The dreaded C word!!

Hello all

Just a brief background on our situation; I work in a rescue centre and Biscuit (my staffy) was dumped off in the reception and left, the bloke muttered something about puppies and said that he had found her. She wouldn't let anyone near her and had a lot of milk and mastitis, clearly overused as a breeding bitch. I don't think she had ever seen a lead and collar before but I somehow managed to get her into a kennel without getting eaten and we spent the next two weeks bonding through the bars, she stopped with the threatening behaviour and let me in and from there I fell in love

It's been a rocky road ever since, she was a terrified like ball of aggression and was never going to last in kennels, she wasn't exactly inviting people to come and say hello so she ended up coming home with me (I'm at university studying canine behaviour and training, so experienced with behavioural issues)...although I'm 21 and wasn't sure if I was ready for a dog, however a weekend turned into a week, then a month, it's been a year now and she isn't going anywhere she's been officially adopted!! She's had hormonal problems since and many phantom pregnancies (she's now spayed) and then I found the dreaded lump..

After an awful mix up of results at the vets (I have now changed vets!!) and being told that it was clear, two months later I got a phonecall to say that it was in fact a malignant melanoma. She then had a second lump removed that luckily came back as benign, it's been 6 months since the cancerous lump was removed and her chest scans came back clear and she's shown no signs at all of it spreading but i'm constantly panicking over any little thing that's wrong with her so I have a few questions, if anyone here is knowledgeable in this area I would be so grateful!

The vets have said there isn't any way of knowing if it's going to come back or even if it has spread to anywhere else but is there anything at all that I need to look out for in particular?

Also how long does is take for cancer to spread in dogs? I would be aware if it has spread by now right?

Any other information about this type of cancer in staffys that you could give me would be really helpful too! We've been through so much and this dog is absolutely my life, she's got the best life that I could possibly give her, just want to know that she's okay and prevent her from being in any pain if possible. Thanks for reading, sorry it's so long

Love the way your staff found you .

I haven't any knowledge with regards to cancer and dogs, I hope I never do. Close to tears reading that, another member will have some advice Xx

Thank you Janey! I really hope you never do either, I cried for a fortnight after the diagnosis!! Your girly looks like such a happy little lady! She's gorgeous! Xxx

Sorry I've never had to go through that with a dog so I'm of no help on this. Hopefully Biscuit will be okay. She's a lovely girl and very lucky to have found you.

No worries, it's always nice to know other people and their dogs haven't had to deal with the this to be honest!! Hope so too, fingers crossed! Thank you

Sorry to be the 3rd person to post and not be able to advise you , I'm sure once everyone gets out of bed this morning there will be a few people that can advise. I just wanted to say what a lovely touching story and well done on the rescue ><

Hi,
wow what a lovely story, you are something, that's fantastic:-)

The only "experience" I have is my friend's old staffy bitch who had breast cancer some 4 years ago. They removed all her mammary glands (sorry for my English I do not know these words) and spayed her as well. It required 2 big surgeries, some 50 stitches each time all along her chest and belly, they always took just one line of her nipples, it was dreadful... She had not been spayed until then and the vet told her it might have been the constant exposure to the female hormones which caused the cancer.
And she has been fine since.... All clear on all X-rays since... She is some 10 years old now and obviously the owner has been worrying since but there are happy endings, her big girl is fine (except for arthritis and stuff caused by old age)...

So I wish you and Biscuit all the best (beautiful name by the way), I hope she will be fine!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi & welcome to the forum.

My old boy died of cancer, but it was stomach cancer. Staffords are actually quite prone to Mast Cell Tumours (or skin cancer). I don't know if this will be any help to you.....
http://www.ufaw.org.uk/MASTCELTUMOURSTAFFIE.php

The good news is that a lot of tumours, if caught early, are treatable & your dog will go on to have a long & happy life!

Hi I am so sorry for all your bad news especially with your staffies bad start in life it all seems unfair but i so glad you found each other.
I honestly believe llike humans all cancers are very individual but i do know my Jez was diagnoised with a tumour when she was 2 it was on her back leg firstly they thought it was un attached but when they operated they said it had attached too bone and wasn,t sure if she would have a long life as bone cancers tend too spread, i was in bits and we kept a very close eye on any lumps and bumps that came up on her,
BUT she lived till she was 17...!! with no more problems so i really hope that now they have spayed biscuit and stopped the serge of the hormones that seem too trigger those cancers she has a very long happy life with you x

Biscuit is a beaut, I love that you have given her a second, happy chance at life. I'm sorry I can't really help, have a little bit of experience with mammary cancer but none with skin cancer sorry. It seems like you're doing everything right. Hopefully she wont develop any more tumours and will stay in remission. Well done for what you've done for her I'm sure she will be grateful for life xx

My whippet got 6 months after the canser was diagnosed. She had an op but could not get it all out. It was not nice to see her get worse with the sores etc and she was not interested in much by the end.
Sores smells etc got to the point it was not fair for her - to be honest we probably went passed that point before we decided to let her go.
But she never complained worse.

Loads of TLC helps - sorry to hear this.

Hi there..hope it all works out okay for you and Biscuit....good on you for giving her a loving home...

My old doggie Kimba was a corgi/samoyd and he got cancer of the pancreas....the vet said he was in alot of pain so I knew I had to have him put to sleep as soon as I heard that..I wasn't going to let him suffer... maybe if we had caught it earlier....well, who knows...

Thank you so much for all of your replies, they all helped a huge amount in their own way. I guess only time will tell and i'll figure it out if/when I need to, she's eating fine, seems very happy in herself and energetic as always! She's running around throwing her duck toy in the air making it squeak as I type this and she's just come back from an hour and a half hike!! Sorry i'm a little late replying had a mad busy week at work! As per usual!! Really greatful for all of your answers. Put things into perspective and very comforting

Sounds like she's in top form!

Please do stick around & post some more pics - your avatar looks gorgeous!

Why thank you I've posted some photos of her on the galleries page if you'd like to have a sneaky peak! She's a right poser

I lost my Zac to to cancer in May.

He was diagnosed with a mast cell tumor on his sheath in March 2011. It was a huge red lump which came up with in a day or two. The vet aspirated the lump and said that it was malignant but he didn't know what grade of cancer it was until he had operated.

He had an operation to remove the lump and to remove the surrounding tissue and have reconstructive surgery so that his little willie was still covered. He was diagnosed with a grade 2 cancer but the vet was sure that he'd got it all. Unfortunately we noticed a small pinky lump under his front arm in March this year. The vet performed another needle aspiration and this too was cancerous. Because he was 11 and a half we didn't want to put him through another operation and the vet wasn't happy about operating because of his age. The lump was small and it wasn't bothering him in any way. In May he went down hill he lost a lot of weight. He'd been weighed in Feb as he was being treated for a spinal stroke and weighed in at 22kg. In the space of 2 months he'd lost nearly 3kg. He was still eating and drinking and was happy enough in himself. The vet did a blood test and the results came back that amongst other things he had a very high calcium level which is one of the symptoms of a tumour. We didn't feel the need to do anymore tests the vet was pretty convinced that it was cancer again and he hated being at the vets so why put him through a days worth of tests to be told what we pretty much knew especially with having it before.

We made the decision to phts and the vet came to our house and did it with all of us (oh and kids) around him.

All i'd say is you know her, you know her moods and the way she is be guided by that and as long as she's eating and drinking etc then I wouldn't worry to much.

xXx

Im pleased she got to meet some1 like you. Has your new vet given you any additional advice? May be you could ring them and explain your worries. xx I wish i knew more, so i could help.

Im sorry i cant help but ive lost my last staff at the age of 6 with stomach cancer (it was very quick she lost weight /stopped eating and was being sick with everything all in all it took just over a month)
my gsd girl had the same only she was 12
my gsd boy had an aggressive lump on his left shoulder (i felt so bad as we only found it when he started limping. He was sooo good at hiding any pain. he was also a very big black very long coated dog) he was 11

All i can do is send best wishes to you as biscuit sounds like shes had it tough till you got her weel done on giving her a wonderful chance of life (i know many wouldnt have)

Tracy i'm so sorry to hear about your boy Zac Thank you so much for telling me your story, although it's awful that you and him had to go through all of that. She's still eating anything you put in front of her and running around like a lunatic, she keeps randomly growling and whining for no reason but she's a nutty little thing and will growl at most unknown noises from the next door neighbours etc so she may have just heard something that I haven't!! Just carrying on as usual and if things develop we'll figure out how to deal with it then.

Thank you Kelly! I've got an appointment with my new vet next week so i'm going to ask her for any additional advice then! Oh no don't worry about that, your kind words are enough

Don't feel bad Clare, these things happen and it's clear that you adore your dogs or you wouldn't be registered on a forum dedicated to them!! My girl is brilliant at hiding pain too it's a nightmare isn't it! She had lighter burns all down her legs when I got her and she just doesn't react to things a lot of the time, i'm assuming due to her previous treatment but she's started to bark and things now which is irritating to most owners but was a lovely moment for me Thank you for your wishes