Last week I received some very good news. Fudge was recovering well from the major operation she underwent.
Fudge is a female Labrador cross of about 14 years. Her age is only approximate, as she was found several years ago roaming the environs of Ta’ Qali. She was fortunate enough to be homed by a very caring family and I am happy to say that she has amply reciprocated the love and affection she was given. But now something was troubling her.
Her owners informed me that something had gone awry with her toilet routine. She was peeing where she normally would not, and leaving occasional puddles of urine where she slept. A physical examination of her abdomen soon exposed the probable cause of the problem. Deep within her belly, I could feel a hard, round mass about the size and shape of a grapefruit. There was a large alien object inside Fudge’s abdomen.
Its position also strongly indicated why Fudge was having problems controlling the flow of her bladder. The mass inside her was situated so close to the bladder that it would have been applying unrelenting pressure on it, making Fudge feel as if she constantly needed to pee and making her unwittingly leak while asleep. We proceeded to take X-rays and ultrasound, which confirmed that Fudge had a formation in her abdomen.
The tests also confirmed that we were going to have to perform exploratory surgery on Fudge to determine exactly what the mass was, and possibly to remove it without compromising her survival under anaesthesia. Given the location of the mass, we had every reason to think that it was a tumour of the spleen.
The spleen is an important organ found inside the abdomen of all animals. It is situated along the side of the stomach and varies in shape depending on the species, but is usually long, thin and narrow with a consistency that is slightly harder than that of the liver and darker.
The spleen happens to be one of those organs without which animals can live a perfectly normal life even if it is removed
Its first function is to aid in the formation of blood in the unborn puppy, kitten, bunny or other animal foetuses. As soon as the animal is born, that function ceases and is taken over by the bone marrow. But the spleen’s function does not stop there. In the adult animal, the spleen is involved in three main functions: the first is to clean up and filter the blood from old or damaged cells; the second is to serve as a reservoir of blood for emergency situations where large amounts of blood are suddenly needed by the body – for example, due to major haemorrhage or stress; and the last function is to act as an enormous lymph node that controls infection via the white cell or immune system.
Our suspicions that Fudge had a tumour of the spleen were confirmed during the operation. Upon entering the abdomen, the alien mass was quickly located due to its size. It was large enough that we had to extend the incision further to be able to ‘get at it’ and extract it from the abdominal cavity.
The spherical mass weighed most of a kilo and was attached to what otherwise looked like a perfectly normal spleen. Thankfully, no sign of satellite tumours were evident on the spleen or anywhere else inside the abdomen. This was good news for Fudge since it indicated that it was a benign mass with no signs of tumour spread, as opposed to a malignant tumour, which would have been most probably fatal. However, it did mean that the entire spleen would definitely have to be removed.
Although that initially comes across as dreadful news, the spleen happens to be one of those organs without which animals can live a perfectly normal life even if it is removed because the body can compensate and adapt without. This compensation is performed mainly by the liver and all the lymph nodes. Fudge’s spleen was excised from her abdomen.
Thankfully, the surgery went smoothly and Fudge was sent home with aftercare instructions and appropriate medication.
Despite being only a few days since her surgery, her owners report that Fudge is doing very well and we are really hopeful that she will enjoy her remaining years.
thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com
Dr Martin Debattista is a veterinary surgeon.