My dog has an enlarged spleen. What are the symptoms and treatments?

The spleen can enlarge with certain infections (especially blood borne infections or tick borne disease), splenic torsions, or certain types of cancer. It can also be normal for some dogs to have a larger spleen, and certain drugs used for sedation or anesthesia can cause the spleen to enlarge. Your veterinarian might want to perform blood work to look for changes that could suggest an infection or may want to perform an ultrasound to examine the spleen as a next step. Some of these causes are very treatable and others are not.

Enlargement of the spleen when associated with a mass or lesion is typically quite risky. Particularly in older dogs, the most likely cause for splenic enlargement is a cancerous tumor. In these cases, the mass as well as the spleen should be remove to preserve life. In many cases these masses are filled with blood, can rupture, and often will result in the death of the dog. Hope this answers your question.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Betty Lou. A lot of dogs develop splenic masses and many of them are not cancerous. There is no way to know by looking at the spleen. It needs be removed and submitted to the laboratory for a pathologist to evaluate microscopically. The same holds true for the liver. Just because a lesion is seen on the liver in surgery does not mean cancer has spread from the spleen. It is best in this case to remove the spleen and biopsy any abnormality in the liver. You may consider having an abdominal ultrasound performed prior to surgery by a board certified radiologist. This will allow a full evaluation of the abdomen and give you a better idea of what to expect in surgery. I hope this information helps. Good luck to you and Betty Lou!

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Rocks. I would think that since the spleen plays a big role in the immune system and a storage area for red blood cells, that a subsequent enlargement of the organ is entirely possible. I would say this though......if the spleen remains enlarged a month or two after the snake bite episode, I would pursue the x-ray and/or ultrasound to evaluate why it is truly enlarged. Many middle aged to older dogs end up having problems with their spleens including hematomas, splenic cysts, or even splenic tumors which can either be benign or malignant. Sometimes these problems with the spleen cause internal bleeding from the damaged organ thus often necessitating an emergency splenectomy. Your vet is correct to advise imaging studies to try to detect an enlarged spleen and attempt to treat it if necessary in a non emergent setting. Good luck with Rocks and I hope this is all related to the snake bite.

I would highly recommend taking her to a vet as soon as possible. Bleeding in the eye can be due to local trauma to the eye but also can be connected to underlying disease like toxin (rat poison), bleeding disorders, cancer, high blood pressure or infectious disease. I would be very concerned in an older dog with enlarged spleen that the blood in eye is related to this. I would recommend x-rays of the body and blood work to look at organ function and platelet count. Also, taking sassy to an ophthalmologist would be in her best interest

Hello. I am so sorry to hear about Isis. An enlarged spleen along with nose-bleeds could be due to many different disorders including tick-borne diseases that attack the red cells. Other causes could be rat bait, an auto-immune disease called "Immune mediated thrombocytopenia" or "Immune mediated hemolytic anemia" which is when the immune system attacks the platelets or the red cells. These can also occur together which can cause bleeding. Also, any severe infection can result in "DIC" or "Disseminated intravascular coagulation" which can result in bleeding. Other causes could be a congenital clotting disorder. With the fever a tick-bourne disease or an auto-immune disease are most likely. Without doing other blood tests it would be impossible to know for sure. I am so sorry about Isis. All of these diseases are unfortunately very serious and hard to treat.

Hello. I am so sorry for Jeter's difficulties. Unfortunately, draining the blood will only relieve the pressure for a very short period of time. The spleen is an organ that can accumulate & hold massive amounts of blood but can also bleed very easily because of disease ( infectious or inflammatory ) or because of cancer. This amount of blood is probably leaving Jeter quite anemic & this degree of blood loss into the abdomen can result in lower oxygen levels to the tissues, also leading to shallow breathing often at an increased rate. An older pitbull with these symptoms probably has a hemangiosarcoma on the spleen. Possible surgery to remove the spleen & tumor may be feasible if there has been no metastasis, but just draining the abdomen is just futile. I am so sorry for your poor Jeter. It is so difficult to see a pet having difficulty. I wish you & Jeter all the best. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.