11 year old dog diagnosed with pheochromocyoma. Has very high bp which we are trying to control with Amlodine. We started him on phenoxybenzamine, however had to stop due to recent diagnosis of glaucoma. He is on eye drop medications to lower glaucoma. Surgery does not seem to be an option. What other medications besides the phenoxy can be used? Is chemo or radiation an option?

My dog is 12 1/2 years old. He was diagnosed with the pheochromocytoma tumor. No mention of metastasis. Dr. wants to know if I want chemotherapy done. I can't find any information on this. How do I know if he needs it or it works? He had an adrenalectomy.

I was told by a veterinary internist that a pheochromocytoma may be benign. According to this website, you are telling me that it is cancer and will metastasize. Any other current treatments other than surgery? How do you know for sure there was metastasis?

Our 13 yr old Dutch Shepherd was diagnosed with an adrenal gland tumor. ALL blood work and xrays were clean. Shed started drinking massive amounts of water and was urinating 10-15 times a day vs her normal 2-3. She was not eating and acted as if she had a sore throat. When they did an ultra sound they found the tumor. The biggest worry was not knowing what "level" the tumor was affecting. He blood pressure was stable so we thought we had a little more time. She ended up having a stroke on 2/26 just 2 weeks after she was diagnosed.

Our 9 year old mixed breed, Pearl, was diagnosed with this on Tuesday and it had invaded her vena cava. She had not been feeling well for the past two weeks and we had her at the vet for two overnight stays and two other rush appointments. Nothing was detected in her blood work, no temperature, nothing was pointing to anything specific. On Monday, the vet did an xray and ordered an ultrasound for the next day. Pearl was obviously in pain and the ultrasound showed the tumor. We made the decision for euthanasia as the prognosis for surgery was not good and we didn't want her to suffer. Looking back, we see that she was panting and had become fairly lethargic. We thought it was mostly from aging, but took her to the vet anyway for her to be checked. Something just wasn't right. We still have her sister, Piper, and we were happy to hear the vet say that she didn't think it was hereditary. We had no clue when we took her back on Monday that we'd be saying good-bye on Tuesday. Such a sad, sad day.

Snickers, our 15 year old English Cocker Spaniel last week has been diagnosed with adreanal mastastic cancer. This causes him to have difficult in swallowing , so eating for him is rare. Feeding has gotten so that he is fed with a syringe twice a day. He is taken a probiotic when he is fed. He has been reduced to skin and bones over the last week. Is there any hope?

Our beautiful Bichon Poodle mix Riley was the love of our life. He was just about 11. he had started limping on and off on his right rear leg, but usually only for a few steps right after rising. We had a vet appt scheduled as we feared all his jumping up and down off couches and our bed might have resulted in a cruciate tear, or that we needed some meds for arthritis. It was strange because if he went out to do his business, he could lift either leg to a 90 degree angle with no problem, run with no limp, and even jump up on his hind legs. But at other times, the leg would seem almost to "dangle" and he would tap the foot up and down off the floor. We also noticed that his right front leg had begun to bow out like a bulldog for some reason. It had become more and more pronounced. Neither of his legs or any of the joints seemed painful in any way. Flash forward. 2 days ago, I got up and dressed for work. Riley was right at my heels as always, tail wagging ears up, prancing along as normal as can be.Went out, did his usual, sat for a cookie...normal, normal, normal. he went back in the bedroom to get back in the bed with my husband and I snuggled him and kissed him and told him I'd be back later. He did everything exactly as he did every day for years...went up and started nudging my husband, tail wagging furiously, and snuggled up with him. My hsbad was in and around the house with him most of the day. He ran to the store for about 1/2 and hour, and then was back...Riley was still fine. He went out to do some yardwork and came in around 3pm to talk him out. Riley wagged and pranced outside, did his normal 3 pees and had a normal bowel movement, and went back in to sit for his cookie. My husband came back in at 5 and he was sitting on his bed...but wouldn't get up. My husband went to him and sat with him for a few, and he seemed to be pushing himself up on his front legs rather than actually sitting up. So he feared his leg was hurting. He tried to help him stand, and he stood up and started walking slowly...but after about 10 ft, just stopped and stood there looking at him. My husband said he looked scared. So he picked him up and brought him to the couch, where Riley laid down next to him but looked like he didnt feel well. I got home about 6:15....and I knew there was something very wrong. Riley and I were extremely bonded, and when I came in he didn't even get up. Ears stayed down, tail didn't move....he looked terrified. I went to him and all he could do was nudge my face. I petted him and as my hands reached his flank I felt what was like an electrical buzz. A quiver. I knew it was pain and so we immediately left for the emergency vet. My fear was that the rear leg had been a back injury all along. The first vet said she found nothing significant. We noted that his belly seemed so hard and bloated, and that we feared a stomach issue. She sad it was tense from the pain but non-reactive..it was not his belly, he did not have pain there. She said his patella was subluxating a bit (common in his breed and he had had that for years) but that she didn't want to do a full cruciate tear exam because it would hurt him more, and we had an appt with the specialist 2 days later. We felt this vet blew us off and even rolled her eyes when we insisted we knew our dog and something was really wrong. She said he was "walking around in the back" and seemed fine...we said we could not see how given he could not walk when we brought him in. But she insisted and wanted to give him buprenorphine for pain with Tramadol to take home until our appt. He was given the buprenorphine, and we sat and waited 1/2 an hour for them to bring him to us. When they did, we were devastated. He was panting furiously and seemed incoherent. His head was lolling, his tongue hanging out...he couldn't even pull it in and close his mouth. It would just sit on the table. We asked repeatedly what had happened..why was he like this. They just kept telling us it was "normal" side effects of the meds. We didn't want to leave the ER. He would have like a moment of looking up at my husband, then me...then he'd be gone again. We sat in the parking lot for a a half hour. I was in tears and kept saying "this isn't right. I don't like his breathing" We even called back in from the parking lot to ask again about the panting and being so out of it and were told the dr said it was all normal and to go home and get some sleep. We sat in tears and watched our poor little man panting like this for an hour and a half. I called 3 other emergency vets to ask if this was truly normal. All said he could be really out of it and that panting was a common side effect of opioids, which is what the buprenorphine was. He just didn't seem like it was just the meds to us. He was SO out of it he couldn't hold his head up..or drink..or even know we were there. Once in a while he would pick his head up and look at each of us...and then just seem to fade out. I don't know what made me do it...the nurse in me maybe...but I looked at his gums. They were white. his whole mouth was pure white. At that moment I knew he was going into or already in shock. We raced back to the vet and they whisked him away. We barely had time to say I love you. THANK GOD it was a different vet as the shifts had changed.This vet stabilized him and initiated fluid therapy and pain management. They had to put him on Fentanyl. Please note that during this visit, bloodwork showed a blood sugar of 584 and elevated pancreatic enzymes and the vet told us he very obviously had a tremendous amount of pain in his abdomen. We were livid as e begged the 1st vet to do diagnostics and said over and over he was in pain and we thought it was his belly. This new vet first felt it was pancreatitis and diabetes. She told us the pancreatitis can be excruciating, but it usually easily remedied with antibiotics. They were going to give him insulin but then his urine came back completely normal. No glucose, no ketones. His xrays didnt seem to indicate pancreatic inflammation so they were now going on a hunt. His xrays did have an area behind his stomach that wasn't especially clear so they wanted to do an ultrasound, but wanted to get his pain alleviated first as did we. Riley was admitted to ICU and we went home about 2 a.m. I called every 1 1/2-2 hrs and was told he was resting on his pain meds and fluids. At 6am his blood sugar and labs were rechecked and everything was back to normal. Blood sugar was 96 and pancreatic enzymes dropping. They had also gotten his BP and heart rate, which had gone very high, down to normal. I now spoke to an internal medicine specialist who told me it was NOT diabetes, and probably not pancreatitis.The blood sugar was She wanted to go ahead with the ultrasound because she needed to know what had caused this. Within 10 minutes she called back and said the news was not good. Riley had a large, invasive, agressive adrenal tumor. It was compressing the vena cava and aorta, and to her appeared to have invaded them. She said she truly believed that the panting and white gums and shockiness were due to cardiovascular collapse, and said she had no idea how he even made it that time at home and them back to the ER. She also said it was touching the pancreas and the pancreas seemed inflamed there, so that was probably why the enzymes were off. She explained the options, and said surgery was the usual choice, but that she felt if it were her dog she would not attempt it.She said it was entirely up to us, but given his age, cardiovascular state, bloodwork, and the size of the tumor...his chances, if any, would be very very slim. She then said the recovery is tough, and that dogs with high risk factors often did not fare well due to hemmorhage, infection, etc, and said that if the tumor had invaded the vessels as she believed, he could develop a thrombus at any point, or hemmorhage. The nurse in me understood all this too well unfortunately. I asked if there were any way to bring him home. SHe said it was possible but she would need to send him on extremely heavy pain meds, and the same risks would apply. SHe did say that if we wanted to attempt surgery, she would be in it to win it with us, and if they got in and could do nothing, we could opt to euthanize on the table, or close him up and wake him up to say our goodbyes. We talked with our son, who had grown up with him and made the group decision that all the options seemed to be more for us than the dog, and would only prolong suffering. We made the decision to say goodbye and headed to the vet with his favorite toy and blanket to spend time with him. Unfortunately,that didn't happen. We arrived and went to the room, but as they were preparing the gurney to bring him to us, Riley simply stopped breathing. The initiated CPR, but since we had told the vet we had opted to let him go peacefully, she stopped them. 18 hours from seemingly fine to gone. It was horrific and devastating. We can only try to console ourselves with the knowledge that we spent that precious time with him before he went to ICU telling him we loved him and kissing and hugging him when he would look around at us before fading again...because we never got to say goodbye. The vet tells us these tumors are "just horrible luck". That they are not genetic, hereditary, or caused by anything known. Of course, none of that helps us feel better. He had no symptoms we would have identified as anything other than getting older...occasional panting after play or running, limping a bit for a few steps after he got up, sleeping a little harder and longer than a year or two ago. She also told up as large as it was (baseball sized) it was not palpable. She could not feel it on exam. She did say that the lame right back leg could well have been from nerve compression in his spine. as for the front right leg,the vet said it was probably bowing from him putting more weight on it to stay off the right rear. And then she also said that all those symptoms could also still have been from normal aging because many times these tumors cause no significant symptoms. This is just a horrible, horrible cancer...not that any are good....and our experience has left us heartbroken and devastated. We were encouraged by the internal medicine vet....who was wonderful...to file a formal complaint against that first vet who blew us off and sent us home, and we have. We firmly believe she caused or baby to suffer unnecessarily, and may even have caused his complete cardiovascular collapse, hastening his death and prohibiting us from saying goodbye. We have yet to hear back.

My dog has just been diagnosed with an adrenal tumor that has gone into a vein and also looks to have spread to his liver. Vet has said surgery is to risky and no point as it has spread. We are devastated. Has anyone had any success with alternative therapies?