Dog Community

Trying to save this neglected Pitt, but got some bad news...

Posted : 7/21/2008 7:38:11 PM

So I just typed this entire post and pushed the page back button, so these are the cliffnotes...

Basically, on Saturday me and my fiance went to pick up her dad's truck while my car is in the shop. We get there and see that his female Pitt is grossly underfed. You can see her ribs, spine, everything. We could not in good conscience leave her there. So we basically just took her. We have been nursing her back to health the last few days. Well, today we took her to the vet. In addition to being very malnurished, she has a mass the size of a grapefruit in her chest cavity. It is pressing one lung up and one lung down. It is very hard for this little girl to breathe, and there is no telling how long she has been like this. She is only a little over a year old!

We are taking her to a specialist tomorrow, and spending money we shouldnt be spending being fresh out of college. We will make the payments, we just cant have this little girl die if she still has a chance. Especially considering she hasnt had love until the last 2 days. I am very worried.

Best case scenario, its a cyst. Worst case scenario, its a bad cancer and we have to put her down. But I just can't fathom that she could have such an advanced case of cancer at only a year old! God I hope its a cyst. Hell, even a strange hernia would be better news than a grapefruit sized tumor.

Look at this poor little girl. The black one is ours and is very healthy. I would love to take in the Pitt as a new member of our family if she can make it through this.

[IMG]http://i34.tinypic.com/2j2u536.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i35.tinypic.com/1zwf21k.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i34.tinypic.com/2gsjp1y.jpg[/IMG]

ottoluv

Posted : 7/21/2008 8:37:32 PM

That's wonderful of you to do something so kind. Good benign thoughts to you!

calliecritturs

Posted : 7/21/2008 9:58:59 PM

It could be most anything -- from infection to something more and honestly it could even be a sort of an obstruction. There was a dog here in Florida a couple of years ago -- the owner kept feeling this 'scab' on the front of the sternum at the side but it didn't heal and it sure was sharp. The dog was generally not feeling well and the vet was clueless so referred them to the U of FL vet school.

Long story short -- in trying to diagnose they kept seeing this 'line' appear on xrays etc. .... she had swallowed a skewer to a shish ke bob! It was wood so it almost didn't show up on x-ray. She survived but it was quite the news story.

It's likely that whatever is causing the mass may also be causing her not to eat properly or digest her food which may be why she's so skinny.

Bless you for helping her.

jessies_mom

Posted : 7/22/2008 7:00:11 PM

Welcome to the forum. She has such a sweet face; I hope it's not cancer. Bless you for helping her.

MJE0409

Posted : 7/22/2008 8:37:08 PM

Ok so we went to the specialist today. Here is the discharge orders they gave us word for word. (Scroll down for the cliff notes)

___________________________________________________________________________________

"Dear Mr. _______,

It was good to meet you and Bailey today. Bailey is a beautiful girl and a wonderful dog. Bailey was presented to us for evaluation of a possible chest mass.

On physical examination, Bailey was very thin with a body condition score of 1/5. Her heart sounds were louder on the right. The lung sounds were increased on the right and decreased to non-existant in the left forward compartment. The liver palpated enlarged. Review of the x-rays sent by your home vet showed increased soft tissue density/fluid in the left hemithorax.

An ultrasound of the chest was performed and showed soft tissue mass in the left forward chest with areas of trapped air and fluid. No definitive mass could be descerned. X-rays of the chest were taken to look for a possible twisted airway. These films are being sent to a radiologist for review. We should have these results available this afternoon or tomorrow. We will determine our next step based on his findings. The potential options would be a CT scan and/or surgical exploratory. We will call as soon as we hear from the radiologist."

___________________________________________________________________________________

So basically even though they couldnt rule out cancer, they couldn't tell us it was cancer, which is good. The Doc's hunch is something called a Lung Lobe Torsion. The surgery can be somewhat risky, but if all goes well it is removable. Other possibilities are various tumors (which hopefully are unlikely since the dog is so young), cysts, and fungal infections.

I was approved for their credit program so we will be able to pay for surgery if we get that far. Trying to stay positive at this point. It comforts me to know that there are pockets of air and fluid in the mass, because I don't believe cancer usually contains air or fluid pockets. We can only wait and see at this point. Been doing a lot of praying and didnt get much sleep last night.

(Oh yeah, if it is indeed a lung lobe torsion, it could have very well been caused by trauma to the chest. Angry But they could never know that for sure.)