LEXINGTON, SC.....Beautiful Lonnie was picked up as a stray in Lexington, SC with her buddy, Burt and taken to Animal Control. They are both beautiful black Labs that someone abandoned. Burt was very shy and did not have any medical issues. He went quickly to a Lab Rescue, but poor Lonnie had a large pendulous mass hanging from her front leg, and no one wanted her.
Lonnie is approximately eight years old and sweet as honey. The mass was the reason why no one was stepping up for fear it was Cancer. Dear Lonnie’s time was up, and the Shelter was overflowing with young, healthy dogs. Lonnie would not be getting out alive if someone did not grab her quickly. We let the Shelter know we would take her and put the wheels of motion in place to get her to CVRC in Charleston, SC.
The mass looked like a growth that did not have any lymph node activity and was just hanging around ready to be removed. The only issue that gave us pause was the fact Lonnie kept chewing on her left leg. The leg wounds did not look like a flea allergy but were more a self-inflicted wound. Something in her leg was either tingling or had a weird sensation that made her chew to stop the feeling she was having.
Lonnie’s bloodwork showed that she had non-regenerative anemia, which was probably caused by a parasite burden. The tissue taken from the growth showed blood and Mast Cells. The Shelter reported Lonnie throwing up in her kennel, but we did not experience any of that. When Lonnie became more stable, Dr. Gauthier was to do her surgery.
Lonnie was happy and loved all of the attention she was getting at CVRC. Ultrasounds and x-rays were performed to determine if she had any other growths in her body. Lonnie’s tests did not show anything alarming, so Dr. Gauthier scheduled her surgery. The only issue her surgeon could see was Lonnie’s mass had taken up a large part of the skin on her forelimb. If Dr. Galthier could not get good margins, then he would have to do a skin flap from another part of her body to close the area. He would not know the outcome until it came time to see have invasive the growth was.
No one believed the growth was a Mast Cell Tumor. It did not look or act like one, and her Lymph Nodes did not appear to be involved. Lonnie did great during her procedure and after. Dr. Gauthier got clean narrow margins, and now we would have to wait for the biopsy results. The results shocked us all. The mass came back as a low grade II mast cell tumor. Excision was complete, but narrow margins.
We received mixed recommendations from the CVRC Oncology Team. Dr. Rissetto said she would monitor the site for signs of regrowth as it is low grade. Dr. Renner recommended recutting the site to get a more significant margin. Unfortunately, this would require a large skin flap as Dr. Gauthier took all of the skin he could without doing a flap. Also, the previous lymph node aspirates had a few mast cells, but no clear evidence of spread.
Dr. Rissetto felt good about Lonnie, and we did not want to put her through more surgery, especially with her leg wounds an issue. We are hopeful the self-mutilation will stop once her leg heals. We have added Gabapentin to help with the nerve tingling, and it seems to be helping.
Fabulous does not even begin to describe this amazing dog. Lonnie loves everyone and thinks life is grand just the way it is. She is gentle and loving with everyone. She is the perfect Lab that is well balanced and very laid back. She loves to go on walks and be by your side. Lonnie is in and out of the hospital while she recovers and we get her leg issues resolved. Lonnie would make the perfect Family Member. Please, fill out an application if you think she would be right for your Family. In the meantime, we have to pay for her procedures so we can help more pups like sweet Lonnie. Please, Donate toward her Medical Bills.
