Spleen and Liver Hemangiosarcoma in Dogs

Thanks for your response, it is greatly appreciated. I have found the dialog in this forum to be helpful while I have been trying to learn more about hemangiosarcoma so I thought I would share Gozer's experience in case it helps someone else and their beloved family member. Gozer is a 14 lb, approximately 9 year old (he was a stray) shih tzu/ terrier mix. He does have a heart murmur and an enlarged heart due to a leaky mitral valve but is not at a stage requiring heart medication. He was his normal self on Tuesday July 10, but by late afternoon/ early evening he was slightly lethargic and a couple of times that night he mis stepped (slight loss of coordination). He still wanted treats on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning (July 11) he was still lethargic but eagerly wanted a treat. In addition, it seemed as though he was taking very deep breathes ever 30 respirations or so. Our local vet allowed us to bring him in first thing Wednesday morning (9:30 am)and noted that his gums were pale. A red blood cell count was on the low end of normal limits. During the weekend before that Wednesday, all 4 of our dogs had slightly runny stools (I assume due to a new treat they had), so I was thinking it may have had something to do with that. Gozer's belly also felt a little tight (which we later found Gozer's belly was distended), but he is a little overweight, so we weren't sure what we were feeling. We were sent home with an antibiotic. While at the vet clinic shopping plaza, Gozer did not seem to want to walk around much and would stop often (not to smell anything, just in needing to rest). This is highly unusual for him as he loves to go places and walk around smelling the surroundings. When we got home, I put the antibiotic in his favorite treat (small ball of canned dog food), but he was reluctant to eat it. Gozer has NEVER refused a food item. Basically, I would categorize him as 'pig' as normally he has a great appetite. After that, Gozer spent a lot of time in his quiet place (dog bed in our closet where he often goes during thunderstorms and fireworks). I went to check on him and noticed urine spots on the bed. We have a doggie door and the dogs can go out at any time into their fenced in yard. Whenever there have been 'accidents' in the house, they have been due to marking, not really having accidents so the urine on the dog bed where he was sleeping was highly unusual. So, I called the internal medicine specialist office that had recently done the echocardiogram for his heart. They did not have any openings that day, but the receptionist let me talk to the doctor who did his heart work up two weeks before. I described to her what we were seeing and she squeezed us in that afternoon at 2pm. The specialist did blood work and an ultrasound that showed a ruptured spleenic mass, which meant Gozer was bleeding internally. The news was devastating as they explained to us that it most likely meant hemangiosarcoma and explained the options of 1) surgery to remove the spleen which had a survival rate of as short as 2 weeks to 2 months, 2) surgery with chemo that may extend the life to 4-6 months or maybe a little longer 3) send him home with a Chinese herb, or 4) euthanasia. They also already had a surgeon available to talk to us and would do the surgery immediately. They also explained that quality of life was usually very good with the surgery and chemo option. We elected to go ahead with the surgery. The surgery was completed before we arrived home (1 hour) and the doctor called to us to say that it all went well and that it did not appear that any other areas were effected, but they removed the spleen and took a liver biopsy. We were to wait for the path report to know for sure if it was malignant and if it was in the liver as well. Gozer stayed at the vet for almost 48 hours, where his heart was monitored due to heart arrythymia being a common occurance with the surgery. Gozer did develop the heart arrhythmia and was put on a lidocaine drip to treat the irregular heart beat. Gozer did not eat anything during his vet stay nor did he defecate, but the vet said that isn't that unusual and that Gozer will probably start eating at home. When we picked him up, he looked wiped out but wagged his tail when we we took him outside and he licked our faces (what a happy moment for us!). When we got home, I made some small balls of ground chicken and microwaved them. We offered them after they cooled and Gozer quickly ate the microwaved ground meatballs within 10 minutes of being home. He also went outside and defecated. In the past, Gozer did not seem to do well on tramadol (he had a benign thyroid tumor removed a few months ago), so the vet put him on gabapentin for pain. We are absolutely delighted at how quickly Gozer was back to his normal happy self, It was amazing how quickly (about 4 days) he recuperated after having his spleen removed. Unfortunately the path report did show that the spleen had hermangiosarcoma but the liver showed no metasis of the hemangiosarcoma. On Tuesday July 24, Gozer had his sutures removed and we met with the Oncologist who explained the options and that a good quality of life was the priority. Gozer had his first chemotherapy (doxorubicin) following blood work that same day (13 days post surgery). My understanding is that he sat on a tech's lap while getting the chemo through an IV which took about 15 minutes. He was also sent home with a probiotic, an antibiotic, and a anti nausea pill. That first chemo was yesterday and I am pleased to say that you would never know it, Gozer is still his happy. active self. The current plan is to have 6 rounds of chemo, done every 3 weeks. The fourth chemo will be preceded by a workup (blood, ultrasound), to evaluate how his body is doing. Likwise, we are to meet with a holistic practioner at the oncologist office to discuss options of YB and a mushroom extract to augment the chemo to help set Gozer up for success. I will keep posting how he is doing and the treatments he gets in case it helps someone. But, so far, so good! Gozer is doing incredibly well out spleenectomy and his first chemo session. He's a happy, tail wagging, treat begging, active little dog that brings us a lot us a lot of joy. BTW, he is also still playing with our other 3 dogs.