Congratulations to Bear, our May Pet of the Month!
Bear is a 10 ½ year old Chocolate Labrador Retriever. Bear is owned by Ed, Christine and Ed Jr. Platto; they have been coming to Rock Bridge Animal Hospital for many years. Their other four legged family members are Allie, Kelly, Stinkle and Oreo.
Did you know that May is Pet Cancer Awareness Month? One in 4 dogs develops a tumor of some kind during his or her lifetime. (https://www.avma.org/Events/pethealth/Pages/default.aspx?PF=1) Unfortunately Labrador Retrievers can be genetically prone to canine cancer.
During Bear’s routine physical exam, Ed had mentioned the development of a lump on Bear’s left shoulder. Dr. Forbes examined Bear’s shoulder and 
recommended doing cytology to find out if the lump was cancerous. Unfortunately cytology revealed that Bear had a Mast Cell Tumor (MCT)
MCT’s are a family of tumors that can range in behavior from relatively benign and easily treated with surgery to very aggressive tumors that spread to other organs of the body. The surgeon must remove a large amount of normal “appearing” tissue around the lump to ensure complete removal and provide the best overall prognosis. Bear is such a sweet boy and the surgery was not even a question for the Platto Family.
Bear’s surgery went very smoothly and fortunately we were able to completely remove the tumor. A couple weeks later Ed and Bear came in for their medical progress exam and suture removal where Dr. Forbes said to keep a t-shirt on Bear for another week to prevent him from licking at his surgery site. Then on May 4th, Bear came to celebrate with us at our 7th Annual Pet Luau and his recovery from surgery to remove his cancerous tumor and he was shirtless!!
All in all, we are so happy to get to celebrate Bear’s wonderful recovery from surgery to remove his Cancer. This is a great example of why it is so important to check your pet’s health regularly at their Annual Wellness Exams.
You can make a donation at PetCancerAwareness.org to help fight Cancer!
