Kathy wrote: Steve you concerns are valid with bloat and torsion, however hemangio seems to be on the rise. The terrible thing about it is once they are diagnosed with it ( it can be a "silent" disease, three is nothing you can do. You can have the tumor removed, but I have never heard of a dog surviving more than six months even with surgery. I have to be one of the lucky few. In 1996, my 120 pound Labrador Retriever (no, he wasn't fat) started limping. Since the dog had bad hips and was 11 years old, I assumed that his arthritis was worsening. Took him in for an assessment. My vet looked him over and couldn't see any further deterioration so suggested an x-ray. The x-ray didn't show any difference in the bones but had a huge shadow that he couldn't account for. We were shipped off to Guelph for an ultrasound and bloodwork. At Guelph, they diagnosed hemangiosarcoma. We brought him home and talked with our vet about our options. We then decided to go with surgery. 8 hours later, my vet showed me the 5 pound tumour that he'd removed with the spleen. It was his first surgery for this and he hadn't expected the amount of blood supply vessels that had attached it. Rex recovered fully and was like a puppy for the next 4 years until we lost him on New Year's Eve to a stroke. I hadn't noticed how much he had slowed down until I saw how puppy like he was after the surgery. It was worth every penny. Fast forward ten years to July this year...my 9 year old girl was 'barrel shaped' when I returned home from a trip. She crashed the next day. We got her back and my vet (different vet) gave me a diagnosis of hemangiosarcoma. I was relieved when I heard it because of my experiences with it previously. Misty was gone 1 week later. So my question to her was, should we be having yearly ultrasounds once our GSD's reach 5 or 6 years of age. She didn't feel that it would have helped but I really have to wonder if I could have saved her if I'd been more vigilant. So a silent killer that you have no hope of curing when it rears its ugly head...just as bad as tortion or bloat depending on the outcome! Mary-Anne C C Mistral of Waldenridge CGN CD RE TD AGN TEC RACL HIC SGDC 26 June 2001 - 1 August 2010 Tersha's Magnum Force CGN PCD CD RE TDX UTD AGN AGNJ AGNJS N-TDX RNCL TEC HIC I AM A WORKING DOG My eyes are your eyes, to watch you and to protect you and yours, My ears are your ears, to hear and detect evil minds in the dark, My nose is your nose, to scent the invader of your domain, And so you may live, My life is also yours. ~~Cicero ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2010. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Each Author is responsible for the content of his/her post. This group and its administrators are not responsible for the comments or opinions expressed in any post. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://showgsd.org NATIONAL BLOG - http://gsdnational.blogspot.com/ ============================================================================