My dog has mast cell cancer. I want to know more they say it can be cured but is very expensive. How good are her chances and how do I decide what to do?
Does Palladia work well?

A dog lives maybe 14-16 years at most... how old is it now? Does it really make sense to spend that much?

Very important question Smoothy asked.
Also some breeds are more prone to mast cell tumors, owners of these breeds are somewhat overly cautious of any skin abnormality with good reason.
Here's a link that explains a lot and may answer some of your questions

Mast Cell Tumors

Where is this? Is it a lump? Has it spread?

We used Palladia once and had amazing success. It was a 12 year old lab that had a mast cell tumour removed, but it had already spread into the lymph nodes. Palladia kept them down and the dog is still alive 2 years later. It is just NOT cheap, and requires very regular bloodwork.

If the Mast cell cancer lump is on the outside of the body, there is a very good chance your dog will recover with a simple procedure to remove it. However, just because its benign now, doesn't mean that things can't turn ugly really fast...

However, if the mast cell cancer is within the body, you can be on borrowed time.

Internal mast cell tumors are almost always malignant and very aggressive.

Mast cell tumors also release histamine when they rupture or are flaring which can overload the dogs immune response.

All of the animals that I have met with mast cell tumors have either had the benign little skin tumors... or were so over run with mast cell tumors internally that they didn't make it. If your doctor is wanting to use a drug, ask about the success rates and side effects. Ask about the quality of life your pet is going to have with or without the drug.

I wish you the best...

The lump is on her front left leg about where the ankle would be. She is 10 and very health, active and happy. I don't have much resourses but this dog is very special to me and I'll scrape up the money if I can save her. That is what I am trying to learn, what are her chances? We discovered the lump just a few days ago I think there is a good chance it hasn't spread but we won't know anything unless I agree to go ahead with the treatment and that could be $1500 or more.

College of Veterinary Medicine

Thee is some more good info here. Not wordy or too technical, I found it very straight forward and informative.

Ultimately it is your choice, and a lot will depend on how aggressive you want to be.
Speaking from what we see at work, people go either way in there choices.
After removing mast cell tumors our surgeons send out every one for histopath, this is one instance that the owners have no choice in that.
It is important for the surgeon, the owner and the pet to know if clean margins were achieved when removing the mass.
In one case I recall that clean margins were not achieved because of the location of the mass and stature of the dog. (Visla, pretty lean dog)
Her owners opted to have her referred to the local teaching Hospital for radiation and chemo.
That was around a year and a half ago, I just saw her the other day and she is doing great.
I don't recall that we have ever used Palladia at our clinic so I can't speak to that.
But here is an article with some helpful links from Perdue University.

Pfizer introduces new chemotherapy drug, Palladia®

I think you should arm yourself with education at this point as to the disease and the drug so that you can make a well informed decision.
Removal of the tumors is the first line of defense, complete removal.
Many owners choose not to pursue radiation and chemotherapy, they are satisfied with removal.
I don't know that any of my rambling has helped you here, but the information in those websites should give you more insight.
This is what I would do, have the tumor removed, have the histopathology done, X-rays to check for metastasis and lymph node aspirates. Gather all that information and go from there.
As Lucky said, any drug that is considered should be discussed as to success rate, effect on her overall health and quality of life.

We remove mast cell tumours regularly. The key is to take wide enough margins to ensure everything has been taken out. Before surgery your vet may take x-rays to rule out that it has spread to the abdomen/lungs/etc. After removal they can grade the tumour with a pathologist, which will let you know chance of recurrence, if the vet removed it in its entirety, etc.

Many of the dogs we do surgery on - if caught early enough, are fine after surgery and usually do not require further care, providing our surgeon removed it properly.

Have you used Kinavet CA1? Can you tell me about the success rate?

I can't say we have ever used Kinavet. Do you not wish to have the tumour removed?

They can't remove it first because it is on her foreleg and there isn't enough flesh to take a big area.
Howere they are going to use this Kinavet CA1, it is suppose to shrink the tumor.
The info says it has a very high success rate.
I may shrink enough to remove what is left or better yet, there is a good chanch it will shrink and go away completely.
Then they will check to be sure there is no more and it may never return.
It seems very promising.

If it's something you are willing to do, I would say it's worth a shot! My only worry with leaving it be is chances of spreading but Im unsure if that drug would block it... though if removal is impossible what other choice do you have, really?

I have decided to try. Thr results on that drug have been very good. I wish I could find someone who has used it and is not connected to the maker.

Hi everyone,

My dog, Patch is a 7 year old Collie X. She had an operation to repair a Cruciate ligament. The day after, we found three lumps on her stomach under the skin.
The vet said that it didn't look good. He removed a strip of mammary gland and spayed her at the same time.
When we went to pick her up, he told us that there was little doubt about it, the cancer had destroyed the lymph node and was in her system.
The report from the lab confirmed that it was MCT, within the body and very aggressive. His best prognosis was 6 to 12 weeks (not helped by 2 major operations within a week. He also told us that in his opinion chemo was worthless for Patch, as the cancer was not contained (I think he said level 4?)
I sat up with her through the nights, my wife sat with her all day. During the long nights I sat and read just about every forum and write up on MCT I could find; it was very depressing.
After lots of heartache I changed tack and started reading up on natural treatments for cancer in general.
Over the next week I wrote a hit list of things that we could try. This was the conclusion:

No carbs - These feed cancer directly
No processed food
Home prepared/cooked meat (Mainly beef mince)
Hills ND diet food - specially for dogs with cancer - This is used as an addition to her meat, not the mainstay of her diet
Milk Thistle Tincture 0.5ml twice a day
Ashwaganda - Two capsules in her evening meal (opened and the shells disposed of)
Multivit tablets - Four crushed on her evening meal
Vitiamin E - One opened and the contents added to her morning & evening meals
Beetroot - Raw beetroot sliced as a treat - she has approx one medium beetroot per day.
Blueberries - About a dozen a day on average.
A good long walk each day.

It is now just over thirteen months since her operation. She is now 8 years old, yet acts more like a 2 year old! She has lots of energy, no sign of any recurrence and we are very grateful.

We have no idea what is helping, but something certainly is. We have sat and questioned if the vet could have been mistaken, but he is a very experienced vet, the lymph node was destroyed and the MCT was confirmed by the lab.

If you're in this situation; don't give up hope, stay positive. We are convinced that her not having chemo was probably a good thing, but who knows?

Very best wishes

Dave

I am printing out and saving this - I hope I never need it.

Good information Dave thanks for sharing your experience and I hope your dog continues to do well.

Just wondering what your outcome was. I am going through the very same thing with my 12 year old Chihuahua. He just took the chemo pills this week for the first time. What should I expect?