Much like humans, our dogs will also experience changes in their body as they grow older. Our dogs won’t have the same shiny, soft, and flawless skin and fur that they have as puppies. Like us, they will also develop skin and fur discoloration, and even bumps or lumps.
So what happens when one day, you are petting your dog and find out a lump in his muscle that was not there before? The first thing you should do is to keep calm and don’t panic. Check your dog’s skin if it is a simple insect bite and if it is causing some pain or discomfort to your dog. If you are not sure and confident about identifying what the lump is, you might as well bring him to the veterinarian to have a closer look especially if the lump is growing or changing fast.
When you visit your dog’s vet, he can identify if the lump is indeed a tumor or something that might have occurred while your pet is playing and will simply go away. If it is indeed a tumor, he will discuss with you whether it is benign or malignant. Both types of tumors can be surgically removed.
Dog surgeries for tumor removal can be quite costly. This is why it is important that you consider various factors before going ahead. In this article, we will discuss the cost to remove tumor from dogs.
How Much Does Dog Tumor Surgery Cost?
Tumors are caused by abnormal cell growth and can either be benign or malignant. Benign tumors are harmless while malignant tumors are life-threatening and cancerous. While benign tumors can be left and simply monitored from time to time to prevent becoming malignant, already malignant tumors need treatment as soon as possible since this can cause death.
An initial visit to your dog’s vet to check the diagnosis and treatment options can cost approximately $200 and above. In the initial checkup visit, you should already discuss with the vet the cost to remove tumor from dogs and what procedure would be best.
If your dog is diagnosed with cancer, factors like the cancer type and severity should be discussed considerably with his veterinarian. According to Pet Care Rx, the size of your pet will have an effect on the cost of the treatment since bigger dogs will require a bigger drug dosage. Furthermore, the cost to remove tumor from dogs will also vary depending on the type of treatment.
Oftentimes, the first step that your veterinarian will do to remove a tumor that has been found malignant is to conduct a surgery. Surgeries can remove a tumor or tumors wherein a successful procedure can effectively remove cancer if it is still on the stage where it hasn’t spread. A dog tumor surgery cost can range from$2,500 to $6,000 for a single surgical process.
According to vetary.com, there are certain kinds of tumors which can be easily removed through surgeries. These are skin lumps, abdominal tumors
There are times when surgeries are not the best option to remove tumor/s especially if the cancer cells have spread and cannot be accessed easily through surgeries.
Radiation treatments are used to treat tumors where each session can last for less than an hour. Radiation treatments are usually done twice a week for an average of five weeks. The overall cost of radiation treatments ranges from $5,000 to $7,000.
Like humans, dogs can also undergo chemotherapy to attack cancer cells. The usual cost of a chemotherapy treatment for dogs is about $1,000 per session and can cost about $6,000 to $10,000 for the entire treatment. Of course, chemotherapy treatment costs may increase on factors such as medication and your dog’s size.
After your dog has been treated, another thing that you should include in your budget aside from the dog tumor surgery cost is the medications that your dog will have to take after. Pain medications can cost $25-$50 while antibiotics and other medications can also cost about $30 to $50.
How Can You Lower The Cost?
While we would like to give all the health assistance and care for our pets, we all know that serious health matters like tumor surgeries can cost a lot. If you are facing financial problems, good thing there are pet assistance funds like The Pet Fund which can help you curb your expenses greatly. The Pet Fund I a non-profit organization in the United States which provides financial assistance to pet owners.
Their group provides assistance to non-basic, non-urgent care like heart diseases, cancer treatment, eye diseases and the like. By simply visiting their website, you can follow the requirements for application and see if you and your pet can be eligible for a one-time grant.
Another way of arranging the costs to meet your budget is by applying for a payment plan.
If your veterinarian doesn’t have an existing payment plan to offer, you can visit the CareCap website (which is also a partner of The Pet Fund) or the Scratch website to apply for a payment plan. Payment plans will often let you choose how much you can pay monthly for up to 12 months depending on your budget. This is great for pet owners who cannot provide one-time cashout but would still like to have their pet undergo the surgery.
Our pets are our companions and are part of our family.
This is why we will do anything to free them from pain even if this may cost us financially. Before immediately agreeing to let your pet undergo a surgery, it is important to take a second opinion from another veterinarian or ask for a referral from an oncologist. You can look for a veterinary oncologist online through the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine. This can guarantee that the treatment to remove the tumor will be appropriate and that the dog tumor surgery cost will not be too expensive. We want our pet’s health to become better without having to spend an inappropriate amount.
My dog has Cushing’s disease and needs to have a tumor removed. Can I get financial assistance.