Aggressive dog eyelid cancer: Is eye removal worth it for survival?

Unfortunately you do not say whether the melanoma is in his eye ball or the eye lid or skin around the eye ball. If it is in the eye ball it likely would be best to remove the eye. Removing the melanoma from the eye lids or skin around the eye is also advisable if it is returning with a vengeance, ie growing again. The major problem there will be complete removal having skin left to close the skin defect. Unfortunately, if it is not removed there is a chance of metastastes. I would not worry so much about her age, if she is fairly healthy and even in dogs with heart disease, for example, we can do special anesthesia tailored to your dog that is very safe.

Squamous cell is an aggressive form of malignant cancer. IF it can be completely removed then her chances are good. If the surgery leaves any portion behind, it will likely reoccur in a matter of a 1-3 months. They do have good quality of lives with the loss of eye and vision as the pain and discomfort gets relieved so they tend to feel better. If you do not go through with the surgery then the growth will spread and has potential to take over that side of face and will lead to a poor quality of life.

I'm very sorry this is happening to Roxi! It sounds like this tumor has gotten quite large, and is likely very irritating to her eye. In my opinion, surgery can be done on old dogs as long as blood work is done first that shows their organs are in good enough health to handle the anesthesia. Any surgery is a risk, and the anesthetic risk should be evaluated before making the decision to go or not. Given that the tumor is so large that you cannot see her eye anymore, her quality of life is affected, and it would be worth seeing if the tumor can be removed. If your vet does not want to do it, I would recommend seeking a second opinion from another vet.

My last visit to my dog's ophthalmologist was quite a bit less than surgery would be to remove his eye, so before making any rash decisions, I would find out the cost of seeing the ophthalmologist. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to determine if a mass in the anterior chamber is an iris cyst (which is benign) or a melanoma, but one trick is that an iris cyst may move in the eye. So if Tia is on her back, does the mass move? If so, be sure to give your doctor that information. I wish I had a simple answer for you, but I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Fortunately, the majority of eyelid masses on dogs are benign Meibomian gland adenomas. As long as the mass does not start growing significantly, bleeding, or causing Murphy to scratch, continue monitoring progression of these masses with photos to show to your vet in August. If anything changes significantly or seems to bother Murphy, he should go in for an exam sooner. Since he has fear-based aggression (very common!) and will need to have his eyes thoroughly examined, consider calling his vet to ask if he should have a sedative at home prior to his exam both to decrease stress and allow for a more thorough exam. I hope this helps and that all goes well!

I believe that in such a case, because the quality of life is affected greatly, that a surgery should be done with all it's risks, it's a simple surgery that does not take a long time meaning risks are still very minor. if your vet does not agree you might want to look for another clinic in your area of living that might share my opinion.

It is great news that the tumor removed had clean margins! This means it is much less likely to come back in the future. Tumors are graded on how many abnormal or cancer-type cells are seen when examining the biopsy under a microscope. Grading can be different for all the tumor types, but for most tumors a grade of 2 is only moderate in severity. This means the tumor has a chance of spreading but it is not very likely. Your vet probably recommended you visit an l oncologist just to be thorough. Oncologist have a lot more up-to-date information on cancer treatments and staging then regular practitioners do. The oncologist may recommend you do chemo to be on the safe side or they may recommend that you don't need to take any further steps. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Best of luck.