Senior Dog/ Surgery Again? Need Advise

If you can afford the surgery, do it. While it will not lengthen her life, it will improve the quality of her life and your family will want to be around here.

If she dies during surgery, you know that you were doing your best to take care of her. You will not have taken much time off her life, really, if she's almost 13. If you just leave the lump to abcess and fester, you could feel like you are neglecting her, and an infection could spread throughout her body. And who knows how hard those constant antibiotics are on her kidneys, liver, etc..The time she has left would be sad for her. She doesn't know why all of a sudden no one wants to be around her.

I have a senior dog, Buddy who is now 17 yrs. He is a corgi mix (probably). We live near a woods and he took himself for a walk in the woods one day when he was 15. He was attacked by, we think, coyotes. He came home with huge gaping wounds. I rushed him to the vet and they did surgery on him. He did just fine during surgery and recovered fine also. He kept his wonderful,happy personality and sense of self even after having such a horrible attack. Last yr when he was 16 he got kennel cough from my son's dog, whom he had just adopted from a rescue. My old guy was so sick! He did recover but I sure thought we would loose him from that. Anyway I say go for the surgery. She should do fine in surgery and you will know you have done your best for her. She surely couldn't like having no one wanting her around cause of her smell! And she probably feels as if she's being punished for something she doesn't know what she did wrong and isn't her fault. Give the old gal a fighting chance to enjoy her senior years! I love my old guy- give her a big pat behind the ears from me!

Dogs are a part of the family. I would definitely vote for the surgery to improve her overall quality of life and to allow you guys to lavish her with love once again.

Hi J.
My dog just had a cyst removed from her head. I was in the same dilemma you are. She is 12 years old and I was worried she wasn't going to make it. She was acting sick and tired when we went walking and she just didn't act like she used to. And yes mine had the problem with the smell, scratching it open and making it bleed, too. The decision wasn't easy, it cost me a lot of money , but we had it done anyway. Well to make a long story short, she's doing so much better now. The vet wasn't sure it wasn't cancer at the time, so she sent of the growth to have it tested and it was ok. She has a little lump on her head were the vet had to pull her skin together, because she had to cut out so much tissue. After they removed her stitches, actually before then , she started to act all hyper again. I walked her with one of those cones and she tried passing me, she hasn't done that in years. She came charging through the door from outside. She just acts so much different. That thing must have bothered her more than we thought. She acts like a young dog again now. Even though we all know she's not.
Talk to your vet about the risks. They can put a mask over the dogs face for Anesthesia instead of putting her out, if that worries you. Talk and find out what option you have and what could happen and what he/she thinks would be best.
I know the decision is hard, it was for us, but we had to do something. I hope you the best and I hope your dog will get well soon. I have three dogs and two of them are older. The twelve year old is not the oldest one in my house. I have one going on fourteen and a young one of seven. Good Luck
M. Wimmer

We just went thru this a little over a year ago with my 12 year old lab. He was 12 then and had a growth on his chest. It was benign as well but it was growing and getting ugly. We went thru the same dilema about having it removed. Our vet did some lab work to make sure that everything was ok. It was so we had the surgery done. Even had his teeth cleaned! He did great! Really discuss this with your vet. It was well worth it at my dog's age. Good luck! Hope things turn out ok! Please keep us posted! It is not an easy decision to make but I hope you decide whatever is best for you all!

Where do you live?
Do she have a laid back personality? They may be able to get it off with local anesthetic. Good luck with her, I'm sure she is a very special girl. Scratch that little spot above her nubby tail for me ; )

I agree with Kelly P. I used to work for a vet & it was pretty common to do small surgeries like that with locals. The dr. can give her a mild sedative to take the edge off & use a local. Of course, it would depend on the size of the sore. Good luck with whatever decision you make.

Quality of life is your main consideration, Is she happy? Are you? Rotties are a bit more susceptable to problems with anestesia. My shepherd died last year at the age of 15. He had, probably fou mini-strokes, he would be out of it for a week or so and then very happy and okay. I then noticed his eyesight and hearing going, though his joints and hips were still great and he was getting around quite well, after the last one I decided to put him to sleep. I didn't want to wait until he had another and it was too bad or took too long to come back from. I had 15 years with him, I owed him a pain free way to go.
I am not telling you to put her to sleep, but always try to keep in mind her first not your own feelings. If there is a good chance the surgery could give her a longer and happier life, then do it. You all will be happier, prepare yourself that she may not make it. But that she was unhappy the other way, so you had to try to make sure the best for her. I hope if you decide to do it, that she recovers well and quickly.

Updated

Quality of life is your main consideration, Is she happy? Are you? Rotties are a bit more susceptable to problems with anestesia. My shepherd died last year at the age of 15. He had, probably fou mini-strokes, he would be out of it for a week or so and then very happy and okay. I then noticed his eyesight and hearing going, though his joints and hips were still great and he was getting around quite well, after the last one I decided to put him to sleep. I didn't want to wait until he had another and it was too bad or took too long to come back from. I had 15 years with him, I owed him a pain free way to go.
I am not telling you to put her to sleep, but always try to keep in mind her first not your own feelings. If there is a good chance the surgery could give her a longer and happier life, then do it. You all will be happier, prepare yourself that she may not make it. But that she was unhappy the other way, so you had to try to make sure the best for her. I hope if you decide to do it, that she recovers well and quickly.

Hi J.,
I am a vet, so I feel I can help. First of all, did your vet perform a needle biopsy (or other biopsy) and have the mass checked in a lab to confirm that it is not cancerous? I just want to make sure, because you can not tell just by looking at them. As long as that has been done, it sounds like surgery is the best option. Plus it sounds like it will improve her quality of life. If she won't leave it alone, it doesn't matter how many antibiotics you give her. You could try an e-collar temporarily to get her to stop chewing at it if you aren't able to have surgery performed.

As long as your vet is careful, anesthesia can be safe even in an older dog. We have successfully performed dentals under anesthesia in 14-15 year old dogs, some with heart murmurs. Your vet should run bloodwork to look for any underlying problems, if that hasn't been done already. Also they should monitor breathing and heart rate during the procedure. Some vets monitor blood pressure. They should also intubate your dog (put a tube in the windpipe) to deliver a constant stream of anesthetic gas and oxygen. That is much safer than just using injectible drugs or a gas mask. When all of these precautions are taken, it is actually pretty rare to have an anesthetic death.

So I hope that helps you with a decision. They definitely become part of the family don't they? Good luck with whatever you decide.

Hi,

I liked what Jeannie said.

I think I would also go with the surgery--it doesn't sound like the antibiotics are helping, and it seems that the surgery would be the next logical step. HAving an ongoing infection wouldn't be all that great for her, would it? She'd have a weakened immune system, which means she might get other illnesses more easily.

Good luck whatever you decide

K. Z.

I had a senior cat who had what appeared to be a tumor on his back and he was always licking it and it just kept growing so we opted to have it removed. After it healed from being removed he was like a kitten for 4 maybe 5 months, then one day I noticed he was hiding and not eating or drinking much, Sadly later that day I had to take him back to the vet, his liver was shutting down on him. My vet did all he could do but my poor "Max" passed away.I brought him home and buried him in the woods.
It is a hard call to make, but remeber our dogs and cats aren't made to live as long as we do.Yes it hurts to see them suffer and yes it hurts even more to see them pass away but we have to do what is best for our pets.Maybe you should see a differant vet for a second opinion.

Her life is not so good when she can't have the attention she is used to. So, good quality of life versus poor quality of life where she probably feels abandoned and confused by standoffishness. I'd vote for surgery. However, one other option, give her the love and attention she craves and see how that works. Year ago when I was a young girl, we had a cat who would not get well, despite the antibiotics the vet gave her. She also smelled bad and we all avoided her. One day I got to feeling sorry for her, and began to give her the love she wanted. She responded and healed up. I never forgot that lesson. So, if you try this option, it may work, but if not, I'd vote for surgery. Loneliness is a terrible condition, for man or beast.