My dog's colon X-ray has a gray area. Is it cancer or a hairball?

We can't often see tumors in the stomach on x-rays because they blend in with the surrounding tissues. Black areas on x-rays are often pockets of gas, which may be normal. I would recommend asking your vet what you are seeing on the x-rays.

Unfortunately the quality of the image coming through to us isn't great. If you are talking about the circular area on the upper right side of the abdomen, this is gas in the stomach and can be normal. If your vet wants to try additional diagnostics but doesn't have ultrasound, they could do a barium study, or they could send the x-rays to a radiologist for review (a veterinary radiologist has extensive training at reviewing x-rays and so can sometimes interpret things a regular vet may not). X-rays can be send electronically to a radiologist for review through various services, so I would ask them if they feel either of these options would be appropriate.

I am so sorry you said goodbye to Jake today. Please accept my condolences for your loss. A mass on x-ray is typically very bad, but it could also be a cyst or an abscess. If it progressed fast, I would suspect cancer. Please don't second guess yourself, the vet wouldn't have put him down if it wasn't the best option for him. Again, I'm sorry for your loss.

Thank you for contacting Pet Coach with your question. X-rays produce images of the structures inside the body. Bone is the most dense, so it shows up as a white. X-rays are the best for visualizing bones. You can see organs and tumors, they will show up as shades of gray. In order to better visualize them, however, ultrasound, an MRI, or CAT scan would be better. I hope this helps.

This an x-ray focused on the caudal abdomen. As far as I can see there is moderate distension of the last part of the intestine (colon) which is filled with feces and gas. There are no other abnormalities and the radiopacity on the ventro-dorsal view is due to an artifact rather than an actual abnormality.

Your veterinarian is correct, the x-ray will likely not show a brain tumor. Dense materials, such as bone and metal, show up as white on an x-ray, while tissue is shows up in varying shades of gray. It would very hard to see a brain tumor on x-ray. An MRI or CT scan will show a brain tumor. MRIs can "see" through the bones of the skull to the tissue underneath, while a CT scan creates detailed images of the soft tissue of the body. I would listen to your veterinarian's recommendation, as they would be the expert on all aspects of veterinary medicine given they attended many years of vet school.

Poor Areisa. I am sorry that you all are going through of this. Without seeing her or any of the tests, it is impossible for me to say exactly what the problem is. If the masses on her skin have been there for awhile and your vet has looked at them, then they are most likely benign. If your vet hasn't looked at them then I would have your vet take a look. They may want to aspirate them to see if they are concerning. As for the mass in the colon, I doubt it is related to the masses on the skin. If they just did an x-ray, I would talk to them about whether or not they can do an abdominal ultrasound as they may be able to get a better look at this mass and if it is truly in the colon. Your vet can also refer you to a specialist for an ultrasound or an colonscopy to get a better idea of what is going on in the colon. They are a lot of things that can cause a lost of mobility of one leg like a nerve sheath tumor, a disc abnormality, a clot in the spine, severe arthritis, discospondylosis, and much more. Most of the time degenerative myelopathy cause weakness in BOTH rear legs. It is great news that she is negative for that. I would talk to your vet about starting her on some meds to help with that legs or you could seek out a integrative vet in your area that does acupuncture and Chinese herbs. I have seen great results with these situations using this type of meds on top of western meds. I hope this helps!