My dog has breast cancer after surgery. What are her next steps?

The steps I would take are 1. Pre/operative blood panel 2. Chest X-ray to make sure there are no metastatic masses in the chest. 3. Complete surgical removal of the mass with wide margins AND spay at the same time. 4. Submit tumor for histopathology to see if it is malignant. Make sure the chest X-ray is clear. If this is malignant and has already metastasized to the chest, then successful outcome for long term survival changes. Surgical removal will not make it spread faster. I don’t think cryotherapy is a good idea because the surgical area will be too large and she needs to be spayed also. These tumors are very hormonally dependent. Her ovaries need to be removed as well as the tumor. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Sometimes during surgery it is difficult to remove all the cancer cells. Cells are microscopic and unless very wide margins were taken at surgery some cells may have been left behind. It is not necessarily the vet's fault. Cancer is difficult. The same thing happens in humans. Age is not a disease, if she is relatively in good health there is no reason for her to be unable to have surgery.

If you want additional treatments, I would recommend that you discuss referral with your vet to a veterinary oncologist. This question isn't an easy one to answer since it depends on the type, location, current health, potential for spread, etc.

Eighteen years is quite old for a dog, so I understand why you may be hesitant to go through any procedures that may decrease her quality of life. At this age it's uncertain how much longer she will live (with or without the tumor) and it seems like she may have other problems,or possible spread of the tumor that would not give a favorable prognosis for recovering from surgery. I would definitely want to solve the problem of not eating before recommending surgery for the tumor. It was helpful to see the notes and lab work, but I would need to further evaluate her and discuss this more in order to give you some more helpful advice. I think it would be worthwhile to discuss this with your veterinarian again and ask what they would do if it were their dog. This may help you with your decision. I hope that helps and Candy gets better soon.

I would be concerned that the swelling is another mammary mass or lymph node from the mammary area. Unfortunately, needle aspirates on mammary cells can be hard to determine if malignant or not. I would recommend taking Aries in to your vet tomorrow to discuss the next steps. I think your vet will also suggest chest xrays to make sure there is no evidence of cancer in her lungs.

Mammary cancer is not normally considered to be a hereditary problem, so to the best of my knowledge this should not be a concern for the puppies. However, in most cases, it is recommended to spay female dogs with a history of mammary cancer because this is a hormonally-driven disease; so, remaining intact and breeding may not be recommended for the mother dog herself. I would recommend discussing this further with your regular veterinarian, since he/she is familiar with the details of your dog's case (what type of cancer she had, how aggressive it was, whether the tumor was completely removed, etc.) and can help you make a more informed decision.

As she is unspayed it's very likely a primary tumor of the mammary gland, it's not possible to know if it has already sent metastases to other places in the body though. the recommendation is to get it removed surgically ASAP.