Dog decisions

Dear Dr. Forsythe: I am a 24-year-old recent college graduate, and I love to travel.  The problem is, I also have a four-year-old Heinz 57 dog who I adopted after my first year of college.  Do you think it is selfish of me to own a dog and travel so often?  I take a business trip usually once a month and I have to be gone for several days.  My friends think I’m a terrible mom because I leave Callie with the dog walker or the pet sitter so much.  What are your thoughts on this?  Am I really a bad mom because I can’t be home for my dog every night??? – Guilt Trip

Dear Guilt Trip:  It certainly is not ideal for you to have to be gone if this puts a serious crimp in Callie’s life.  However, life doesn’t always dole us out the perfect situation, so I would NOT call you a bad mom just because you have a busy schedule and rely on dog walkers and pet sitters to help you care for your dog.  As long as you have quality time with her when you are home and don’t go out of your way to take extensive trips that cause your pet to be affected negatively, I think you should tell your critical friends to “sit, stay, and be silent” about your poor pet mothering skills.

Keep in mind that you are NOT the only person who has a busy career and enjoys the company of pets.  For people like you there is a place called Sonoma Dog Camp that offers both day care and overnight “camping” for dogs while their owners are away.  Perhaps you may want to consider enlisting the help of such a service to make Callie’s life even more exciting and rewarding while you are off on business.  In my opinion, if you are a loving, interactive mom with your dog when you can be, get her good health care, and see to her needs fully when you have to be away, you are a very good pet owner.  So why do you question yourself and beat yourself up about this?  I suggest you tell your friends that while you appreciate their input with respect to your inadequacies as an owner, you’d like them to each chew on a nice dried up pig ear while YOU and Callie go about your lives.  Good luck! – Dr. F

Dear Dr. Forsythe: Isn’t there a type of growth on dogs that you don’t want to poke to get a specimen for fear that it will spread?   My neighbor is often telling me about the health problems with her old Pekingese, and the last thing that happened was a growth she had on her body was sampled, and then it spread like mad.  You have often mentioned in your column that growths should always be sampled, but wouldn’t that be a problem if the sampling process made the cancer spread? – Just wondering in Sonoma

Dear Just wondering:  Thank you for an important and provocative question.  The general rule of thumb with growths on pets is to aspirate them to find out what is inside.  One type of tumor that pets get on their skin (and in their bodies) is a Mast Cell Tumor, a dangerous type of cancer. This type of growth can spread quickly and contains cells that release histamine granules, so disrupting this kind of tumor with a needle or biopsy device could cause it to become more stimulated.  For this reason, many veterinarians recommend that owners with a dog that has a mast cell tumor should  give their dog a Benadryl.  In addition, once a diagnosis of Mast Cell disease is made, the tumor needs to be graded to see what stage it is in.  Also, the tumor should be removed with surgery to prevent spread.  So while there is some truth to what you are saying about this tumor type being sensitive to poking and prodding, aspirating virtually any lump or mass that a dog can present with is still considered the best “Standard of Care.” In my opinion, any unknown mass on the skin should be aspirated in a timely fashion.  If the growth is a Mast Cell tumor, the pet should receive Benadryl immediately – and surgery to remove the mass in its entirety should also be scheduled:  immediately.  Thanks for your question. – Dr. F