Do you know what enables the movement of body parts in animals? It includes the tendons, ligaments, and cartilage which play an important role in connecting muscles and bones. Such connecting tissues are required to enable the movement of body parts in animals. Because of these connecting tissues, your pet will be able to move, walk and run from one place to another. Now, you must know that when a cancerous tumor proceeds to take place in a fibrous tissue then the process is called “soft tissue sarcoma.”
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Nowadays, you must have listened of a common disease that is generally found in older pets as, “Fibrosarcoma in Dogs.” It is one of the well-known and most common soft tissue sarcomas found in dogs. As we know, tumors can be found and spread at any place from head to toe like in the mouth, nose, lungs, lymph nodes, or hind legs.
But there is no point to get panicking if your dog is suffering from Fibrosarcoma because it is treatable. In this article, we will be discussing the points of how to catch cancer at an early stage, what are the symptoms and treatment of Fibrosarcoma in Dogs.
Have A Look At The Symptoms or Signs of Fibrosarcoma in Dogs
It is important to know the location and size of a tumor before we specify the signs of Fibrosarcoma in Dogs. Also, try to examine the stage of cancer whether it is depicted at an early stage or the final stage.
1. Oral Fibrosarcoma
This type of soft tissue sarcoma is generally found in the mouth of dogs. Thus, it is advisable to check your dog’s mouth after a certain interval of time. This will help you to catch the disease at an early stage. Another important point of knowing whether your dog is suffering from fibrosarcoma is oral bleeding, bad breath, or lots of drooling found from the mouth. In such circumstances, your dog will feel uneasy and have trouble taking food.
2. Nasal Fibrosarcoma
Another sign of fibrosarcoma in dogs can be found in the nasal area which can easily impact them with breathing. In such conditions, you can easily see symptoms like congestion in sound, snoring, and nasal bloody discharge. If you are observing any of such signs then immediately call the pet doctor for further investigation.
3. Lump Fibrosarcoma
Other body parts where you can check if your dog is suffering from fibrosarcoma are bumps or lumps. Such soft tissue sarcomas can be easily originated in subcutaneous areas like under the skin or at any other part like the head, neck area, or toes.
Thus, it recommends checking your dog thoroughly if his body looks swollen in any part or area, if lumps are found under the skin, unable to walk, bone fractures, or swollen face. All such mentioned problems are the root cause of fibrosarcoma.
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Look and Diagnose Soft Tissue Sarcoma – Fibrosarcoma at Early Stage
As of now, we are aware of all the symptoms that can cause fibrosarcoma in dogs. It is important to check if the pet has a suspicious lump or is following any other mentioned symptoms. Once you are sure of the signs of fibrosarcoma, try to contact the veterinarian without wasting a single minute. The doctor can guide you after his examination on whether your pet is suffering from cancer or not.
What examinations will be done at the doctor’s end?
If you are not sure about the treatments and examinations are done at the vet’s end. Here, we will guide you on how all tests will be done at his end.
- The doctor will start with a complete blood count test which helps him to understand the hydration status, infection stage, immune system response, anemia, fever, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and much more.
- Apart from CBC, the doctor will go through urinalysis to understand the color, odor, pH value, volume, and other medical terms.
- Once the above samples are done, the vet will proceed to take the tissue sample which is termed a biopsy in medical terms. This process will be done to analyze the problem in more detail.
- To confirm at what stage the disease spreads inside the pet’s body, the doctor can recommend a CAT examination. Such tests are done to check the areas like nasal passages.
- Another test for examination is rhinoscopy, a chest X-ray to check out whether the lungs if working appropriately or not.
Treatment of Fibrosarcoma Tumors in Dogs
If you are willing to know how to treat tumors in dogs then doctors advise following surgery or radiation treatments to cure such diseases. Thus, it is important to communicate with your veterinarian to check your dog’s present situation if he is good to go with the surgery procedures. The doctors cannot assure that cancer will be treated completely because there is a high chance that it will return in the future even after successful treatment.
Medical Care for Oral Fibrosarcoma
If your pet is caught with oral fibrosarcoma then it might follow aggressive medical care. The doctor will recommend a debulking surgery which is a process of removal of fibrosarcoma tumor as much as possible without affecting the underlying tissues. Such treatment can take a long duration approximately weeks to months. The debulking surgery is a procedure that follows the radiation process.
The doctor can switch to any of the types of radiation namely, conventionally fractionated radiation therapy which is called CFRT. The other type is stereotactic radiation which is called SRS in medical terms. Such processes can help your dog to survive for 6 to 18 months if it is a successful radiation procedure. Therefore, it is important to treat oral fibrosarcoma immediately otherwise it will affect the pet’s body and continue to grow. Without treatment, your dog will unable to eat, and live his life properly.
Medical Care for Nasal Fibrosarcoma
This is a stage where the doctor finds it difficult to remove the tumor as the location is inside the nose which is quite typical. In such conditions, surgery is not the only option to cure the disease. Here, the doctor will recommend going with radiation procedures like SRS which can help to remove tumors and cure fibrosarcoma. These solutions can also extend your pet’s life by 6 to 18 months which is quite a happy moment for a pet lover.
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Medical Care for Fibrosarcoma in Dogs Under the Skin
Once it is sure that a dog is suffering from fibrosarcoma, there is a high chance that the cancer is spreading to other parts of the body like lymph nodes or the lungs. In all such circumstances, the only one way to remove the cancer is to follow the process of surgery or radiation. Such processes will help the doctor to reach the margins of at least 3 cm around the area.
If a doctor follows such a procedure, then it is quite possible that cancer will not come again in a few weeks or months. Such decisions are quite difficult for pet lovers because it is not an easy task to remove cancer from critical areas like under the skin.
Is Chemotherapy can help the Pet Suffering from Fibrosarcoma?
As per the studies, it is been noticed that chemotherapy provided tremendous results in the facts of canine fibrosarcoma. According to medical reports, it is found that chemotherapy is not the backbone of the medical care for fibrosarcoma. It has given approximately 50% of the results in a year.
In such procedures, the doctors prescribe pills on daily basis to cure the disease. Thus, it is important to visit your vet as advised to ensure the treatment is going well and it is not hampering other body parts and functioning. In some circumstances when your dog is examined with grade 3 fibrosarcoma, the veterinarian will ask you to go with a combination of radiation process as well as chemotherapy for better treatment. While, as per the medical reports we have found chemotherapy will provide a little aid and result in fibrosarcoma.
In conclusion, it is better to look at the different parts of your dog like mouth, ears, nose, and lumps, whether his nose is bleeding, the face is swollen, whether is he drooling a lot and other signs of fibrosarcoma in dogs that we have discussed above.
If you caught any of the mentioned problems at an early stage then there are wide options and treatments to save your pet’s life. Nowadays, the technology is advanced and proficient doctors can remove the tumor by following radiation procedures like CFRT or SRS after examining the dog’s condition.
Once the treatment gets completed, it is advisable to follow up and take an appointment with the veterinarian so that he can monitor your pet properly. The doctor will check the functioning and movement of body parts. Also, whether the tumor is growing again or any kind of infection is observed in the other parts of the body.
All such concerns are important therefore, try to take an appointment once the surgery or related treatment gets completed to be free from any disaster happening in the future.
