Hi there!
I just read your post and thought I had to reply. I'm going through something very similar with my 10/11 year old cocker spaniel, Lola.
My partner and I adopted Lola less than 3 months ago from Spain. Knowing we were getting an older dog, we were of course expecting some health issues but got a lot more than we bargained for! As soon as she arrived I noticed a lot of lumps on both the left and right side of her teats (surrounding and under the nipples) and my heart sank with dread. Some were very big and seemed like multiple lumps stuck together, and some were small and hard. I took her to the vet right away, who did biospies on them all. The results came back that she had "suspicious cells" on both signs which indicated a high chance of breast cancer. We then had blood tests, an ultrasound and x-ray done which showed very good results and that nothing had visibly spread, which was a big relief.
Given her old age and since she was sterilized very late in life (only around 10 yrs), the recommended route to go down was a full mastectomy, i.e. removal of all of the breasts from both sides. This is a pretty big set of operations but, as I now know, not as bad as it sounds (and anyway maybe not necessary for your cocker). So, we had the first op about 1 month ago and the second one yesterday (the vet does one side of teats at a time so needed 2 ops). I have to say - she has recovered remarkably well after such a heavy operation. In fact, she was pretty much back to normal by the third day! After the first operation, we just needed to keep an eye out for infections and have stitches taken out after 10 days. We had to limit her walks for a few weeks too.
So I just wanted to let you know: if it is bad news, there is still a lot of hope! And if your little one does need the full mastectomy, don't worry too much about it as it really isn't as terrible as it sounds. For a couple of days of being uncomfortable, your dog will have a longer and fuller life in the long run. I've been really surprised by how tough dogs are - maybe its a cocker thing
?!
During Lola's recovery time I use Rescue Remedy drops in her water - this was my first time using a homeopathic remedy so I really can't tell if it helps or not, but it certainly didn't make things worse. I also feed 1 teaspoon of plain soy yoghurt daily 2 hours after she'd eaten her antibiotics as I found out that this can help to restore the healthy bacteria in the gut (which antibiotics totally destroy).
Well, I really hope little Maddie has good results, and I hope maybe Lola's story helped you in some way.
Take care!
Natasha x
