Our vet noticed on palpation that Ripley has an enlarged spleen. Took 3 xrays, no obvious tumors, but the organ fills his abdomen.
Bloodwork comes back tomorrow. I'm scared. Anyone have any good stories to share? All I hear in my head right now is cancer, and I need to drive that thought away.
I wish I had some knowledge Meredith, but I do not.
I was thinking though, that I know with humans, we can live without a spleen, so maybe dogs can as well.??
I just wanted you to know I am thinking about you and your beautiful boy. I will be hoping for good news.
Hang in there, I know it can be tough.
Natalya Zahn Webboard User Reg: 12-22-2006
Posts: 1824
Loc: Cambridge, MA
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Meredith, sending good thoughts your way - I really hope whatever is going on with that spleen is either completely treatable or benign... I'd be a wreck not knowing though, so I can imagine how stressful this is for you. Hang in there - and let us know what more tests reveal!
Well, a positive thought: Dogs have a very active spleen filled with blood. If a dog is hit by a car and bleeding internally, the spleen contracts and gives the dog an "auto-transfusion" which can be life saving. Some dogs who have encountered trauma in the past (hit by car, kicked by horse) can have a divided spleen which is quite enlarged. This would be benign condition,a meaningless incidental finding.
It's actually quite common.
No anemias, no shifts in white blood cell counts, no morphology of red blood cells which would be indicative of tumors in the spleen. The vet said he was happy with the results.
He asked if I wanted to be conservative and re-check in 2 weeks after taking the supplements he prescribed, or send him in for a an ultrasound now. I asked if I could stop worrying about cancer. It's not out of the realm of possibility, but based on the blood work it's not likely.
I opted to go the conservative route. We'll check the size of his spleen again in 2 weeks.
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