[jillianleab]

Recently my mom took one of her dogs (a chocolate lab) to the vet because she was having trouble getting around. The vet did some blood work, x-rays, etc and determined the dog has pretty severe arthritis. He prescribed medication for this. Then he mentioned that on one of the x-rays he did of her neck area, he could see "nodules" on her lungs, and said it could be chronic brochitis or possibly lung cancer. This dog is in the neighborhood of 13 years old, so my mom declined to have a biopsy done to find out for sure, as she is unwilling to put a dog that age through chemo, etc.

A few things don't make sense to me, however. I thought that x-rays only showed bone and hard substances, not tumors/growths/"nodules"? Also, if it were chronic brochitis, wouldn't the dog be coughing? She does get short of breath fairly easily, but she does not cough. The vet my mom uses is not my favorite vet in the world (he has questionable ethics in my opinion), but my mom likes him. There is a language barrier, as he does not speak English very well, so that could be why my mom didn't ask for more information. Also, frankly, she'd rather not have definite conformation if the dog has cancer, but rather let her live the rest of her days happy and dozing on the couch...

So does anyone know, should an x-ray show "nodules" and should chronic bronchitis cause coughing?

Thanks.

[DocWill]

yep, the greater the density the whiter object show up. Hence bones look almost perfect on radiograph, an items such as liver kidneys show up as a grey or shadow if you will. These nodules as he referred to are sadly too common an more times than not discovered secondary to the primary reason for the x-ray. When I discover these I request a biopsy and ultrasound, while requesting the patient rests awaiting the biopsy results. In your situation, I don't think she will stray far from the couch security duties an shouldn't be of great concerm. I know I have a picture of them on my work computer from previous case work an would be happy to email it to you and explain what we are looking at with a normal chest x-ray as well. This condition can go unremarkable for years with out even the owners aware. I will be happy to explain more in email if you like. I wouldn't get so excited over the findings at this stage as of yet. One last thing, how much does she weigh?

[jillianleab]

I didn't see the x-rays, so I doubt seeing the ones you had would be much help, but thank you for the offer.

Other than the arthritis slowing her down she seems to be a picture of health - barks at people who pass by the house, eats and drinks normally, and takes her daily walk (appx 1 mile). The vet encouraged my mom to continue walking her, as it will help with the arthritis.

I'm not overly concerned over the findings, as the dog is getting on in years and has had a very happy life at my mom's house. She gets her own couch, how could she NOT be happy?? :) I was asking more out of curiosity than anything else. Of course I would be sad to see the dog go, but I do understand it happens, and there's only so much we can do about it.

She's a big lab, in height and weight. She's probably around 80lbs, but is quite tall. She's a little chunky (sitting on the couch will do that to you!), but not what I would consider "overweight". I don't know if the vet considers her overweight, or just "above average".

The thing I don't understand is, how could it be lung cancer? No one in the house smokes, and she's not exposed to other carcinogens. I suppose it could have spread to her lungs from somewhere else, if it in fact is cancer... Weird.

[DocWill]

Genetics, bad luck, Plus cancer doesn't discriminte body organs especially large breed dogs. What did he put her on 100mg Rimadyl once a day for her old bones?

[danielnoahsmommy]

Rimadyl works wonders, but she should get her liver checked while on this med.

[DocWill]

Liver stress is a large reason we got away from long term etogesic Rx. Rimadyl much safer long term.

[jillianleab]

I'm not sure of the dosage, but yes, she is on Rimadyl. I know it can cause liver damage, but really, the dog is 13 and was to the point she couldn't get up the steps after her daily walk. The only option other than an RX (I think) would have been a constant dose of aspirin to keep the poor thing out of pain, which can't be much better for her body. She's an old dog and we are doing what we can to keep her around and happy, but I'd rather see her be able to walk and pass away from liver problems than live for another 5 years and not be mobile!