Motley's cancer surgery

Motley is the worlds greatest dog, he has touched the lives of all those that have met him and now he needs our help.  

Over the last few months we noticed Motley had lost a bunch of weight and we thought it was because of his new(ish) little sister and the active lifestyle she was getting him and us back into.  But then he started drinking a crazy amount water, and having what could be a world record pee and many times through out the day.  This is when we figured something may be up with our buddy.

We took him to our vet where he got a blood test.  It came back with high calcium count known as hypercalcemia.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/endocrine/c_multi_hypercalcemia

We knew that this was a bad sign.  The vet reccomended we get some x rays done in order too see if we could see anything.  We got the xrays done and the came back with mass in his lungs.  Our vet said it is most likely cancer, the most unfortunate part about lung cancer in dogs is in only 1% of dogs it is the primary location.

We were refered to a canine oncolgoly specialist, and my wife being the scientist and dr that she is wanted all the information on our big boy.  The results from this again were not favourable for Motley.

The ultrasound came back and they found a large tumor in his anal sac, measuring 5cm by 7cm.  This condition is know as anal sac adenocarcinoma.  

http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/identifying-and-treating-anal-sac-adenocarcinoma-dogs

The ultrasound also revealed other bad news for Motley, his lymphnodes in his pelvis are inflamed know as canine lymphoma.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/cancer/c_dg_lymphoma

And finally the ultrasoud on his lungs releved that he has one large mass, about 3 cm, and 4 small ones.

http://www.petmd.com/dog/conditions/cancer/c_dg_adenocarcinoma_lung

Now time for the positives, Motleys heart is great, emtionally and physically, so are his soft tissues, liver kidneys etc.  His blood pressure is strong and he still loves doing what he has done his entire life, swimming, fetching, cuddling and teaching his younger friends and sister what it is to be an amazing dog.

Motley has a few very complex issues and we know we can not fix them all, we can not operate on his lungs.  But he does not show signs of labouring in his breathing, he does take his time when running or fetching but he is also 11.  The major issue is his back end.  The tummors in his pelvis are putting a lot of pressure on his rectum and anus.  As well the pressure pressing dorsally (from his spin down) is causing his back end to close up slowly.

We started imeditaly with him on stool softeners to help him go to the bathroom but without serious surgery we wont be able to keep up with the growth of the tumors.  We are planning to remove the anal sac tumor as well as the lymphnodes that are in the pelvis.  It will be a very intensive surgery but it will allow him to go to bathroom for the rest of his life in comfort.  Removing these tumors will hopefully allow us to get his calcium levels under control and therefore slow down the 6 gallons of water he drinks a day and the 3 minutes pees every hour.  

We know he can not be fully fixed but if his dog quality of life can be improved by this surgery and can live out the rest of his days with us and all his friends this is what we want for him.