Subcutaneous Hemangiosarcoma - Page 3

Thanks TIG, the more info, the better educated and prepared you can be. Really good read.

I don't dispute your claim that it might be familial: except...how many dogs have died suddenly supposedly of bloat? No post mortems to confirm. My bet is hemangio killing dogs that owners believe is bloat...afterall, the symptoms are similar when the mass is at critical point and dog is bleeding out. So there likely more dogs not in those " families" which are not considered in the 'stats'.

My husky hybred who bled out when liver hemangio ruptured when he was 8 yo, was not nuetered, and the female was not spayed till she was past two...I had to get her healthy enough before she could under go surgery.

The other two husky hybreds were not nuetered either, they were 15 years old when the tumors developed in their sinuses.

In fact, the only husky/ wolf hybred I owned that I had to have nuetered was one who had prostetitis that was resistant to treatment. He was three before he had to be castrated and he did not develop hemangio and was the longest lived, at sixteen and a half years old.
So I don't believe the statistics ...unfortunately, the statistics are very easily manipulated to fit the narative of " researchers" or veterinarians...just as drug companies manipulate stats to promote their products.

I'm skeptical because real life does not reflect their " statistics".

Joan I can not dispute your experience wh is what your thoughts are based on as mine are based on my experience BUT a couple of things to note.

As I stated earlier disease incidence expression and heritability can vary w the breed. You were talking about crossbreds w little to none linebreeding I suspect. I was talking about purebred GSDs wh is what this discussion was initially about.

I hear your comments re undiagnosed  deaths but my understanding is that hemangiomas and bloat have radically different presentations. Can not say that personally since thank God I have not had any incidences of  bloat but comes from reading & friends.

And yes statistics can be manipulated and studies provide conflicting reports but there have been a # of studies inc a retrospective one looking at the records of 90,000+ dogs that show definite links to neutering  and stunning increases in the incidences  of cancer inc hemangiomas.  This gives a brief summary  of some https://www.dogsnaturallymagazine.com/three-reasons-to-reconsider-spayneuter/  But so you know my prejudice I believe  we were given reproductive  organs for a reason and we need the hormones they produce. Since I have never had a problem controlling my dogs reproduction most of mine stay intact as long as possible.

Finally my interest in longevity  came in the 70s. While I had primarily  German bred dogs I played  in the AKC world since that is all there was. So I knew a lot about American lines and they were even then starting to have longevity  problems. The Scorpio line carried the death factor (& still does I think). 1/3 died b4 8 mo another third b4 2 ys and the rest u got what u got. (Btw bloat & torsion big part of this but other stuff too) But who cares if u could finish & breed them young u got to move on to the next winner & his trophies & ribbons . For the poor pet owner oh well sell them another. The problems came from a # of factors I believe some of wh we definitely r seeing in the European dogs today. First early maturity does seem to be linked to younger death. Old and slow good motto. Slow to mature is better. When I got into the breed in the early 60s a dog considered mature was 5 - 7 yrs old or older. Today that is considered a senior. Think about it we r a working breed for Pete's sake. Would a shepherd invest all the work in training a good herding dog for only a couple brief years. Hell no. My long coat was still herding at 14. But in the show ring people want early wins and in the trial arena we push dogs at younger and younger ages then we combine this in both worlds by only breeding to young podium winners - further restricting an aleady limited genepool. Then there is a tendency to ignore health issues and since we are line or inbreeding  on those winners the health problems become intensified often occurring at younger ages. It is a recipe for disaster. And on top of that we have increasing environmental issues one of wh is the overarching push to neuter everything that comes straight out of the Peta world since their avowed and stated aim is to eliminate companion animals

Whoops got on my soap box but longevity intersects  with many complex issues. So back to my initial point for all of us. We can solve this together. Participate, pay attention, educate  yourself and share what you learn and debate and challenge as Joan & I are doing because no one person has the answer.

I like the content of your "soap box"...

Thanks Susie that means a lot coming from you.

Tig, I SO agree about the longevity! (The rest of your post, too...)

Yes, have seen it happen during my lifetime! I have been fortunate that only my first GSD had to be PTS before the age of 10, and that was due to debilitating arthritis in her spine blocking the nerve signals to her hind legs. The front end still wanted to keep on going, which made it hard to let her go.

Have actually had people ask me 'what's your secret' re. the longevity of my dogs? 

NO secret folks, that's the was it USED to be!!  

 

Research has been done on short lived giant breeds like Danes and wolfhounds to try to find the reason for their heartbreakingly short lifespans.

Guess what? They concluded it's genetic, primarily due to TOO MUCH INBREEDING!!

Edit: this thread has sent me down a rabbit trail, looking for proof of the above. More later, but this article certainly backs up what Tigg said about cancer and neutering: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0061082

Actually Sunny I am not a subscriber to the theory that all that is wrong in purebred dogs can be laid at the door of inbreeding. Linebreeding and inbreeding sets types, traits and even sometimes new breeds. Hambeltonian was the fountainhead of Pacers. I have like a 16 gen pedigree on him and you would be stunned on the level of inbreeding (NOT linebreeding) that created him. Look at the founding dogs on our breed. As always it is more complex than condemning one mechanism. It is about judicious chooses and attentive selection.

More later just given a hot pizza and on my way to a friends house.

Thank you all very much for your responses and helpful suggestions. I have passed the information on to my friend. I will update with information on how the dog is doing. She is 2 years, 5 months old and spayed. I don't know at what age yet but it was probably early. Prayers and/or positive thoughts for her would be appreciated.

Those you have, Bev ! Here's hoping she comes through this, that the fact of it being 'subcutaneous' makes for a less devastating outcome than the bleeding into the intestinal cavity that some of us have referred to. All best wishes,to dog and owner. Do keep us informed on how this goes, and thanks for giving everyone more information, and getting the discussion going so TIG, Joan, and others could contribute so much; I, too, wish more funding & research was going into this than eg DM (although over here we have the great Dr Sargan who is very interested in the topic).

Update on my friend's dog with Subcutaneous Hemangiosarcoma.
She finished her 5th and last round of Chemo with Doxorubicin today. Before her 4th treatment 3 weeks ago she had a chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound and echocardiogram which were all normal. Today her blood work came back normal and her Oncologist said she is doing great. Fortunately she tolerated the Chemo well with no significant side effects and even gained a little weight. The plan now is to follow her every 3 months for the first year with chest x-rays and abdominal ultrasound. I am so happy for both of them and hope her good health continues! Thank you for all the information and good wishes.