My dog's tail looks bad after surgery. Is waiting safe? Anesthesia risk?

That does sound very concerning! I would apply pressure to try to stop the bleeding. Because it's been a continual problem, the cyst may need to be removed surgically. I recommend having a physical exam, geriatric blood panel, and urinalysis done on Treeko. This will give the vet a detail picture of his anesthetic risk, and can make the determination if he can be put under anesthesia safely.

Gumbo definitely is at increased anesthetic risk (risk of adverse events during anesthesia and risk of poor recovery) at age 14 (7-8 years of age is considered geriatric), even with normal blood work (normal liver/kidney values). In addition those are extremely large masses and surgical removal could definitely affect anal tone (result in incontinence) assuming that anesthesia and recovery do go well. There is also a possibility that the type of cancer Gumbo has is metastatic and has already spread to the lungs for which the prognosis is poor (chest rads would be recommended prior to proceeding with surgery). I would recommend bringing Gumbo to have the anal glands checked regularly to make sure that they are empty. I also recommend keeping Gumbo as comfortable as possible as consulting with your veterinarian about treatment and humane endpoints if the masses become ulcerated.

Meg's incision looks a little inflamed but thats not necessarily unusual. Antibiotics are not indicated unless an infection is present. Watch it for any swelling or discharge. Monitor the redness over the next 24 hours to see if it is increasing or decreasing. Make sure Meg is taking her pain medication as I bet that is uncomfortable. Also make sure Meg is not licking it AT ALL as this will make it infected. When in doubt, call her vet and get her checked out. Thank you for using Pet Coach!

I recommend to discuss your concerns with your veterinarian. In general, pets should have their heart rate, their breathing rate, temperature and their blood pressure monitored at all times. Oscar should also have blood work ran before the procedure and make sure he has IV fluids as well. These are the best things you can provide to help ensure a safe procedure (though keep in mind there is always some risk, just like humans). I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

Your vet is correct. You actually have a choice now: a fine needle aspirate where a little tissue is harvested from the lump and then examined to determine what kind of growth this is. Should it be benign, or just inflammatory, treatment would be either benign neglect or treating the inflammation or possible infection. Should it be malignant, then your vet will probably elect to amputate the tail well above the tumor and then this would often be curative depending on the type of tumor. In that case it is actually good that it is in the tail and not somewhere else on the body. Trust your vet, he is on the right track.

Hello and thank you for your question. I completely understand and respect your hesitancy to place the animal under anesthesia if there is a possibility that it is not needed. Without having any pictures to look at, I can give you a few options as to what this is. Two of the things this “bubble” could be or a post operative hematoma or an abscess forming. Because Max is not showing any clinical symptoms of pain or discomfort, I recommend applying a warm compress to the area three times daily for five minutes each time. I would do this for approximately three days and see if the wound decreases in size. Unfortunately, I do not know of any exercises that you can do to help with these types of lesions. If it does not, please contact your veterinarian as soon as possible because they may want to start oral or topical medications to get it under control. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Your veterinarian will have the best information about the safety of anesthesia given her condition. I would ask them how much the heart condition will increase the risk of anesthesia and what is the expected benefit of the surgery given the stage of the cancer? If the cancer is stage 4, then the prognosis may be very bad (makes the surgery less necessary); compared with a stage 1 (where it would be very beneficial to remove the tumors, before they spread). It comes down to ensuring that you are well-informed of the risks and expected benefits. Without knowing all of the details it's really difficult for me to say. Generally, heart conditions tend to not be that scary under anesthesia and may actually reduce the stress on the heart during anesthesia. I've anesthetized many heart patients and have found that the anesthesia tends to go very smoothly. However, we do tend to use select drugs and have an increased alertness to the activity of the heart when we anesthetize them. Sorry to see that Chica is having these problems. I'm sure this has been very difficult for you. I hope I was able to help answer your questions.