Veterinarians Remove 25-Pound Tumor From Dog
By Samantha Abernethy in News on Feb 6, 2012 11:20PM
A 7-year-old golden retriever named Bruce is recovering from surgery after veterinarians removed a 25-pound tumor from his spleen. The vets who performed the 2-hour operation on Bruce discovered the splenic tumor that had caused him to continually gain weight. Two vets held the tumor up while the other extracted it. Ouch.
What is most strange about this story, though, is how common it is. A veterinary oncologist said she has removed tumors the size of a bowling ball. Another veterinarian said he sees a tumor like this every couple years. The Chicago Tribune writes:
"You can have slow-growing tumors that can grow to that size in a larger-breed dog like a golden retriever," [Dr. Chand] Khanna said. "It can sort of creep up on the dog in terms of clinical signs."
Bruce went through surgery on Jan. 30, and he was already moving around on his own and went home on Feb. 3.