My beloved little 11 year and 9 month old Yorkie developed a mysterious cut on the third toe of his right foot in March 2016. He was stitched up and treated with anti-biotics, but it wasn’t healing and was very swollen and the swelling started spreading to the second toe and underneath the pads too. A further dose of anti-biotics was given, but still little healing, so a biopsy was taken on the 29th April 2016. On the 11th May 2016 I received the shocking news: Eccrine carcinoma!! This is a very rare and aggressive cancer of the sweat glands. The prognosis on the pathology report said: “cautious, further complications as regards local infiltrative growth and distant mestastic spread could be expected.” Apparently an important differential in these cases is mestastic carcinoma from the lung.
My heart felt broken in an instant. Little McCarthy is the sweetest, most loving and joyful little being I have ever met. He loves life and has no idea how small he is in size. He used to run 10km races with me and up until he was around 9 years old he was still regularly running 6 – 8km’s on the road or in the mountain with me. As he has aged we now do more walking, which his brother, Higgins prefers. (Higgy is also a Yorkie, and a day younger. I adopted them both on the same day in 2004. The breeder had two different litters, born a day apart). McCarthy and I have a very special bond, he never leaves my side. I adore them both, but I think McCarthy imprinted on me. It felt that way from the minute I saw him. When I took them home with me in September 2004, Higgy cried for a while, then curled up and slept all the way home. McCarthy sat straight up in his little box staring at me all the way home 🙂
I now step into unwanted and unfamiliar territory. Next week he has to go for a CT scan to see if the cancer has spread. If not, surgery of the foot / amputation is indicated. I will have to wait until my consultation with the specialist on the 17th May 2016 to get more detail as to what the best will be for my little doggy. The saddest part of all this is that he doesn’t seem to be in any pain and carries on as normal, so I want to ensure that whatever I decide to do is not going to cause him unnecessary pain and suffering.
My heart is incredibly sore, and this is only the beginning….
I will post again once I have more information.
I’m sorry to hear about your sweet McCarthy 🙁 my dog Bruce just underwent an amputation of his front right leg for potential osteosarcoma on 5/13. He should come home tomorrow. From onset of his limp to actual surgery we limped for maybe a little more than a month, but other than simply not using his leg he never once really acted sick or in pain. Dogs are really troopers. Best of luck and prayers for you and McCarthy on your journey.
Thank you. All the best with your baby too. Will keep you in my prayers too…
I’m so sorry, just now catching up on the blogs and am wondering how McCarthy is doing? We hope that you can find a course of treatment that works well for both of you. keep us posted oK?
So, on the 18th May 2016 I dropped my baby off at Tygerberg Animal Hospital for his CT scan. I was advised that he would be on a drip before, during and after the procedure as some dogs react badly to the iodine dye they are injected with for the contrasted CT scan. I felt incredibly stressed as I’d already researched what could go wrong and I also knew that they stop the dog breathing for 30 – 45 seconds when scanning the lungs – this too freaked me out! I left there feeling emotionally drained and went for a drive to calm down before going back to work. It was the longest wait of my life to hear how McCarthy was doing and to find out whether his organs had been affected. I was so grateful to God to hear at 3:45pm that he was doing well and that the cancer hadn’t spread to his organs. When I fetched him at 8pm that night he was bouncy and happy – such a relief. He was then booked in for surgery to remove the two affected little toes on Friday, the 20th May. Another stressful day, but not as long a wait. By 11:45am I received a lovely message with a photo of my bandaged up little dog from the hospital saying he was awake and out of theatre. They said they would let me know how long he’d have to stay in hospital, but at 3pm I received a call saying he was doing so well that they were happy to discharge him. I couldn’t wait to fetch him. He was a little unhappy and unbalanced on Friday night and fell over when trying to wee, still getting used to using only one foreleg and holding the bandaged one up, but by Saturday he was hopping around so quickly – I had to run after him. He has been such a little trooper and I’m amazed at how well he is doing. Tomorrow he goes back to hospital to be sedated for the first bandage change. The amputated toes are currently with the pathologist and I will only hear in about two weeks’ time whether they got clear margins of the soft tissue and whether there is no cancer in the bones. I really hope and pray that they got it all, but if not, he will have to have that little leg amputated…