Thread: spleen cancer
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Old 26-08-2006, 02:48   #2
Dharkwolf
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This is a very tough post to reply to.

First – let me say that my heart goes out to you. I would never want to have to go through what you just described.

I have no experience whatsoever with cancer of the spleen in dogs or otherwise, I do know that problems with the spleen can cause significant amount of bleeding.

I am not sure if the problem is the dog actually licking the scar itself – if that’s the case we’ve recently found a different kind of collar (than the Elizabethan collar) which works very well for this. I will try to get you some photos up by tomorrow so you can see what it looks like, but basically it’s a brace collar, the sort which you would use to support the neck after a neck injury. Such a collar works by reducing the mobility of the neck. When the neck cannot move as freely, the dog will then not be able to bite at whatever it is that bothers her. Not terribly comfortable, but it may work better than the Elizabethan collar depending on where the wound is exactly located.

Another thing which you may want to look into, or ask your vet if they have looked into, is coagulation speeds and time. It may, just possibly may be that your dog has slightly longer coagulation times – this will mean that she is more prone to bleeding and when she bleeds she may bleed for a longer time. Have you noticed anything like that in the past? Even if you haven’t it may still be the case, removing the spleen is the kind of intervention which can affect things like total platelet count etc. If there is a coagulation problem that can be treated separately and may be part of the solution to the problem.

I’m sorry I have no real experience with spleen problems to share with you – I hope that the story really is over and that Brita (and you!) will not have to go through the sort of scenes you’ve just described again. Our pup just underwent some relatively minor surgery, and you have just about described some of our worst nightmares.

Best of luck.

J.

(NB I found an example of the neck brace here - http://www.shredx.net/Jax%20page%202.htm - not exactly what we have, but it gives you an idea)
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