Additional Facts and Events...

Stella has eaten only dry kibble throughout her life.  We have recently begun changing her diet (and Betty's) to "grain free" dry kibble with "grain free" canned food.   This has nothing to do with her MCT's, just a matter of trying to make better food choices.

She currently takes Proin for hormone-based urinary incontinence.  Sounds terrible, I know, but all of our dogs at some point have experienced "drippage" and the medication works wonders and none of our pets have ever suffered from side effects.  We also give her two different eye medications (drops) since her eye surgery; Tacrolimus and Neopolydex.  She takes Heartgard for heartworm prevention and is on Frontline for flea and tick prevention.  Both of these meds are given from April thru December as we are in a hard frost region and the dogs do not go into heavily forested areas.

Twice in her lifetime Stella has experienced some sort of seizure.  Once as a pup and once about a year ago.  Both times it seemed as though she literally "fainted" (eyes shut, body completely limp) and within seconds she was up and acting completely normal.  Both times the vet did blood work and did not find a cause for it.

Last July Stella experienced a major stressor when her BFF Patrick (our Beagle) died suddenly.  This took a very emotional and physical toll on her.  They had been together for 6 years.  Stella loved Patrick so much and could never stand to be separated from him.  When he died (at age 11) she became withdrawn and her personality completely changed.  We could not get her to eat and she would not play with her toys, not even her favorite stuffed cheeseburger.  This went on for almost a month before we adopted Betty. No one could ever replace Patrick in Stella's eyes but Betty was a good distraction for her, especially when her Shepherd sister died 2 months later.  Stella has since returned to her regular self.

First Mast Cell Tumor

In March 2010 (age 4) at Stella's routine yearly check-up for shots and heartworm testing we asked our vet to check out the "goober" on her front right leg - I am in the habit of referring to the front legs as "arms" and will do so hence forth.  We had noticed this spot at least two years prior but thought it was just a mole.  It was black, flat, and smooth with no hair growth.  It didn't bother her in the least even when we rubbed it trying to determine if it was raised at all.  We somehow thought if it was raised that would indicate something bad.  When we took her for her annual check-up that day we pointed it out to the vet because we had recently noticed that it appeared to be larger in size - or had it just grown as she grew in size?

The vet took a quick look at it and said "I bet it's a Mast Cell Tumor".  Aspiration of this spot indicated it was a MCT.  The vet explained about excising this tumor with wide margins and that it would then be sent to a pathologist for grading.  The hope was that the tumor report would come back as Grade 1 with clean margins (benign and completely removed).  I recall that the vet gave us an oral drug to give Stella for a week before excising the tumor in the hope that it would shrink it in size (internally) as there is not a lot of tissue to remove from an arm as opposed to, say, the belly area.  I do not recall what drug was given to us but I believe it may have just been Benadryl because of the histamine component with MCT's.  We're not sure if the tumor did shrink or not but after surgery her pathology report ultimately came back as Grade 1 with clean margins - YAY!  Incidentally, this excision was performed under General anesthesia with no hospitalization required.

The Beginning - Adoption and First Major Surgery

Stella was adopted in 2004 at 9 weeks old.  She was the runt of the litter and had a clean bill of health except that, as the runt, she had been kicked in the right eye by one of her litter mates (during feeding time) which ultimately caused some vision damage.

By the time Stella reached her full adult size both of her eyes had become extra buggy - even for a Pug!  Incidentally, this had nothing to do with the injury she sustained as a puppy.  In June 2009 after consulting with a veterinary ophthalmologist, at the suggestion of our vet, Stella had Tarsorrhaphy surgery which is a procedure in which the eyelids are partially sewn together to narrow the opening.  Her eyes had begun to show abrasions on her corneas from not being able to blink fully and sleeping with her eyes partially open.  Since the vision in her right eye was compromised already it was best that we did not take any chances.  She made a full recovery with no complications. 

This is Stella today (she is on the right, with Betty on the left).



Basic Info

Stella is my beautiful 6 year old fawn Pug.  She has had two Mast Cell Tumors removed; one in March 2010 and another three weeks ago.  She will begin radiation therapy in two days. 

We live in the Midwest with our other 5 year old fawn Pug, Betty whom we adopted 8 months ago after she was rescued from a puppy mill.  We also have an 18 year old cat named Cami.

I am hoping this blog will not only be a good outlet for me as I struggle to deal with my own emotions but will also create a community of pet owners whose pets have MCT's or have been newly diagnosed.

The biggest piece of advice I can offer you is to ignore those whose comments are cruel.  It is difficult enough to deal with this kind of news and then also have to deal with ignorant comments spouted off from those who do not understand the bond we form with our pets.

I will include as many details from Stella's life and day-to-day routine as I can so that you are able to compare her situation to that of your pet.