4 1/2 year old Pug with Kidney/ Renal Cancer

[ricowiz]

Hello everyone, just stumbled onto this website. About a week and a half ago my black pug named Mookie went to the Veterinarian because he wasnt eating and had blood in his stool. The Veterinarian did some X-Rays and found a large member around where his kidney should be, so they suggested I run him to the animal hospital where they have more advanced equipment.

After the hospital ran some X-Rays and an Ultra-sound they found that his kidney was 3 times the size of his other and are going to have to operate to remove it, thus he will be living off of one kidney.

We took him home after surgery (a few days after surgery technically) and at first he seemed down, then he was back to his old self again with his big personality. Well I just got a call from the hospital about his lab results and they are saying they found some type of Renal Cancer in the kidney that was removed. The Dr. said that they got alot of cancer cells in his kidney and there is a possibility there could be some left in his body.

He said we could try chemo, which would give him a good normal life for a year. He said that the cancer could come back anytime from now or 6-8 months from now.

My question is, what do I do now? Are there scans you can get to see if there are more cancer cells in his body? Should I prolong the inevitable and put him through chemo? I am at a loss because this dog is everything to me!

[myangelbabies]

Our chocolate lab named Brown Sugar has undergone three surgerys for mass-cell tumors. All 3 were stage 2. This was scary but could of been fatal if we hadn't acted. Generally from our experience, stage 3 and 4 require kimo. Our Veterinarian discussed kimo with us if her system couldn't maintain on it's own. So far, a year has passed and all seems well. You can have regular blood profiles done, say every 3 to 6 months and then lesser if the blood work-up comes back good. Brown Sugar is going on her 10th birthday, your baby is still very young. You just need to follow your heart, and focus on the quality of life, for your baby. I've learned from our experience that if we had the will and spirit our pets do we also could overcome alot of things. Please take care, I hope this helps.

[ricowiz]

Thanks, that did help. I am going to talk to the Dr again as I have alot of questions that I didnt think about when I was talking with him (was in shock). His levels on the other kidney were normal so I am hoping that the cancer was in his kidney and not from outside of the kidney...

Thanks again for replying...

[palehorse]

If you look at the link in my signature you will see the thread about my schnauzer's fight with cancer.

There is a delicate balance that must be maintained. That balance is "quality of life" vs "length of life". From a pure "common sense" point of view the balance is determined when you figure out when pain is "too much pain".

The way I did it with Bitsy is I put her through chemo. It is less impacting on dogs then humans, because scale-to-scale the dose is much smaller because the gain expectancy is smaller. With a dog or cat chemo is only expected to add a year or two, whereas with a human the goal is 10+ years.

So their hair does NOT fall out, they ARE HAPPY, they will have many more good times! If you can afford chemo, and your dog is a good candidate DO IT!

You will never regret the extra time that you get when you do this. Bitsy only gained an extra few months only, about 3 months... But that was 3 more months with her that I would not have had.

We think of our dogs as our children. I loved Bitsy with all of my heart, and it was just as hard to loose her as it would be to loose a child. I don't know when I will ever stop grieving, but I do KNOW this... I will NEVER regret putting her through chemo because it gave her several QUALITY days before she died, days she would NOT have had otherwise.

[myangelbabies]

The Administrator is right. So far we have't had to face chemo, but that day may come. I'll always be with myangelbabies, and face whatever comes our way together. My theory is... if there is even a small hope TRY IT!!! Everytime my husband and I faced yet another Brown Sugar Booger challenge we would sit down, cry, regroup, and come up with the that we could do. And you know what, so far thats worked so far. Nothing is forever except in our hearts. I thank God dailey for our family and pray for the best. It's not our option, we can only do the best we can. God Bless You, for being such a caring parent.

[ricowiz]

Thanks again for the responses everyone. I am going to meet with the oncologist next week to discuss this. The hard thing is they dont know if there is still cancer or not in his system? I am hesitant to put him through chemo if there is no reason to??

Financially, it will be tough. We have just gone through a tough financial streak (Mookies surgery, new house, new car, wifes medical condition). Like I said, I am going to speak with them next week and will see from there what to do...