My dog has spreading bumps. What are treatments for mast cell tumors?

I'm very sorry Daisy has so many tumors! The course of treatment depends on the grade of the mast cell tumors (MCT). In low grade tumors that have been removed with adequate margins, further treatment is typically not needed. If there is spread to local lymph nodes, for example, then addition treatment is needed. Once the grade of the tumors is known, that will help your decision, but given that you think she might be at stage 3, I would recommend doing surgery and chemotherapy. As for holistic treatments, there may be complimentary treatments you can do in addition to the surgery and chemo, such as acupuncture, and I would discuss the use those with your vet.

Wow! Poor Baby! I am really concerned about the potential of mast cell tumors. I would talk to your vet about whether they have aspirated any of them. If so, they may want to remove one of them and send it in to the pathologist to see what it is. They may want to send it in for a cytology, bacterial culture, and fungal culture to help figure out the problem. I would have make sure your vet has done blood work to look at her white blood count. If it isn't high and they suspect mast cell tumor, I would either go see an oncologist or start her on prednisone. I hope this helps to guide you in her treatment.

I'm sorry for your baby going through this! Unfortunately lymphoma requires chemotherapy. Mast cell tumors if completely removed may not require any further treatment. Therefore it is very important to know where the mass removed was lymphoma or not. I would recommend proceeding with the special staining needed to get that answer. If it is lymphoma and chemotherapy is not done most dogs do not survive longer than 30 to 45 days. That is another reason why it is important to get an accurate diagnosis as early as possible.

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It depends on the Vet's experience with reading cytology. Most Vets send out their cytology samples to a specialist who is trained to read them. Mast cell tumors have a classic look and tend to be one of the easier tumors to diagnose. You could ask your Vet to send the slides out since that only takes 1-2 days to get them back but sometimes aspirates do not get you an answer. I know you have surgery set up and a biopsy planned. That is the best thing for Precious, to get the mass off and know what it is. It has a high chance of being benign. It is a good thing it hasn't grown much. I wish you the best!

Hello, thank you for your question about Zeus. If the lumps/masses were removed with relatively good margins, meaning that your veterinarian was fairly confident they removed all portions of the tumor, and the mast cell tumor was low grade no additional treatment is required other than close monitoring for recurrence in these areas. Although not as common with low grade mast cell tumors, you could elect to look for any evidence of metastasis, or travel of the tumors. This would likely include chest x-rays and an abdominal ultrasound. However, I believe it is also appropriate to continue monitoring Zeus. Hope this helps, good luck!

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.

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.