I would be really grateful for any advice please:
I am privileged to own a whippet bitch called Mabli [welsh for lovable] which came from Rob and Dawn Smith in Oakhampton - she will be 3 years old next April and is the sweetest most lovable girl ever [still totally in love with her Dawn :b ]
About 8 weeks ago I noticed a swelling under her jawbone/neck about 1.5 x 1.5 inches - shaped like a rugby ball and smooth and spongy to touch. At first I thought she had been stung by a wasp or bee as she had been outside in the yard for awhile and she has a habit of chasing flies etc - she wasn't in any discomfit and was acting completely normal. I kept an eye on it for the next few days but it stayed exactly the same and she was still fine in herself. I checked it every day for a fortnight and when absolutely nothing happened I decided to take her to the vet. The vet examined her made a note of how big the lump was and appearance etc and gave me some antibiotics for her - during the examination she mentioned Lymphatic cancer which terrified me and suggested that I come back a 2 days later for another check and to have some blood tests done - I couldn't wait even 2 days for the blood test and asked her to do it then - she took the blood then checked everything - heart, lungs, eyes, ears, behind her front legs and the only thing slightly abnormal was Mabli's temp was raised slightly and she is overweight :b . I had to ring for the results an hour later and the bill was £96.00.
The blood result was completely normal with no signs of excessive calcium [apparent indicator for lymhatic cancer]. I took her back 2 days later after some strong antibiotics - no change and now the vet wanted to take syringe samples - she took 4 samples and said the results would be back in 5 days and she gave her another course of antibiotics and said she would ring with the result - this cost £73.00. She actually rang me within 24hours [she must have feared the worst at this stage to get the lab to rush the results through] - all results were consistent with a normal lymph gland just doing it's job and responding to an infection "somewhere in the body" she asked me to come back in a week after the antibiotics had finished. I went back yesterday - the lump is now more round and harder but no different in size - her temp was still slightly up but that has been consistent from the first visit - again a full check and no other symptoms this cost £42- the vet is now saying surgery may be the only way to find out whats going on but that given that other than antibiotics Mabli has received no other treatment and if it was lymphatic cancer she almost certainly would be near death as it is so aggressive that without treatment the life expectancy is 4 - 8 weeks. I am really against surgery for a number of reasons - it's a big opp and not easy to perform on a whippet, the cost is around £200 and I was really hoping to mate her when she has her next season [around 2 months time] of couse should she not be 100% fit I would not, under any circumstances, do this, and finally I have a real exerience of surgery accelerating any disease.
Mabli is normal in every way - playing, eating well, bright and alert and still killing all her toys as soon as i buy them for her - i couldn't bring myself to let the vet do the surgery so I have an apointment to go back on 22nd Oct to see if there is any change once the antibiotics are out of her system.
Do you think I'm doing the right thing or if it was your precious baby would you have the surgery just in case?
Any advice would be appreciated,
Thanks
Lois
I am privileged to own a whippet bitch called Mabli [welsh for lovable] which came from Rob and Dawn Smith in Oakhampton - she will be 3 years old next April and is the sweetest most lovable girl ever [still totally in love with her Dawn :b ]
About 8 weeks ago I noticed a swelling under her jawbone/neck about 1.5 x 1.5 inches - shaped like a rugby ball and smooth and spongy to touch. At first I thought she had been stung by a wasp or bee as she had been outside in the yard for awhile and she has a habit of chasing flies etc - she wasn't in any discomfit and was acting completely normal. I kept an eye on it for the next few days but it stayed exactly the same and she was still fine in herself. I checked it every day for a fortnight and when absolutely nothing happened I decided to take her to the vet. The vet examined her made a note of how big the lump was and appearance etc and gave me some antibiotics for her - during the examination she mentioned Lymphatic cancer which terrified me and suggested that I come back a 2 days later for another check and to have some blood tests done - I couldn't wait even 2 days for the blood test and asked her to do it then - she took the blood then checked everything - heart, lungs, eyes, ears, behind her front legs and the only thing slightly abnormal was Mabli's temp was raised slightly and she is overweight :b . I had to ring for the results an hour later and the bill was £96.00.
The blood result was completely normal with no signs of excessive calcium [apparent indicator for lymhatic cancer]. I took her back 2 days later after some strong antibiotics - no change and now the vet wanted to take syringe samples - she took 4 samples and said the results would be back in 5 days and she gave her another course of antibiotics and said she would ring with the result - this cost £73.00. She actually rang me within 24hours [she must have feared the worst at this stage to get the lab to rush the results through] - all results were consistent with a normal lymph gland just doing it's job and responding to an infection "somewhere in the body" she asked me to come back in a week after the antibiotics had finished. I went back yesterday - the lump is now more round and harder but no different in size - her temp was still slightly up but that has been consistent from the first visit - again a full check and no other symptoms this cost £42- the vet is now saying surgery may be the only way to find out whats going on but that given that other than antibiotics Mabli has received no other treatment and if it was lymphatic cancer she almost certainly would be near death as it is so aggressive that without treatment the life expectancy is 4 - 8 weeks. I am really against surgery for a number of reasons - it's a big opp and not easy to perform on a whippet, the cost is around £200 and I was really hoping to mate her when she has her next season [around 2 months time] of couse should she not be 100% fit I would not, under any circumstances, do this, and finally I have a real exerience of surgery accelerating any disease.
Mabli is normal in every way - playing, eating well, bright and alert and still killing all her toys as soon as i buy them for her - i couldn't bring myself to let the vet do the surgery so I have an apointment to go back on 22nd Oct to see if there is any change once the antibiotics are out of her system.
Do you think I'm doing the right thing or if it was your precious baby would you have the surgery just in case?
Any advice would be appreciated,
Thanks
Lois
