Herbie - 4 Cancer Lumps. Update - X-Ray Pics added

I posted a while ago about my Herbie having a cancer lump. He got an op to get it removed and he pulled through that well. Unfortunately it has come back very near where it was before .

The rubbish thing is that he also has three other lumps on his body. These are all different feeling to the original lump. The vets took samples of them and sent them off to the lab, the lab said that there are spindle cancer cells in them, but they couldn't give a definitive answer if they were definitely cancer.

I have taken photos and they have been sent off to the D!ck Vets, but we have been waiting a couple of weeks for a response. In the meantime the lump on his front leg, near his joint at his body, seems to be growing a fair bit, and the one on his back had a wee bit of blood on it tonight . I am in a total quandary as to what to do. He is totally fine within himself, but these lumps are all growing. I think that I need to get them all off as best we can, but I have a feeling that they will just grow back again.

These are the lumps below, wee soul:

oh gosh - I am sorry.

I am not sure what type of cancer they are? Parsley had a treatment for his melanoma - it was a canine vaccine but it worked - but it was very expensive and had to be brought from America

Oh and a friend of ours - her rabbit had recent therapy for cancer. It was going really well but the bun was already quite illl and her immune system failed.

I don't have any advice, but I wanted to send lots of vibes xx

I'm so sorry Kermit.

I've zero experience but really hope you get some answers & treatments to try real soon. Nose rubs for wee Herbie who sounds to be un-phased by it all

Thanks folks xx

The initial lump was an Anaplastic Sarcoma. The lab can't say for the others, just that there is spindle cancer cells there.

Kermit, I am so sorry.
Stupid cancer. Why can't it just off?
I have no advice, I'm afraid, but I am sending my vibes and hugs your way. I wish there was more I could do. xxxxx

I am so very sorry that Kermit has more lumps. What to do next is very difficult. What are the vets suggesting? My gut feeling would be to get them excised as soon as possible. But that's what I would do and this is not necessarily what is best for Kermit and you know him best. I would base my decision on the facts as I know them; that he is well in himself, he came through the last op fairly well and the new lumps appear to be in non-dangerous places (i.e. not major organs).

I think I would also need to have some understanding of the type of cancer that these lumps are, how aggressive the types of cancer are likely to be and how quickly any re-growth is likely to be. I would also, I think, like to have some reassurance that he hasn't got several other non-visible lumps inside him, that are likely to be problematic to treat.

Sending loads of hugs for you and loads of vibes for the brave Kermit.

Sending millions of vibes for Kermit. Xxx

Kermit said:

Thanks folks xx

The initial lump was an Anaplastic Sarcoma. The lab can't say for the others, just that there is spindle cancer cells there.

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I am sorry to hear that more masses have appeared and that some seem to be fast growing.

What does your Vet advise re removing the masses ?

Removing them before they grow too big might be a good idea, especially the one near a leg joint. Sending them off for histology would probably give a more definitive diagnosis than the small samples originally sent. But a definitive diagnosis may not necessarily offer any treatment options.

I'd ask the Vet if removing the masses before they grow too much more might be the way to go, regardless of what the masses actually are. The bigger they grown the more tissue would need removing and the potential of the mass near a leg joint causing additional mobility problems may be something to consider too.

But of course my opinion is unqualified, your Vet may completely disagree.

Sending lots of vibes for Herbie xx

Thanks folks for the responses. I have already decided that I think getting them off is the best way to go and we can just take the next stage from there. I have an appointment for next Tuesday for them to check him over and I think we will get him booked in for the op next week. I know that Tuesday seems a bit away, but I am going away to Venice for the weekend.....bad mother alert as I am off gallivanting when my wee one is poorly! I know!!

Ife he is getting a GA anyways then I think I will suggest just taking them all away.

Kermit said:

Thanks folks for the responses. I have already decided that I think getting them off is the best way to go and we can just take the next stage from there. I have an appointment for next Tuesday for them to check him over and I think we will get him booked in for the op next week. I know that Tuesday seems a bit away, but I am going away to Venice for the weekend.....bad mother alert as I am off gallivanting when my wee one is poorly! I know!!

Ife he is getting a GA anyways then I think I will suggest just taking them all away.

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Hope all goes well for him xx

Kermit said:

Thanks folks for the responses. I have already decided that I think getting them off is the best way to go and we can just take the next stage from there. I have an appointment for next Tuesday for them to check him over and I think we will get him booked in for the op next week. I know that Tuesday seems a bit away, but I am going away to Venice for the weekend.....bad mother alert as I am off gallivanting when my wee one is poorly! I know!!

Ife he is getting a GA anyways then I think I will suggest just taking them all away.

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I really hope you have a lovely time away. Sounds like you deserve it

In my experience of cancer, it simply comes back and spreads, and the important thing to determine - even above removing the lumps - is to ascertain if they have invaded *inside* the body.

Just my thoughts x

I'm so incredibly sorry you and Herbie are having to go through this. I had to experience something very similar with my 7 year old girl Amber last month. A bunch of lumps appeared all over her body. They were spreading and growing rapidly. She became completely paralysed in her hind end because a tumor was pressing against her spine. In 1 week she went from perfectly healthy to having to be euthanized because her quality of life got so bad. We believe it was lymphoma and very very aggressive.

How old is Herbie? It can definitely be an important factor.

Unfortunately, the odds of tumors returning like MightyMax mentioned are very high when they are cancerous. One of my pet rats had surgery to remove what we thought was a benign mammary tumor a few months back. The vet had to leave the "stock" of the tumor and I thought it was strange that it was so attached if it was just benign. Well I'm not surprised at all that the tumor is already back, in the same exact spot, but worse. Now it's even more attached to the tissue. There is no point in removing it a second time, especially with her being an older rat. I'm just spoiling her and when her quality of life starts to go I will have to say goodbye.

Cancer sucks so much

Keep an eye out for ulcers to develop on the tumors. They are excruciatingly painful and I would highly recommend pain meds being given if that does happen.

I wish you the best. Hang in there!

Thanks folks for all the helpful advice.

Herbie was at the Vets last night. We were discussing getting the lumps removed. The vet is mainly concerned about the one on his leg, he feels that it is large and could possibly be in the bone .
Herbs is booked in next Thursday for an op, they will X-Ray his leg and the rest of him 1st to see what they are dealing with, then if they think they can remove the leg tumour OK then they will go ahead and take them all off, the other three are easier to deal with. But if the leg one is too progressed then they will just leave him as is and he will just come home and see how things go.

Feel bad for my wee one

Kermit said:

Thanks folks for all the helpful advice.

Herbie was at the Vets last night. We were discussing getting the lumps removed. The vet is mainly concerned about the one on his leg, he feels that it is large and could possibly be in the bone .
Herbs is booked in next Thursday for an op, they will X-Ray his leg and the rest of him 1st to see what they are dealing with, then if they think they can remove the leg tumour OK then they will go ahead and take them all of, the other three are easier to deal with. But if the leg one is too progressed then they will just leave him as is and he will just come home and see how things go.

Feel bad for my wee one

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I really hope that there is no evidence of bone involvement or metastatic disease. Sending lots more vibes for him xx

Sending lots of vibes for the brave Herbie. I really hope there is no evidence of bone involvement with the leg lump.

Sending lots of vibes for him, I hope it's not as bad as you fear xx

Kermit said:

Thanks folks for all the helpful advice.

Herbie was at the Vets last night. We were discussing getting the lumps removed. The vet is mainly concerned about the one on his leg, he feels that it is large and could possibly be in the bone .
Herbs is booked in next Thursday for an op, they will X-Ray his leg and the rest of him 1st to see what they are dealing with, then if they think they can remove the leg tumour OK then they will go ahead and take them all off, the other three are easier to deal with. But if the leg one is too progressed then they will just leave him as is and he will just come home and see how things go.

Feel bad for my wee one

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I'm really sorry to hear this

I really hope there's no bone involvement with the lump on his leg, and that the surgery gives him another chance xx