Our wonderful greyhound has recently been found to have a tumour in her lung, she has also recently stayed at our vets as she has pneumonia. She is on antibiotics, anti inflammatories and an anti emetic, but worryingly, today she coughed up some mucus with fresh blood. What could it be?

Hi, Brenda,

I am sorry to hear about your greyhound's problem. I think it likely that the coughing up of blood is from a blood vessel in the lung which has been damaged, possibly by tumour, and has burst.

The time is very rapidly approaching when you have to decide to have her put to sleep to avoid her further suffering.

Walter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2006 01:10PM by Walter Beswick.

Thank-you for taking the time to reply to my message. I have taken our greyhound to the vet today and she believes that the blood she coughed up is simply trauma from coughing and bringing up moucous as she has pneumonia. She certainly does NOT believe that this is from a burst blood vessel in her lung. Thankfully, she also definitely does NOT think that the time is fast approaching when we have to decide that she is put to sleep. Yes, she is suffering with the pneumonia at present, but hopefully, with the correct treatment she will recover.

I am disturbed that you say with such certainty that you you feel that we have to decide to put her to sleep to avoid further suffering, I feel that your reply should have been worded more appropriately and senstitively, you could have said that in your opinion the time *may* be approaching, but I feel you attempted a diagnosis, which is wrong. Sites such as this, giving this type of information makes the internet a dangerous place, needless to say I shall NOT be visiting this site again.

Hi, Brenda,

I am very sorry if you found my response to be insensitive.

It was you, in your first e-mail, who said "Our wondeful greyhound has been found to have a tumour in her lung" and " ...she has pneumonia." I did not make those diagnoses.

In the light of that information, I stand by the advice that I gave, that FOR HER SAKE, the time will come when you have to decide to have her put to sleep.

I would be interested to hear froma any other veterinarians reading this correspondence if their views differ from mine.

Walter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2006 12:52PM by Walter Beswick.

Hi Walter,

Again, many thanks for your reply.

If you re-read my original post you will see that I was asking for your opinion on Daisy coughing up blood, NOT on the tumour and pneumonia as indeed this had already been diagnosed! As I have said in another post, I most certainly will release her from her suffering, if and when necessary.

I realise that you could well have been right in the information you gave and I appreciated your opinion, The part of your reply that I was concerned about was "The time is very rapidly approaching when you have to decide to have her put to sleep to avoid her further suffering." Perhaps better to add a few words and make it read something like "Sadly, I think the time may possibly be approaching......." rather than making such a sweeping statement.

Greetings Brenda and Walter

I do hope your Greyhound is progressing well, Brenda. I sympathise with and understand your concern at Walter's remarks, but as a vet, I can also understand why they were written.

Any vet, given the information that a dog has a known lung tumour and pneumonia, and subsequently is coughing up blood and mucus, would make the same judgment. Realistically the blood came from a damaged blood vessel - all bleeding does if you think about it - so whether it is from the trauma of coughing or from further lung damage is somewhat irrelevant.

Your post did give the impression that the end was very near. Of course, it is difficult to get a true picture from the brief arrival of an e mail, but Walter's advice is, in my view, spot on in most cases. Walter and I disagree on some veterinary matters, such as feeding of dogs, but his words are usually pearls of wisdom.

Giving advice over the net is indeed fraught with problems. Maybe Walter could have been more 'sensitive'. However, it is a very difficult task, which I believe Walter carries out exceedingly well, and I'm sure many correspondents would agree with me.

Having said all that, much of my own work is with terminally ill patients, and I do know how hard it is to find the right words at the right time, and also I acknowledge that many pets with serious illnesses can cope with their condition surprisingly well for far longer than we vets expect. To give a prognosis regarding life expectancy can be a risky thing to do!.

I wish your Greyhound well, and I do hope that when she recovers from the pneumonia she will have some good quality time with you.

Richard

Hi, Richard,

Thankyou for that.

Walter

Thank you for your reply Richard, very nicely written.

Wel, we still don't know for certain that the 'tumour' is a tumour, as the vets at our practice seem to have differing opinions. However, very sadly Daisy has in fact deteriorated and although no longer coughing up blood she is coughing a lot and her breathing has become laboured. She has lost another 1.2 kg. We took her back to our vet this morning and she has prescribed prednisolone in a last ditch attempt. If she is not better in a few days we will have her put to sleep. A very difficult thing to do, but as I have said before I would never let any pet suffer, unless they were surely going to get better. It is particulaly sad as Daisy is only 6 or 7, not absolutely sure as she is a rescue. However she is such a wonderful dog, so gentle and not a bad bone in her body, as with most greyhounds. I appreciate your reply.

Hi, Brenda,

It gives me no pleasure at all to proved right in sad cases like this.

I do sympathise, I know what it is like to lose a much loved pet, I have owned dogs all my lifeand I still find it as difficult to 'let go' as any other pet owner. It is, however, a responsibilty that we have to accept.

Walter

I do hope Daisy has a gentle, peaceful end to her life, Brenda.

My sympathies and best wishes are with you.

Richard

Thank-you for your kind words Richard, that means so much......

Walter & Richard

Just to let you know that Daisy is now at peace. We are devastated but it was the right thing to do for her. Her skin and the whites of her eyes were yellow, so her liver must have failed too.

Brenda

Brenda,

Thank you for letting us know that you have had Daisy put to sleep. It is hard to make the decision, but it is a responsibilty that we have to bear.
I am so sorry.

walter



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2006 09:16AM by Walter Beswick.

Brenda

I echo Walter's comments. Even when you know it is for the best, it still takes courage to make the decision and still often leaves a feeling of guilt behind.

There is no doubt you did the right thing at the right time for Daisy. They say time is a great healer. It isn't, of course, such a wound can never be healed. But in time you will learn to live with her loss, and remember the good times you had with her.

Best wishes

Richard

Thank-you Walter and Richard for your kind words. Richard, yes, I really do believe that we did the right thing for Daisy and got the timing right too. The vet felt she would have only lasted a day or 2 more. I feel so empty and sad, and cheated too that her life was cut short. She was quite a character and her antics made us smile. She was so loyal, devoted and loving and we will always remember her with a smile. Despite the pain I am feeling at the moment, I am so glad we rescued her and it was a privilege to have had her in our lives.

Kindest regards

Brenda

he actually was taken to the vet because saturday and sunday he coughed up blood. I was told so much stuff I cant remember it all and I should have taken someone with me because of it. today I get the reesults if he has kidney disease or not. I read up about lyme disease, if he doesnt have kidney disease, does the coughing up blood pertain to LYME DISEASE??? or will my vet be looking further? my dog turned 6 last month. thank you for your time.

Hi, Kay,
Coughing up blood is not a diagnostic sign for Lyme disease. There is a very good web site at www.thepetcenter.com/gen/lyme.html which has a lot of information about Lyme disease.
Coughed up blood can come from either the lungs, the throat or the stomach. A full work-up by your vet, including blood tests, is necessary to try to identify the source.
Sorry I cannot be of much more help.
I hope all goes well.
Walter

thanl you. I got his blood profile results yesterday. no kidney damage. his heart enzymes might be affected because one is low. a muscle to the heart. liver is good. he is borderline anemic. he should be 12.1-20.3 and he is 11.5. when he is done with his meds I have to worm for tapeworms. only thing my vet told me is that his coughing up blood only 2 days may have pertained to the parasites.

Kay

Hi, Kay,
I am not aware of any tapeworm infestation which would cause a dog to cough up blood. Is the blood bright red, or is it changed - looking like coffee grounds?
If the former it will be coming from the lungs or the throat, if the second, it will have come from the stomach.(it is always possible that it could have come from the lungs, swallowed and brought up again in a darker colour)
In either case, a number of alternative possibilities will need to be considered.
Walter

the blood WAS bright red. real dark almost like clots. but he only did that last saturday and sunday, hasnt since

Hi, Kay,
Thank you for that information. It may be that he has ruptured a small blood vessel which has mow repaired itself. That can happen, and if so it is nothing to worry about. If it recurs, it should be fully investgated.
Walter

hi , our dog is very, very old . she does'nt move around much anymore, does not eat much, can't see vey well anymore. sleeps most of the day. she does not complain at all. however i noticed that she vomited up mucus containing also blood strands.
is it time to put her out of her misery ?

Hi, Steven,

There comes a time when we have to exercise the privilege we have of ending the lives of our pets when the quality of that life is no longer satisfactory.
You clearly realise that you are fast approaching that time, and I applaud you for it.
The last thing that I think one should do with an old and infirm dog is to subject it to tests and examinations which may well prove nothing beyond that it is terminally ill.

Use your judgement, and do what you know is the right thing.

W

this is for a friend ill copy and paste what he said to me

I got a 8 month year old dog, perfectly fine when she was at the humane society; we adopted her. She just started sneezing out blood today. Besides that, she has been coughing/yacking every 5 minutes off and on. We put her in the backyard since we dont want the blood staining the carpets etc.
She went into the backyard and started tearing up grass and then she started biting at her leg.
I doubt this is from allergies; the only different thing is i used this accident cleaner to spray after i picked up her dog poop (in the house)

I' am really worried about her can anyone help me out?

my dog has never coughed up blood before but this morning I noticed my little beagle Sally had coughed up twice when she drank water and there was red blood mixed with it...She seems okay other than that, I am worried. Don't know if I should run to the vet or wait to see if she just chewed something that caused her throat to bleed. She is 13 years old.

Hi, Pam,

I would give it no more than another 36 hours before taking your dog to the vet to have this checked out..
W

I have a Lab named Shotgun who is 8. He recently underwent blood work, ultrasound, and a biopsis to determine that he had multiple lesions on his liver and spleen. The number of lesions and location of the cancer has made it an inoperable condition. We put him on pain medication and have been giving him around the clock care. Just yesterday, he began to cough up blood and had a tough time taking normal breaths. Other than the weight loss and distention, he seemed to be handling it well......until the coughing. My question is: Is this due to the cancer, or is it something we should try and treat? The cancer is malignant and terminal, so is it better to let him go, or should we try and do what we can?

Hi, Brandon,

I am so sorry to hear that your lab is terminally ill at such a young age.
With such widepread malignancies, and clearly no real quality of life, I think you owe it to him to bring an end to his suffering. Fortunately we are able to do that for our pets. I really do know how difficult it is for you to make that decision - I lost two of my own labs with cancer, one at 4 and the other at 6 years of age.

W

My three year old dog has been itching like crazy. I noticed that she recently has been throwing up every morning. She has some grass in the throw up the other day. Yesterday we watched her so she wouldn't eat any grass.
Again she woke up and threw up, and there were spots of blood in it.
Her appetite is good, and she is running around. She is itchy on the ears and licking the paws red, but not raw.
Thanks-

Bee

Hi,

Have you not had her to your vet?

Persistent vomiting can be caused by several things, and does need to be properly diagnosed and treated.
She may have swallowed something which is causing an obstruction, she may have an acute gastritis, or she may have ingested something poisonous.


W