21-Pound Tumor Removed From Dog
If I hadn’t read this, and seen the pictures, I probably wouldn’t have believed it.
A 21 lb. tumor was removed from Warren the Labrador retriever, saving the life of the 13-year-old dog.
Warren was operated on at Boston’s Angell Animal Medical Center five months ago and has made wonderful progress since then.
Here are the details from WCVB TV from Boston.
BOSTON — Surgeons at Boston’s Angell Animal Medical Center removed a 21-pound tumor from a Labrador retriever, the largest tumor veterinarians there had ever seen.
Warren, 13, fully recovered from the surgery last spring to remove the tumor that had grown to one-sixth his body weight.
The tumor had grown so large it made walking difficult for the dog and his breathing became increasingly labored.
Surgeons faced the problem of dealing with the cavity that was created once the mass was removed.
“Warren has since spent the past five months enjoying his lightened frame following the lifesaving surgery,” Duddy said.
There is a picture of the tumor but it’s too graphic to post. If you’re the daring type, click here.
*Pic from Angell Animal Medical Center courtesy WCVB TV
Wow!! I’m so glad the vets were able to remove the tumor. I wonder how it got so big?
One of my little saw dust twins that lived to age 21 had a 11 pound tumor removed from her. She should have weighed about 25 pounds. My vet submitted it to medical journals. That was back in the 80’s. He had to cut her from sternum to rear to get it out in one piece. It looked very much like the one shown in the photo, only smaller. It was an incredible surgery.
Wow! I’m glad the dog is fine.
Thats just huge..I just do not understand how his owners could allow it to grow so large and do nothing about it until now. If something is growing, even slowly, it should be removed..But my goodness, I cannot imagine letting my dog suffer with something that huge!
Woah. That is HUGE! I’ve had some fatty cysts, but that tumor was…interesting…wonder what it smelled like? Hmmm…oops! I mean, I wonder why it got so big before they removed it? Yes, that’s what I wonder. Anyway, it’s gone now, thank Dog!
It’s hard to decide whether or not to remove a tumor when a dog reaches “senior citizenship”. Most of the time tumors do not generally pose a health risk but once in a while they grow quite quickly and get quite large. I’ve seen procedures like the one listed here and the odds are not in favor of the pet once you consider anesthetic risks, removing such a large proportion of the body, and possible post-op complications resulting such a throwing a blod clot. This pooch was very lucky and I love happy endings!!!
it was a “slow growing tumor.” It seems silly to have waited for it to get that big – when it was the size of a baseball, the surgery would have been much less risky than when it was the size of a basketball (less blood going to the tumor, smaller incision, smaller area to close up), and you would have already had time to monitor the growth rate. Or when it was the size of a softball. Or when it was the size of a soccer ball…