Patch is a 10 year old dog and he has been coming to the vets for routine treatment and vaccinations since he was a youngster. In December his owner called the out of hours vet as Patch was passing blood and blood clots in his urine.
On examination Patch seemed uncomfortable and tense, making it difficult to palpate his abdomen. The vet gave him a pain relief injection and advised an abdominal ultrasound scan.
The scan showed what appeared to be a soft tissue mass in the bladder wall. Patch was booked in for an exploratory laparotomy, an operation that allows the abdominal organs to be examined.
The surgery revealed that the suspected mass in the bladder was actually a large blood clot; there was no mass in the bladder. There was generalised bleeding in the abdominal space, another large blood clot by the left kidney and a mass on the spleen. Patch was given a guarded prognosis, but his owner wanted to give him a chance and opted for surgery.
Surgery would involve removing the left kidney and the spleen. There was also a high chance that the cancer had spread (metastasis). Tumours usually metastasize by cells breaking away from the primary tumour. The cells enter the blood stream and then spread to other organs.
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| The abdomen is examined | The spleen is removed | The kidney is removed |
Matt operated on Patch and removed the spleen and the left kidney; however the tumour had started to spread from the kidney. Matt tied off and removed the left ureter (the tube that moves urine from the kidney to the bladder), to stop any blood from getting into the bladder. The remaining mass could not be removed as it involved major blood vessels and would likely have caused fatal haemorrhage.
Patch made a steady recovery from his operation and he is a bright and happy dog.
