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Dog Rufus Newly Diagnosed with Thyroid Carcinoma

by Sara
(Conroe, TX)

Ru, in his younger years

My dog Rufus has very recently grown two lumps in his mid to lower throat. He "lost" his voice & has not wanted to eat his normal hard dry food or treats but he does fine with wet food & loves ice cubes.

He also behaved oddly about his collar while on walks prior to getting diagnosed so he is now wearing a harness which he seems okay with. Turns out, he has malignant Thyroid Carcinoma.

Rufus is 11.5 years old & has arthritis in his hips & is on glucosamine & an anti-inflammatory for that but he has been getting less active over the last year.

When he was 6, Rufus had crystals & blood in his urine. He was treated for a very rare bladder infection for males of any type of animal, apparently. His vet told me that he would be more prone than other dogs to get cancer because of his history.

He is a 65 lb border collie and he is my baby.

I am unsure about whether I want him treated for cancer or not with his arthritic issues and wanted to see what others out there have experienced.

Thank you in advance for sharing your stories and for any advice that you may have for me.

(Submitted Sunday, August 04, 2013)

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Aug 05, 2013
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Thinking of You
by: Elaine england

Hi so sorry to read that your baby has thyroid cancer.

I went through this last year with my greyhound Spike. He had only one thyroid lobe which was cancerous. And I elected to do surgery. I did get a specialist to preform the surgery, since when he had biopsy done he bled profusely. Spike was almost 10 and was in fairly good shape for his age. He had surgery Thursday and I had him home Friday. Lungs were clear, and he was given a good median survival time.

I do recommend a specialist to preform surgery if you go ahead. There are risks involved to nerves and a risk of aspiration in the lungs and bleeding as it is a vascular area.

However all that is fully explained to you and in a specialist centre the risk is low. I can say my old boy lived for nine months before he passed away four weeks ago with spinal issues totally unrelated. In my case at the time it was worth it.

If they do remove the whole thyroid your dog is put on a thyroid med for life. Also there be can damage to the parathyroid glands when the whole thyroid is removed and then along with the thyroid med your dog has a med to help with the calcium levels.

I wish you and and your boy well. The best advice I can give you is to discuss fully with your vet all the pros and cons and whether your boy will be up to it, then make a decision. That's what I did four weeks ago when my Spike who nine months earlier went through the same as you are facing now. I knew he could not face more surgery if indeed it was possible as he had a lot going on and sadly we parted.

I wish you all the best.

Elaine and grey Hazy

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