Mammary adenomas in
an American Cocker Spaniel
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS
First written: 21 September, 2012
Update:  22 May, 2015

 "Why did you  delay seeking surgery till the breast lump is gigantic in size, like two tennis balls combined?" I asked the Buddhist temple teacher who taught Buddhism and morals to over 800 children of devotees.

"The breast lumps grow very fast in the last 2 weeks," she replied. "Nobody in the family wants to bring the dog for surgery. My brother said to let her die."

The solution was surgical removal but the family did not want to pay the medical costs. She was kind to enough to bring in this old dog for surgery at Toa Payoh Vets.

Breast adenomas grow rapidly to sizes of 4 large oranges in this American Cocker Spaniel.

After mastectomy, the dog was eating and normal

"Walk-in" sutures holding the skin edges tightly and the haematoma on the left MG5 was treated by opening up the area via removal of 2 stitches. Healing by granulation was uneventful.

The 8-year-old dog was not spayed.  Mammary adenoma was diagnosed. No malignancy, according to the histology report. I was surprised as it was a massive tumour. Dr Daniel and I operated. I took over the stitching to ensure that the stitches were tight.

I tacked in "walk-in sutures" through the muscle layer and then the skin,  using 2/0 sutures to ensure that the large long wound would not break down..

The dog came back 4 days later. There was a swelling at one end of the tumour. "

"There's seepage at the left Mammary Gland 5 area," I said to Dr Daniel who is in charge of the case. "Just cut off two stitches," I said to him. "In this way, the serum can drain out. No need to re-stitch."

After that, we had no more visit from the Buddhist teacher. I was glad that this dog was not abandoned when she had the tumours. Such incidents do occur in Singapore. It is best to spay the female dog when she is young as breast tumours are less likely to develop in spayed dogs.