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hemangiosarcoma of the spleen

We euthanized our 7 year old GSD this week who collapsed a few days prior.  He was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma of the spleen and had it removed in emergency surgery in August 2007.  I took him through chemo and he survived 6 months following the surgery.  On his last day, he was rebounding following a traumatic night a few days earlier vomiting and collapsing.  He couldn't get up the next day but was more responsive the following.  Although fatigued, he could walk the day after that and even began playing with his toys.  So he was recovering.  But he still had a nasty cough, no appetite outside a handful of food each day, and fatigue/anemia.  

I read the natural end was not painful-a collapse, shock and death.  But what I saw Saturday night was terrifying for us both.  He was so sick and scared so I made the decision to "help". I now I have huge regrets and need some answers or any information to deal with my devastation.  

How long does a dog having hemangiosarcoma typically have from the initial collapse to the final?  I understand the inevitable outcome of the diagnosis but loved him more than anything.  I'm tortured by my decision.  I did it for him but can't seem to find an answer.  Is there pain and suffering in a natural death in this case? What is typical?  Are there other regrets either way?  I know these are questions that should have been asked earlier but the entire experience has missed my expectations every step of the way.

I thought I had more time.  Thank you for any help you can offer.  
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Avatar universal
I had my beloved Matlda (14 year old AmStaff rescue) euthanized on August 8 in the morning.  The night before, she threw up her supper and threw up three more times.  She could barely walk.  By early, early morning, she could not walk at all and was barely responsive.  Her gums were extremely pale and her sides seemed to be swelled a bit.  I was terrified.  I live alone and had seven dogs.  She was about 66 pounds or more, so I had to get her on to a sheet and drag her into the garage and struggle getting her into my back seat.  She had been playing with a year old rescue during the day before I took her into the vet!  He did an ultra sound and drew fluid from her abdomen.  There was blood in the fluid and the ultra sound showed a ruptured tumor that had cancerous nodes.  I was shocked!  He said it probably didn't bother her until it finally ruptured.  I had her euthanized because I did not want her to suffer any more than she had during the previous night.  She was the light of my life.  On July 12th, not even a month earlier, my sweet Joey had a heart attack at home!  He had been severely abused when I picked him up from a SC shelter on 10/31/2008. He was a Pit Bull. He had a heavy heartworm infestation and another parasite called Babesia.Gibsoni when I pulled him back then...along with severe rickets and wounds on his legs where the muscle was exposed.  He weighed only  23 pounds and was being held as evidence in a cruelty case.  

His death was traumatic.  All of a sudden, he sort of weaved and finally collapsed.  Some poop came out of him and also quite a bit of urine.  He took about six gasping breaths which grew farther and farther apart and then he died.  This was at 6:15 PM on a Sunday.  I had to put him on a sheet too because he weighed about 60 pounds.  Worse yet, I had to try to put him inside plastic garbage container bags because I couldn't get him into the vet until they opened at 7:00 AM Monday morning.

I am so grief stricken and so overwhelmed by their deaths.  I would much rather have had Joey euthanized than see what happened to him in his last few moments alive.  It was truly heartbreaking and awful.  I have not spoken to anyone since the morning of Matilda's death.  I think my friends are all a little disgusted with me for shutting myself off from everyone.  I still have 5 here to take care of, but one of them, Stella, is very, very depressed herself because she was so very close to Matilda and knows Matilda and Joey are missing, especially Matilda.

I feel for you because I know what agony you're going through.  I don't know if I have any tears left at this point.  I miss them both so much.  We never have them long enough.  But, I'm glad that neither one of them suffered the way my Dad suffered with liver/colon cancer.....or the way my Mom completely deteriorated with Alzheimer's.
Thank God we can, at least, spare them from that kind of long term misery.

I am so very, very sorry for your loss.

luvastray  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I had my beloved Matlda (14 year old AmStaff rescue) euthanized on August 8 in the morning.  The night before, she threw up her supper and threw up three more times.  She could barely walk.  By early, early morning, she could not walk at all and was barely responsive.  Her gums were extremely pale and her sides seemed to be swelled a bit.  I was terrified.  I live alone and had seven dogs.  She was about 66 pounds or more, so I had to get her on to a sheet and drag her into the garage and struggle getting her into my back seat.  She had been playing with a year old rescue during the day before I took her into the vet!  He did an ultra sound and drew fluid from her abdomen.  There was blood in the fluid and the ultra sound showed a ruptured tumor that had cancerous nodes.  I was shocked!  He said it probably didn't bother her until it finally ruptured.  I had her euthanized because I did not want her to suffer any more than she had during the previous night.  She was the light of my life.  On July 12th, not even a month earlier, my sweet Joey had a heart attack at home!  He had been severely abused when I picked him up from a SC shelter on 10/31/2008. He was a Pit Bull. He had a heavy heartworm infestation and another parasite called Babesia.Gibsoni when I pulled him back then...along with severe rickets and wounds on his legs where the muscle was exposed.  He weighed only  23 pounds and was being held as evidence in a cruelty case.  

His death was traumatic.  All of a sudden, he sort of weaved and finally collapsed.  Some poop came out of him and also quite a bit of urine.  He took about six gasping breaths which grew farther and farther apart and then he died.  This was at 6:15 PM on a Sunday.  I had to put him on a sheet too because he weighed about 60 pounds.  Worse yet, I had to try to put him inside plastic garbage container bags because I couldn't get him into the vet until they opened at 7:00 AM Monday morning.

I am so grief stricken and so overwhelmed by their deaths.  I would much rather have had Joey euthanized than see what happened to him in his last few moments alive.  It was truly heartbreaking and awful.  I have not spoken to anyone since the morning of Matilda's death.  I think my friends are all a little disgusted with me for shutting myself off from everyone.  I still have 5 here to take care of, but one of them, Stella, is very, very depressed herself because she was so very close to Matilda and knows Matilda and Joey are missing, especially Matilda.

I feel for you because I know what agony you're going through.  I don't know if I have any tears left at this point.  I miss them both so much.  We never have them long enough.  But, I'm glad that neither one of them suffered the way my Dad suffered with liver/colon cancer.....or the way my Mom completely deteriorated with Alzheimer's.
Thank God we can, at least, spare them from that kind of long term misery.

I am so very, very sorry for your loss.

luvastray  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
I had my beloved Matlda (14 year old AmStaff rescue) euthanized on August 8 in the morning.  The night before, she threw up her supper and threw up three more times.  She could barely walk.  By early, early morning, she could not walk at all and was barely responsive.  Her gums were extremely pale and her sides seemed to be swelled a bit.  I was terrified.  I live alone and had seven dogs.  She was about 66 pounds or more, so I had to get her on to a sheet and drag her into the garage and struggle getting her into my back seat.  She had been playing with a year old rescue during the day before I took her into the vet!  He did an ultra sound and drew fluid from her abdomen.  There was blood in the fluid and the ultra sound showed a ruptured tumor that had cancerous nodes.  I was shocked!  He said it probably didn't bother her until it finally ruptured.  I had her euthanized because I did not want her to suffer any more than she had during the previous night.  She was the light of my life.  On July 12th, not even a month earlier, my sweet Joey had a heart attack at home!  He had been severely abused when I picked him up from a SC shelter on 10/31/2008. He was a Pit Bull. He had a heavy heartworm infestation and another parasite called Babesia.Gibsoni when I pulled him back then...along with severe rickets and wounds on his legs where the muscle was exposed.  He weighed only  23 pounds and was being held as evidence in a cruelty case.  

His death was traumatic.  All of a sudden, he sort of weaved and finally collapsed.  Some poop came out of him and also quite a bit of urine.  He took about six gasping breaths which grew farther and farther apart and then he died.  This was at 6:15 PM on a Sunday.  I had to put him on a sheet too because he weighed about 60 pounds.  Worse yet, I had to try to put him inside plastic garbage container bags because I couldn't get him into the vet until they opened at 7:00 AM Monday morning.

I am so grief stricken and so overwhelmed by their deaths.  I would much rather have had Joey euthanized than see what happened to him in his last few moments alive.  It was truly heartbreaking and awful.  I have not spoken to anyone since the morning of Matilda's death.  I think my friends are all a little disgusted with me for shutting myself off from everyone.  I still have 5 here to take care of, but one of them, Stella, is very, very depressed herself because she was so very close to Matilda and knows Matilda and Joey are missing, especially Matilda.

I feel for you because I know what agony you're going through.  I don't know if I have any tears left at this point.  I miss them both so much.  We never have them long enough.  But, I'm glad that neither one of them suffered the way my Dad suffered with liver/colon cancer.....or the way my Mom completely deteriorated with Alzheimer's.
Thank God we can, at least, spare them from that kind of long term misery.

I am so very, very sorry for your loss.

luvastray  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
This past Sunday, my husband and I made a decision to euthanize our Sammie. He was a rescue around the age of 10/12 yrs. old.  The morning was great and nothing was wrong. Later in the afternoon, when we were driving home, Sammie went limp and his tongue was pale. He was gasping for air several times. We rushed him to animal emergency. They told us that he was critical and that he had a tumor on his spleen that erupted and he was bleeding internally. Along with that, he had developed pneumonia. I was in total shock. I had just taken him for a check up and he came out with a clean bill of health. I addressed his vision problems and ended up taking him to an specialist (ophthalmologist) to treat his eyes. Also, Sunday afternoon, I had dropped off a stool sample to make sure his stool was ok. The results to that were negative.
There was mention of surgery but the chances of Sammie's survival were very slim especially since he was on life support. They also told us that 50% of the time these tumors are cancerous and the most he would live was maybe 3 to 6 months. I did not want to put my 15 pound baby through such pain and odds.
We are heavily grieving now. The one thing that I keep going over in my head is that I wished I would have told the doctor that he seemed uncomfortable a lot of the time. He would roll from side to side when he slept. I just attributed that to age. I feel that maybe if I mentioned that, our vet would have ordered an xray or examined him further. I was observing Sammie constantly. His vision was impaired, so I addressed that, His stool was sometimes dark, and I addressed that.
I feel awful. Maybe this is part of grieving, but I still feel somewhat responsible.
The one thing that I got out of this is to request xrays for my dog just as a precautionary step. There is no way of knowing until it is too late. I loved him so much and miss him terribly.
Helpful - 0
675347 tn?1365460645
COMMUNITY LEADER
I am so very sorry for your loss of your beloved dog, and for the pain and grieving you are going through right now.

I think you did the right thing. He passed over into spirit or to the "Rainbow Bridge" gently and didn't have to endure any more pain. He had been through enough. Yes they are stoical. They endure anything and keep on loving life and us. But you set him free from all that.

He still loves you, and I hope you may sense his loving Soul one day. All my kindest thoughts to you at this sad time.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
You did the right thing MissMyDiego.  I just lost my dog of almost 13 years. 5 years ago he was diagnosed with severe osteo arthritis and eventually the left rear leg was frozen and he was on tramadol , nsaids and many other meds and finally gabapentin was added for several years.  He never showed me pain but when I took him to a new Holistic/COnventional vet to see if he qualified for stem cell therapy/replacement she said this dog is being  treated with all these meds for arthritis and although he has some arthritis he has a real bone issue (suspected bone cancer)and said he appeared healthy otherwise but if I had his leg amputated he should be ok. I wrestled with this decision at his age  and went to two other vets for second opinions and they said put him down as he is in horrid pain?  I went back to the holistic/conventional vet and agreed to amputation and prepared for day of surgery and she did xrays and ultrasound and in few minutes came out to talk and I could tell it was bad.,  No surgery, he has cancer in his spleen and already in his liver and he is in horrible pain for this as well as that leg and needs to go now. (also the knee bones in that rear leg had dissolved or looked like on the xrays bone had been shredded) so bone cancer suspected there) I had option of taking him home one or two days and she said risking him hemmorrhaging to death which would be very painful so while already heavily sedated for surgery I made  that horrible decision and now I cannot get over having to do that.  He was my life and I just wanted to go when he went.  It has been over a month now and I cannot cope with it. Should I have brought  him home for the one or two days and if I had I do not think I could have taken him back to be euthanized.  I am a wreck.  I had him cremated and my ashes will be mixed with his upon my death.  To think he was in pain with his leg for 5 years and never showed me his pain is almost unbelievable but they said he was a very stoic dog and loved me beyond compare.  He was till eating all his food and drinking and hopping around on three legs but I could tell he was very weak so how long the cancer had been there no one knows.  
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