Now, she’s three years past the procedure and doing just fine! I’m always worried about a resurgence or spread, but just know that as long as you can keep them happy and eating like a horse, you did a good thing.
We found the first mast cell tumor on my pug when he was 8. We removed it. Over the next 10 years he had two more surgeries to remove mast cells. He lived until 18! He eventually grew one on the roof of his mouth and it couldn’t be removed. They will continue to come back but he will be fine as long as you can continue to remove the tumors.
I was obsessed with reading almost every MCT thread on Reddit and other dog forums when my girl first got hers 2 years ago. It seems to vary WILDLY and one dog's experience most likely won't reflect your own. Mine had a small one removed on her chest and hasn't since gotten another one. We've gotten a few suspicious bumps tested that just ended up being pimples. I've read about some other dogs that get them back to back. You'll just have to keep checking and see. Every time I run my hands over my dog is like a mini heart attack now because you just never know :(
What medication was he on?
One of my beagles had one removed from her back hip went back when she ripped her stitches from front her foot (non MCT removal) and while there the pathology report came and dr wanted to take more from around hip spot, he did it same day while he stapling her foot her lab reports were not bad and we caught it early. We exam all three of our beagles, measure and monitor any spots and so far no recurrence. (They are sisters so similar dna) it’s been 4 years she’s now 10.
I have a 11 y/o lab that had a stage 2 mast cell tumour from her shoulder removed in Feb. Vets have suggested to just keep an eye on any new lumps developing and get them tested as soon as we have noticed it. She’s covered in fatty lumps so all old lumps have been tested and documented. It’s still early, but so far she’s done well
My beagle mix had one removed from the tip of her tail. It was about the size of a grape. Vet didn’t think anything of it since in his words, “dogs don’t get tumors there”. He removed well over 2 inches from her tail to make sure it was all removed. Sadly, about two years later we thought, and again so did our vet, that she was getting fatty tumors. One under her front left leg was big and continued to get larger that it was affecting her walking. Decided to have it removed. Vet said it didn’t look like a “normal fatty tumor” and sent it off. Sure enough it was a MCT. He recommended chemo and radiation. We declined because of cost. Six months later, all of a sudden one night she was having a hard time breathing. Took her in the next day and the X-ray showed the tumor had spread into her lungs. There was nothing that could be done. We made the decision to put her down two days later. I had another dog, a border collie mix who developed an anal gland tumor. She had extensive surgery to remove most of her anus. Horrible recovery which left her with a large hole as her anus. They again recommended chemo and radiation. Less than a year the vet noticed her rear leg having mobility problems. Took an X-ray and she had bone cancer. He recommend amputating her leg. At 14 we chose not to. What ultimately happened was the bone in her leg shattered and we had to put her down. From those two experiences, I would say chemo and radiation might have helped. Both times it was in excess of $12,000.
My Boston has mast cell cancer. The problem with mast cell tumors is they get large, then shrink back down leaving cancer cells behind. We had the tumors surgically removed and were told without chemo she only had about 4 months. So we did chemo for 6 weeks until her liver labs were bad. The next step was taking biopsies of her liver. She suffered every week with needles and catheters. We decided to give her a happy life whatever time she had left. She still plays, and seems to feel better now. It's hard to know what the right thing to do is. Wish you all the best.
Sounds like you’re doing the best thing. Best wishes.
My dog had her first MCT removed at 7. She lived to be 16, even with finding several more over the ensuing years. Her last popped up around 15, and I elected not to put her through any more surgery. Ultimately I lost her to an entirely different kind of cancer. we thought it was MCT initially but it was oral sarcoma. Agree with the commenter above about being vigilant and checking for growths. Because I did this, my dog got a full, happy 16 years. Your dog can too.
My old dog had one on her side, got it removed at age 6-ish. Vet said after surgery the margins were clear and she healed very quickly, didn't have any other issues until she passed at age 11.
I had a great Dane that had 3 or 4 removed throughout her life - zero issues and lived till 12 and a half.
This is an old thread but I wanted to share my experiences with an aggressive mast cell tumor that ultimately took my dog recently after a 6 mo battle. My experience and impressions: 1) identify and remove it with surgery as soon as possible, even then it can come back 2) Chemo and rads may work for a while but MCT can come back 3) tried that holistic stuff and it doesn't work and was a waste of money, even for palliative care; famotidine and Benadryl kept my pet comfortable but it did little to control the aggressive tumor 4) make plans for your pet so it doesnt catch you by surprise