Perianal adenoma

QuestionEdit

Sphere is our 14 year old Siberian Husky. He has been diagnosed with a perianal adenoma. The vet said because of his age that surgery to remove the tumour wasn't recomended because it could cause complications such as incontinance. He has been on a course of Clavulox tablets for a month now but the condition doesn't appear to be getting any better. There is still puss on the outside of the tumour around his anus which can be seen when he raises his tail and smelt all the time. He still enjoys exercise at least 4 miles a day are walked. He enjoys a good diet and drinks plenty of fresh water. He has an amazing amount of life in him and i cannot bring myself to having him put to sleep. I know that surgery is probably the only way to rid him of this tumour. But what i wanted to know is there any other medication you could recommend to make his life any better? Will bathing it in an antiseptic solution help? Or as hard as it is do we put him to sleep? Any help and guidance is greatly appreciated. Thank you

AnswerEdit

Gosh, this is a tough one. We have seen many of these and they are not nice tumors to deal with. Most of the time we did surgery and had great success but vets like my boss are not around much anymore. There is the chance of incontinence but it is rare with a good surgeon. I might call around and see if there are other vets that do this surgery first of all, then call a university if there is one near you that does animals, like a vet school. There isn't a lot of medications that are going to do much of anything to a tumor of this sort. One of the treatments for these tumors to help shrink them is castration of the dog, so is it safe to assume he is an intact male? You can of course bath the area and gently dry it but without removal you are fighting a long battle.Lots of our clients just dealt with it for a year or so until the tumor got really bad and then they would put them down, which is always a hard choice no matter what. If you can deal with the smell, and keep it clean and dry- until it gets worse or he starts to have other problems with it, then I say go for it and let him live out his last year or two in peace. But keep a close eye on it for changes and growth. Also watch his weight closely as some of these tumors metastasize and/or become invasive. You will know by sudden weight loss. Good luck and I commend you for wanting to do the best for him. I hope he does well for a long time.