Question: I adopted “Mama” three years ago from Elite Greyhounds. She IS my life. Almost a year ago, we noticed a lump on her left neck. I brought her to the vet. He biopsied it, said it was OK. The lump now is quite large, and he said she was too old (13 now) to operate. It does not seem to bother her; she eats and poops very well.
She is losing some weight from vet visits, other than that, she’s “my baby,” and I’m so lucky to have found her. PetSmart advised to start giving her vitamins to help boost her system. They are GNC Mega Multivitamin Chewable tablets for senior dogs. Is this OK? — Jane
Answer: What a great adoption you made. Greyhounds make wonderful pets and you have had your dog for 10 years now! Good for you.
Do you know what type of biopsy was performed on the mass on Mama?s left neck? There are two types of biopsies. One is called a fine-needle biopsy. When this procedure is performed, a needle is inserted into a mass and some cells are removed. The cells are ejected onto a glass slide and sent for evaluation. This biopsy is non-invasive and does not require anesthesia. There is no incision and there are no sutures needed. With this procedure, though, it can be difficult to get a large sample of cells. Sometimes the cells obtained do not represent what is actually present in the mass. There is a 15 percent chance of getting a false negative result with this procedure.
The second type of biopsy procedure is called an excisional or incisional biopsy. This is when a piece of tissue is removed and sent to a pathologist. Surgery is required and some type of sedation is usually performed. There are sutures used. This is more invasive than the fine-needle procedure, but is less likely to obtain a false negative result. The other benefit of this procedure is if there is cancer present, the cancer can be graded and a more exact diagnosis given.
Since the mass on Mama?s neck is growing, ask your veterinarian which type of biopsy was performed. If a fine-needle biopsy was performed, then either an excisional or incisional biopsy could be performed to obtain a more specific diagnosis. If this has already been done, and a negative cancer result obtained, then we will need to decide if it will need to be removed at some point so that Mama does not become uncomfortable as a result of the large mass.
In answer to your final question regarding vitamins, if Mama is eating a well-balanced diet, she probably does not need further supplementation. A geriatric canine vitamin will not harm her in any way, though, and can safely be administered to almost all dogs. Check with your primary care veterinarian first.
Dr. Correa
Board Certified in Oncology
Animal Cancer Care Clinic
www.AnimalCancerCareClinic.com
Read more articles by Dr. Correa | Ask her a question
Source: http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/pawshere/2011/04/05/greyhound-has-lump-thats-growing/
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