Now my dog might have cancer :(

[ZorBrak]

......I think my dog has melanoma :( , he has what appears to be at tumor growing above his right eye (I originally thought it was a scab) and I'm terrified of what it may be. I checked some search engines and read a bit about common cancers in dogs, one of which was melanoma. My dog doesn't seem to be in any pain, but I can't help but think it might be what I fear it is. He has a spot on his eye that I haven't noticed before as well, another sign, according to what I read, that it may be melanoma. I'm going to take him to the vet as soon as I can, but does anyone know anyhting about melanoma, or cancer in general in dogs? Is it always malignent or can it be begnien? Are thereany other kinds of growths this thing above his eye could be? :(

[Barb Gordon]

Somtimes knowledge can be the worst thing in the world, especially when you could be completely wrong and giving yourself a heart attack for no reason. But it's great you check your dog thoroughly and are looking out for its health. I hope it turns out to be nothing. I found one site on melanoma and it wasn't that promising. Except I noticed it didn't mention anything like it being in or near the eye. It kept referring to oral or being on digits or a limb.

Melanoma (http://www.vet.uga.edu/vpp/CLERK/Patterson/)

~Barb

[ZorBrak]

thanks

[Sandro]

I didn't realize dogs could get cancer....

Anyways, I'm sorry to hear that. I'll see what I can do about some reference sites.

[ccffan01]

It may be a fat deposit which is common in many dogs and they are harmless.

[atari_14]

I don't know if this will help or not. But i had a dog once with cancer. She started getting sick and had uncontrolable bladder problems. We didn't find out that it was cancer until about a mounth later and she was very sick, so yeah. I've also know that dogs can have growths but they are not cancerous.
Those might be signs so keep a look out. I hope this has helped you and that your dog will be fine. :D

[Outlander00]

Could be benign, ZorBrak. A dog I had had one like it and the vet said to leave it be because it is benign but they souldnt do the surgery because it was in that area (this was about 15 years ago when they didnt have lasers that could do it). My current dog had on on her arse also. Thankfully it was benign and now and, after a out patient surgery and days of her moaning, she continues to torment me as usual :p

Its not worth completely worrying about it until a blood test comes back. Its good that you check her but you cant get overly worried about this until you know for sure.

[ZorBrak]

Thanks for the information, one good sign is that he does not seem ill at all. In fact the little rat darted out the door this morning and I ended up chasing him down the street barefooted in my boxers (yeah, yeah haha) :p

[jeffrey 228]

Well I have somthing similar and that both of my cats may have cancer as well and I do not know and all that, plus they are getting skinny and not eating and all, and it just makes me sad now that this virus has gotten to them.

[Elven Moon]

Don't panic until you see the vet. If you make yourself certain that he has cancer it could be very painful. But I'm hoping, as a fellow animal lover, that it's not too serious :)

[TimTwoFace]

If you may recall, my dog faced a similar problem just over a month ago and I was nearly convinced he'd have to be put down, too. I still had hope, but it was quite wracking just coming to grips with the possibility that he might have had to be put down.

Anyway Zorbak, since we talked about this the other night, I still suggest that you don't get too high or low about this until you go to the vet and get some X-rays and other tests done. And keep doing those tests and do absolutely everything else you can until there's abosultely no way you can save your dog - should it come to that. If worst comes to worst, when Wags is put down, at least you'll know you did absolutely everything you could to save him, and you'll never be second-guessing yourself in the future and going through the "shoulda, coulda" debate in your head.

Like I said, you never know. I was pretty sure my dog would have to be put down because he was being torn up inside with cancer, too, but after an amputation and some chemo, he's recovering nicely right now. If we didn't do that, he'd be in immense pain and would have likely not made it til Christmas. So yeah, get your dog to the vet ASAP, get some professional advice, and then do everything you can to save him. Exhaust all options - and you never know, you just might find a way to beat this thing. :)

Wags will be in my prayers - and that does work, cuz it sure works for me and my sanity when I faced this issue, let me tell you.

-Tim

[The Old Maid]

Sorry to hear about your dog, Zorbrak. We're all praying and pulling for him. When will you get the results back?

Originally posted by jeffrey 228

Well I have something similar and that both of my cats may have cancer as well and I do not know and all that, plus they are getting skinny and not eating and all, and it just makes me sad now that this virus has gotten to them.

Sorry to hear about that, too. Do you know what they've got? (Cancer, virus, or if they're thin and not hungry then their kidneys or even their teeth might be having trouble. But those symptoms don't always go together.) We'll pray for them too.

[hello_lola]

I know how worried you must be. My old dog had a black melanoma-looking growth on his chest, but the vet did a biopsy, and it was benign. Hope your doggie is alright :) .

[meatwad945]

i hope not cause dogs help you through the hardest of times

[Zapages]

Sorry to hear that... I hope everything ends up all good...

[ZorBrak]

Vet says it's benign....but there appeared to be something wrong with his liver, and then there didn't after another test. That still worries me though. I had kinda accepted the fact that Wags may die a while ago so I've been spending a lot of time with him and yet he seems ok physically, so here's hoping it was all nothing.

[Barb Gordon]

That's good. I'm glad things have been looking up. And it looks like Wags got the best out of it, more attention then he's probably ever had!

~Barb

[jeffrey 228]

The Old Maid, they have some sort of Cancer, but I do not know the names at this time.