my dog has a mammary tumor.. help ?

You did not give her breed so we don't know if she is too old or not. A small dog at 6 or 7 is fairly young, a large dog is getting old. Talk to the vet about your concerns, they would be the ones to know. Were my dog, I would opt for the surgery.

If you can before the surgery have a blood profile done to make sure she can handle the anesthetic. Also advisable, although not necessary, would be to have a chest x-ray done. It is better that this is done at this age instead of waiting. Have the tumor sent off to the lab for analysis which can identify what type of tumor, benign or malignant and if it is cancer the grading (severity). This way you will know for sure what you are dealing with and can make the best treatment plans for the future.

Age 6-7 is not old for a dog - she should recover with minimal time. Any surgery has risk and there is no guarantee but with pre-testing and your vets recommendations you should be okay.

Unless she's a giant breed, she's far from old, more middle aged, and should have anywhere from 4-6 years on average left.

I'd go for the surgery myself - anesthesia mishaps, while they can happen, are rare, and the vet probably figures it's easier to schedule a removal and only put her through one procedure rather than do a preliminary biopsy, and then have to schedule a removal.

There's a possibility it could go wrong - there's that possibility with any surgery - but like with spaying/neutering, when the obvious benefit outweighs the risks, IMO it's worth that 1 in 100,000 chance of complications to give your pet a healthier life.

Read the sections under "Surgery Risk for an Older Dog" it also has a section on mammary tumors and potential progression, even for benign growths.

http://www.vetinfo.com/dsurgery.html#b

Maybe that will make you feel better about having the procedure done. :)

They should be able to do a biopsy which for sure, I'd get done, especially given she's not an old dog. This doesn't need to be final - it can be operated on if necessary and again, given her age, this is exactly what I'd do. I lost one to mammary cancer, but she was 12 and at the time, we kept her going for as long as I felt she was okay, and then gave her peace.

As with any surgery, it can 'go wrong' but for sure, if this is malignant, she's not going to last

Add - I seriously doubt that any vet would do a mammary tumour removal, malignant or benign, with just a local!! Snip snip - ouch! But I guess it would depend on how large the tumour actually is.

Have the tumor removed, odds are very good that it is benign.

On the off chance that it is malignant, you still need to have it removed, it is absolutely critical in that case.

I had this done with a 9 year old dog and she was just fine afterwards.

Recovery won't take very long, and you absolutely need to have this done to give your dog a chance for more good years - she deserves it.

It's worth the surgery if it's malignant. What you have to ask is does the benefit outweigh the risk? Does your vet recommend it? I would say better to risk surgery now, than have her suffer from cancer later.

Surgery gone wrong? It shouldn't require general anesthetic.

She is not old unless she is a BIG dog.

Pinch pinch for a local (needle). Cut cut and out comes the tumor. Stitch Stitch (or staple staple) and all done. Bandage up and go home.