Brave Pet of the Month - Gemma

Gemma the three legged wonder dog beats cancer again!

Gemma’s had run ins with cancer before, and has survived to tell the tale. This time, Gemma’s mum noticed a lump on Gemma’s shoulder and so brought Gemma to see us for a routine lump check. We examined the lump, and took a small sample from the lump to have a look at it under the microscope. What we found was a large number of abnormal looking cells, making us highly suspicious that this lump was cancerous.

The first step we took was to take an xray of Gemma’s chest to check for signs of the cancer spreading. Luckily, the chest xrays were normal. Next we had to surgically remove the cancer. Owners are often surprised at the size of the relatively large surgery site relative to the size of the lump. It is important to remove enough of the tissue around the cancer, as it may spread into surrounding tissue without being large enough for us to see. If any of the cancer is left behind, it can regrow, and continue to spread to other parts of the body. We also sent the lump to pathology so we could find out exactly what it was, and whether any further treatment was required. The pathologist found that it was a malignant cancer that does spread to other parts of the body, but slowly. We had also removed all of the cancer, and no further treatment was required.

Gemma has healed up really well, despite a cheeky chew at her surgery site. Gemma the three legged wonder dog beats cancer again! Gemma and her family are an excellent example of the great outcomes we get when owners are vigilant with their lump checks!