"Rommel" is a much loved 13 year old German Shepherd. His owner's noticed that his abdomen appeared to be getting bigger over a number of days and brought in to the valley Veterinary Hospital for investigation. He was bright, eating well and appeared normal except for his abdominal enlargenment. Congestive heart failure was quickly ruled out by auscultation of his chest. Next, Rommel's abdomen was clipped and ultrasounded.
Ultrsound revealed a "soccer ball"sized mass on his spleen. There did not appear to be any secondary tumours anywhere else in his abdomen, and a chest Xray was clear. This made it more likely that the tumour was benign.
The prognosis for Rommel was looking favourable, and his owners were keen to go ahead with surgery. Blood was collected from a donor dog to have on hand in case of any blood loss during surgery.His operation was booked in for the next day.
Rommels surgery went very well. His midline abdominal surgery had to be very long so the large spleen could fit out. As the spleen is a non essential organ, it was removed along with its very large timour. The rest of the abdomen appeared normal as suspected. Rommel did not need any of the stored blood and made a rapid recovery. He went for a walk two hours after surgery and was pulling on his leash! He stayed in hospital overnight for observation and went home the following morning.
Ten days later Rommel came in for suture removal. He looked terrific, has been eating well and was pleased to see all his friends at the Valley Veterinary Hospital!
The photos show the size of the removed spleen and tumour, and Rommel the day after surgery with Sue Harvey
