Mammary Tumors

Mammary tumors in un-spayed females can cause serious and potentially cancerous conditions. The tumor shown below, taken from an Italian greyhound estimated to be 5-8years old, was a severe case and had obviously been on the dog for quite some time. This tumor is about as bad as it can get. This particular dog was taken from a home with multiple other dogs. All were well-fed and had wonderful personalities but the home was in shambles and routine medical care for these animals was clearly neglected. All seven of the dogs surrendered had horrible teeth and overgrown nails. It was clear that the owners either could not afford or did not wish to spend any sum of money on their care.

The mammary tumor shown above was large, measuring approximately 2" x 4", hard, and multi-faceted. Because of the size and length of time it was left untreated, not only is it particularly horrific to look at, but there was a strong chance it could be cancerous. The longer you wait to have these kinds of tumors surgically removed and biopsied, the greater potential it has of being cancerous. Because of the many blood vessels that surround the mammary glands, as it grows the surgery will potentially become more complicated. Complicated surgeries are more time consuming and thus become more costly.

People adopting senior breeding bitches need to be aware that this condition exists and that mammary tumors should be dealt with immediately, in one form or another. A tumor this size can easily be biopsied and the dog can also have a chest x-ray. Then you can decide to either proceed with spay and tumor removal if there is a good chance of survival and you can afford it, or euthanize the dog and give it some dignity even in death. This dog was in surgery for three hours which included spay, growth removal, dental cleaning and eight tooth extractions.