The dog’s spleen is a highly vascular organ that sits behind the stomach. The spleen’s function is a red blood cell processing plant. It filters red blood cells, getting rid of old, damaged, or infected cells. It also stores healthy red blood cells, ready to contract and release these into circulation in the case of emergent need. The spleen is a very helpful organ! Unfortunately, in dogs, the spleen is also a common site for the development of tumors or masses.
Not all tumors or masses are cancerous (malignant); some are benign (noncancerous). The prognosis for a dog with a malignant splenic mass is not good, but surgery to remove a benign mass is curative.
Unfortunately, it’s exceedingly difficult to tell if a splenic mass is benign or malignant until the spleen is removed and submitted for biopsy. If your veterinarian detects a mass in your dog’s spleen, it’s likely that you will have to decide whether to go ahead with surgery to remove the spleen before you know whether the surgery can prolong your dog’s life.
What Are the Expected Outcomes of a Splenic Mass in Dogs?
The most fortuitous scenario involving a splenic mass occurs when the tumor is discovered by palpation on a routine veterinary physical examination. Benign tumors tend to grow to large sizes without otherwise causing problems, increasing the likelihood they’ll be picked up on physical exam. (This should underline the importance of annual or, even better, twice-annual physical exams for middle-aged and senior dogs.)
Discovering a splenic mass in this way, before it ruptures, gives you the opportunity to have an abdominal ultrasound performed. Ultrasound can confirm the mass is in the spleen and can be used to look for any evidence of metastasis (cancer spread) in the abdomen.
Chest x-rays may also be recommended to make sure there is no metastasis to the lungs. If the chest x-ray and abdominal ultrasound show no obvious cancer spread, surgery to remove the spleen should be considered.
Life Expectancy of a Dog With a Splenic Mass
If the splenic mass proves to be benign, the surgery will have extended your dog’s life. While benign masses won’t spread to other organs, they can still rupture and cause your dog to bleed internally, so their removal is necessary for your dog’s survival. A study published in 2018 in the Journal of Veterinary Science found that the two-year survival rate for of dogs who underwent a splenectomy for a benign mass was nearly 78%.
Another study published in 2016 in the Journal of the Veterinary Medical Association found that the median life expectancy of dogs with benign splenic masses was 436 days and that dogs with malignant splenic masses was just 110 days.
If those numbers don’t make it clear, I’ll clarify: Yes, your dog can live without a spleen. She may be more prone to certain infections and less effective at rapidly replacing red blood cells in a crisis, but for the most part, her other organs will step up and take over for the missing spleen.
Spleen Cancer in Dogs: Malignant Splenic Masses
Let’s go back a step. Say your veterinarian has detected a splenic mass in the course of a physical exam, follows up with an ultrasound, and finds that the mass has metastasized.
Malignant splenic masses frequently metastasize to the liver or heart. Either one is bad news, but you may find comfort in the certainty of the knowledge that your dog’s prognosis is poor. Most dogs with malignant splenic masses succumb to their disease within a few months, sometimes even weeks, of surgery. Chemotherapy, used alone or in conjunction with surgery to remove the splenic mass, may slightly improve a dog’s prognosis, depending on the type of malignancy.
There are tools (biopsy, fine-needle aspirate) that, theoretically, could be used in an attempt to determine whether a splenic mass that has not metastasized is malignant, but they are typically inconclusive and the risk of hemorrhage during and after the procedure is high.
The Worst-Case Scenario: Splenic Mass Rupture in Dogs
Unfortunately, many splenic masses are not detected in the course of a routine exam, but are discovered while diagnosing a dog in the midst of an out-of-the-blue medical crisis.
Here is an all-too-common scenario: Your happy and seemingly healthy 10-year-old Golden Retriever is out in the yard chasing balls with the kids, when she suddenly collapses. She looks confused, and though she is alert and responds to you, she is too weak to get up, and she is breathing faster than usual.
You rush her to the emergency veterinary hospital, where the attending vet has a pretty good idea what’s going on as soon as she looks at her gums, which are ghostly white, and feels her abdomen, which has fluid in it. Bloodwork (showing decreased circulating red blood cells) and abdominal x-rays confirm the original clinical suspicion: Your dog has a splenic mass that has ruptured. She is bleeding internally, and without immediate surgery and blood transfusions, she is going to die.
In this scenario, there isn’t time to wait for the results of any tests that may determine whether the mass is malignant (with a poor prognosis) or benign (in which case, surgery may save your dog’s life); you will have to decide on the spot whether to give your veterinarian the go-ahead for emergency surgery to try to stop the bleeding and to remove the dog’s spleen, or to euthanize your dog. It’s a wrenching decision.
Researchers are working on ways to better determine whether a splenic tumor is likely to be malignant or not before surgery. A recent article published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association by Kristine E Burgess, et al., discussed an online calculator that your veterinarian can use to help predict the outcome for your dog.
“Development and validation of a multivariable model and online decision-making support calculator to aid in preoperative discrimination of benign and malignant splenic masses in dogs,” described a model that uses several parameters including blood test values, ultrasound findings, size of the mass, and how much fluid is present in the abdomen to help predict how likely a tumor is to be malignant, thereby helping owners make the decision whether or not to operate. This online calculator can be found at T-STAT.org.
No Sure Test for Spleen Cancer in Dogs
Knowing if a tumor is malignant or benign before surgery would help a lot, given the grave prognosis associated with malignant tumors of the spleen. Unfortunately, at this time, there is no definitive way to answer that question preoperatively, although we may be getting closer (see “A Potentially Helpful Tool,” above). This leaves you facing a difficult decision for your dog, and makes one wonder – and fear – how many dogs with benign tumors are euthanized, when they might have been cured.
There are some generalizations that may help you make the decision to give your veterinarian the go-ahead for surgery or to euthanize your dog in order to prevent a traumatic death:
- Large, non-ruptured splenic masses found on routine physical exam have the best chance of being benign.
- Small-breed dogs with splenic masses have a better prognosis in general than the larger breeds.
- About two-thirds of all splenic masses in dogs are malignant.
- If you have an older large-breed dog with a splenic mass that has ruptured, the likelihood of this being a benign situation is very low.
- Heritability contributes to the risk of malignant splenic masses; hemangiosarcoma is common in certain breeds, including Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, and Portuguese Water Dogs. If a dog who is closely related to your dog has had a malignant mass, the chances are higher that your dog will, too.
This is heartbreaking for me now. My daughters beautiful dog was just diagnosed with a tumor in the spleen. The vet gave steroids to try to shrink the tumor. Today my daughter was told that Maxi only has 2-6 months. She looks healthy and happy. I refuse to think she only has a short life left. My daughter is refusing to talk about it and that breaks my heart. Sight
My princess was diagnosed today with this horrible cancer. It has spread to her lung and liver. They said maybe a few weeks at best. Surgery was not even a option. She is 14 and has had a great life. She was my husbands constant companion until he passed away almost 3 years ago. Guess I’ll get a bucket li
st together for her and make her as comfortable as I can.
Vets give conflicting information which makes it SO MUCH HARDER for people to make the best decision for their beloved four-legged family member! I asked for an abdominal ultrasound for my JRT who was showing some ascites. The ultrasound showed a tiny mass (measured in minimal centimeters). I agreed to what the vet called a “fine needle aspirate” taken under sedation and the vet stated categorically that the cells taken would “determine once and for all if it was cancer.” However, everywhere I read about this including in WDJ says the ONLY way to determine malignancy is to move ahead with splenectomy and submit it for another biopsy. My dog didn’t tolerate the FNA well and took nearly 48 hours to fully recover. Now the vet says I have to IMMEDIATELY have my dog’s spleen removed and that will cure her. But everything I read and the surgeon’s consult says dogs with hemangiosarcoma die ANYWAY within just a few months of splenectomy! It is SO HARD to know what to do. I am sitting here shaking in terrible fear and sorrow and don’t know what to do.
I am so sorry to read your comments.
Our dog was just diagnosed today with a spleen tumor with metastasis. It’s such a difficult decision on what to do next. I guess You love your dog for as long as you can and be prepared for any emergency and what you’ll do when it happens. Best of luck Sarah
My dog has metastatic adenocarcinoma and has been treated for it since June 2021. Last week, I realized she was being uncomfortable when I was lifting her up from the floor. I asked my vet about her discomfort, and the vet wanted to do an ultrasound. It turns out she has a mass in her spleen. My vet said that most of the time, tumors in the spleen are malignant but they can’t know until they operate if it is malign or benign. Still, there is a 50 percent chance that my dog may die during the surgery because spleen is in essence a big artery and when you cut it, there is a very high chance of my dog bleeding out. At least that’s what he said. He said if this is a malign tumor, it’s best to wait for it to rupture and not risk my dog’s life now -because we already had three operations since June and my dog has already a heart condition so it’s not worth the risk. So currently, I feel like I am waiting for a time bomb to blow. It’s so hard. And I don’t know when it is gonna rupture, and if I will be able to bring her to a vet on time when it happens. I can never euthanize my dog. Because I see that she is so full of life and so happy now. It kills me to know that I have to say good bye to her sooner than I expected.
My deepest sympathies to all who have lost their canine friends to this terrible cancer…I feel very deeply for all of your losses. I lost my Basset Bella to this yesterday, after a month and a half of lethargy, laying down on short walks and a big loss in weight, diarrhea and general malaise. Even with a special diet, she continued to fail, and I knew something else was going on beside pancreatitis, which was what they first thought it was. I could feel a hard “edge” in her tummy, so off to the vet yesterday and I had a gut feeling the news would not be good. Exploratory surgery was offered, but in my heart I knew this would only cause more unnecessary pain, so I put my heart aside and chose to do the kindest thing I could, let her go. Our family was present to give her treats and lots of love and comfort, but once she fell asleep, everyone’s heart broke. I will never have another dog, because no other dog can ever take her place, nor do I ever want to go through this again. She was the sweetest companion, my dearest confident, my daily joy and constant mischief maker. She was 9 1/2 years and had a great life with me…pictures, videos and memories are all I have left.
My Aussie/Queensland mix was diagnosed 8/5/2022 with a spleen tumor. She is almost 15 & I have had her since she was 8 weeks old. Losing a dog is part of being a dog lover. Everybody knows that they do not live as long as us. There are so many dogs out there who could use a loving home, such as yours. I’m 65 and have had dogs my entire life & lost many over the years after they lived long healthy lives. You never forget any of them, can never be replaced since they all have unique personalities and always have a special place in your heart. But, getting another dog after the mourning period is the way to go! Loss of a dog is part of loving a dog and should not keep you from getting another one. You will be surprised how fast you grow to love your new dog & can at times see things in your new dog that remind you of other dogs you have had. Watch the movies: “A Dogs Life” & “A Dogs Purpose.” These 2 movies gave me a whole new perspective on a dogs life & dealing with their eventual loss.
Hello all and may I extend my deepest condolences to you all. Just yesterday, 7 Nov my 9 year Beagle, Jake passed away from a bursting tumor on his spleen. He just had a clean bill of health six months checkup and d dental cleaning the day before, 6 Nov. Jake came home from his checkup and dental just as lively and spirited as he always is. Played and ran with his toys the next 21 hours. Then just out of the blue Jake can in from outside, collapsed on the floor, breathing very bad and couldn’t get back up. This is on Sunday, so no vet was open, rush him 25 minutes to an Vet ER where he stopped breathing as I pulled in. They rush him to CPR with some adrenaline and other injections to get him revived. After 15 to 20 minutes of CPR to jump start him, my Beagle never came back. I feel like someone reached in and has torn my heart out. I was just told the day before my Jake was in great shape by the Vet when I picked him up. Then he passed away less then 24 hours later. I beg all you pet owners, have your lovable 4 legged friend check regularly for possible growths and tumors because these type of tumors dont show symptoms until it’s to late.
I experienced this same nightmare scenario with my 8 and a half year old black lab eighteen months ago. She was fine in the morning but by early afternoon she was very lethargic and refusing food. When a lab isn’t hungry it is not a good sign. The sides of her abdomen looked distended and her gums were very pale. I had to lift her into the car to get to the vet. This was at the beginning of the pandemic so I was left to sit outside while she was examined. The vet said they were keeping her and I was told to go home and wait for a phone call. They called to say she had free fluid in her abdomen and a mass on her spleen that had ruptured. She would need emergency surgery and they couldn’t say if it was malignant until they opened her up. So I agreed to surgery because I couldn’t put her down without knowing for certain. The pathology report showed hemangiosarcoma. And I made the most difficult decision to put down my heart dog. She never made it to her suture removal appointment. I had never heard of hemangiosarcoma. Now it is a word and diagnosis I dread to hear. She seemed deceivingly fine following the surgery and that made putting her down that much harder. I did a lot of research before I arrived at that ultimate decision. Everyone who had been in my position said their only regret was waiting too long and wishing they had let their dogs go sooner. That was the deciding factor for me. My dog was gravely I’ll but looked healthy. Her death shattered my heart. I now have another black lab puppy. I pray that she (or I) doesn’t suffer the same fate.
Correction it was recommended that she have an ultrasound
I read this article when my latest edition of Whole Dog Journal arrived. I thought how scary this must be for us dog parents! Yesterday my mixed breed girl Ava went for her routine exam & vaccinations the veterinarian found some upsetting problems. Today Ava went back for more thorough tests and she has a mass in her spleen, low blood platelets, tick worms and is on her way home. My husband was told she could not have surgery until her blood platelets increased but recommended a sonogram. I’m scared & also upset that we didn’t notice any problems.
Thank you for this article. My experience was 16 years ago when our mixed breed part Scottish Terrier 25 pound dog had the a tumor on his spleen that burst ad was similar to the experience of one of the dogs described in the article. Buddy was 12 years old and acted fine with no symptoms of illness. He was running around the yard with my son and husband and suddenly collapsed. He was in pain and hid under a bush. I took him to our normal vet who noticed the pale gums but found it hard to believe that he had been fine just an hour ago. The regular vet told me that my dog was likely bleeding internally and sent me to an overnight emergency vet who was 20 miles away. By the time we made it to the emergency vet, it was late, and the vet took him into the back and said it would be a few hours before she operated and suggested that I go home. She called around midnight, and said that a tumor on his spleen has burst. She said she could repair the spleen but that there were other tumors on other organs, and she asked if she should continue the operation or euthanize him. I asked her what she thought since I had no idea of what to do. She said that he may live another 9 months or so, but that if it was cancer, it could be painful for him. I asked what she would do if it were her dog and she said she would euthanize. I did not want my sweet boy to be in pain so I made the decision to euthanize him. I’ve often wondered if I made the right decision, and of course I’ll never know, but with the information in your article, it sounds probable that he did have cancer. He ran and played and lived a good life for 12 years, and he was loved and greatly missed.
Thank you for this helpful article. Though it brought me to tears, as the two scenarios you shared were ours exactly for two of our bichons, one in 2008 in ER, and our other this August through unexpected ultrasound findings, it helped explain the trauma we experienced in 2008. It also helped to affirm the extremely difficult decision we made to euthanize our beautiful boy this August, to prevent him from experiencing the unexpected, very imminent, traumatic ruptures of both his spleen and gallbladder. The outcome was handed to us. But he passed peacefully in our home with MN PETS compassionate assistance, versus the trauma of ruptures. It was extra confusing at the time because both our boys had had good recent exams and senior bloodwork results. If we had known about the masses, and could have had them successfully removed, we would have, so I appreciate you mentioning that surgery is a possible option if the circumstances allow.