Vets, and covid, and cancer (canine)

[Spryte]

It’s a hard day here.  Our boy had to go to the vet today, for what we thought was cut on his pad.  Instead we found out it’s a tumor, looks like cancer under a slide, and will be removed, along with his toe, on Friday.  We’ll get bloodwork back then, too.
 

Vet is curbside.  Everyone wears a mask.  Only doggy went into vet office.

I’m going to wash his leash, and will wipe down the cone of shame he has on, but wondering if I should ... I don’t know... wipe down his face and body somehow?  We are in an area with a lot of cases, and they are still rising here.  My 80 yr old mom lives with us, and other vulnerable people.  I did read that there is potential for pets to carry fomites on their fur, so I want to keep everyone safe.
 

How best to handle this?

 

ETA:  I really just want to hug my dog the minute he walks in the door.  This is the pits.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Spryte

[Pen]

First, really I am sorry about your dog — I hope he will be fine. 

We had both a human illness that probably wasn’t CV19 but might have been and a necessary vet visit for dog. For human illness, It was advised that sick person limit contact with pets. 

We also had a sort of outdoor visit, though I was there too, gloved and masked. 

I was concerned our might have a cancer, but it seemed not so in his case.  

I gave a bit of a minimal wipe to dog surface (soap and water, but not bath) and had him go outside in air and sun when we got home. (I would have done more wiping probably if a surgery indoors had been part of it, or if an 80 year old were in the home.) 

We (dog and I) had touchy feely interaction right away at end of his vet visit.  I had mask on and gloves and I changed out of the clothing I had had on when I got home.  

Dog joined people in human beds that night as usual.  Again, I would be more cautious with an 80 yo present. 

City where our vet is has had fairly low confirmed CV19 cases (30 or so in the vicinity of vet office, but all supposedly in hospital or isolating at home), and my dog only had direct contact with me and vet, no other staff. 

 

[Pen]

4 minutes ago, kand said:

Oh, I’m so sorry! If it were me (I’m not saying this is advice anyone else would agree to, just in this situation what I would do), I would saturate a paper towel with rubbing alcohol and do a quick surface pet of the pup with that to take care of what might be on the outside of his fur. I would hope that the fur would protect his skin from too much exposure, but either way, rubbing alcohol is safe for skin, so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. I would wash my hands after petting him for the next 24 hours or so, and then I wouldn’t worry about it again. 

 

If he is wearing a cone that’s probably fine.  

 

If he could lick himself I would not use rubbing alcohol because it is toxic if ingested.

 I would go with plain soap (like Dr Bronners)and water, or  0.5% hydrogen peroxide, or at least 60% ethyl alcohol if you have any that’s strong enough (most for drinking is less than 60%) .   All are supposed to deactivate coronaviruses and are safer if licked. 

[Spryte]

Thanks, he is wearing a cone, so I did a quick spritz with rubbing alcohol. He is refusing outdoor time, but is mostly just lying down at our feet.  We will all be extra vigilant about hand washing and face touching (though my mother’s dementia means she will likely forget, sigh, terrible timing on developing dementia!).

The vet said the cells look like cancer to him, but we will get better results soon.  They will be amputating his toe, and removing the tumor on Friday.  Poor boy!

[Pen]

Fur surface cleaning plus just some time should significantly reduce his fomite aspect.  For before he comes home from surgery you could maybe set up some easily washable bedding for him.

you could also consider a dog body suit plus sock for affected foot  in place of cone 

he would probably be more comfortable and less of him would be a problem for your mother to touch.

ESHOO Long Sleeves Bodysuit Jumpsuit for Dogs, E Collar Alternative for Recovery,Pet Post Surgery Suit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZT7RNTJ/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_7-XUEb2G4HVCZ

 

the xxl on above one is only for up to 65lb dogs, but some companies have bigger ones if needed.  

 

I don’t think any have feet, so you would have to add a sock, maybe with bitter apple or some such for the affected foot. 

Edited May 12, 2020 by Pen

[itsheresomewhere]

Go hug the pup.  

 Our vet office is extremely strict with cleaning right now and I wouldn’t go to anything extra.  Just lots of love to the pup. 

[Laurie]

3 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Go hug the pup.  

 Our vet office is extremely strict with cleaning right now and I wouldn’t go to anything extra.  Just lots of love to the pup. 

 Our cat went to the vet on Friday and will be returning tomorrow for dental surgery for a broken tooth.  It's the same here...only the pet can go into the clinic.  

The clinic staff are probably all wearing masks so the clinic can be open.  If they're wearing masks,  no one can get germs on your dog.  And they're probably not letting animals get near each other either, not just because of the pandemic.   (I'm not planning to clean my cat when he comes home after surgery.) 

I hope the surgery goes well and your dog recovers quickly!   Please let us know how he's doing! 

[Spryte]

32 minutes ago, Laurie said:

 Our cat went to the vet on Friday and will be returning tomorrow for dental surgery for a broken tooth.  It's the same here...only the pet can go into the clinic.  

The clinic staff are probably all wearing masks so the clinic can be open.  If they're wearing masks,  no one can get germs on your dog.  And they're probably not letting animals get near each other either, not just because of the pandemic.   (I'm not planning to clean my cat when he comes home after surgery.) 

I hope the surgery goes well and your dog recovers quickly!   Please let us know how he's doing! 

Wishing a speedy recovery to your kitty, too!

[Pawz4me]

41 minutes ago, itsheresomewhere said:

Go hug the pup.  

 Our vet office is extremely strict with cleaning right now and I wouldn’t go to anything extra.  Just lots of love to the pup. 

That's what I'd do.

The chances of contracting it from a pet's fur are, I think, incredibly minuscule. It wouldn't concern me one bit.

I hope your dog's surgery goes well and that he's okay.

[ktgrok]

18 hours ago, Pawz4me said:

That's what I'd do.

The chances of contracting it from a pet's fur are, I think, incredibly minuscule. It wouldn't concern me one bit.

I hope your dog's surgery goes well and that he's okay.

What I've been reading is that once the virus lands on a porous surface, like fur or cloth, it "sticks" and doesn't want to come off when you then touch it. Also, it dries out very quickly on porous surfaces, so between those two things it is very unlikely you can then get it from the fur. But a walk out in the sun for 5 minutes would take care of it - the virus is killed by UV rays. Plus, veterinary hospitals are more aware than most about how to avoid disease spread.

 

[Storygirl]

I'm sorry about the cancer diagnosis and hope the surgery goes well with a speedy recovery.

I'm glad that you posted this, because our dog is going in to the vet tomorrow, due to a sore spot on her skin. She had a bump there, and now it looks different and is bothering her a lot, so I'm feeling concerned that it may be a skin cancer, and I'm worried.

Our vet will fetch her from the car and return her afterwards. I hadn't thought about the virus clinging to the dog. She should be happy to run around, chasing a ball in the yard, before we bring her into the house. And we can clean her paws before she comes in. I'm not sure I will do more than that to try to disinfect her. We won't give her a full bath, due to her sore spot, and I don't have anything I think I could spray on her hair. We can make sure to wash our hands after petting her for a couple of days.

[Spryte]

46 minutes ago, Storygirl said:

I'm sorry about the cancer diagnosis and hope the surgery goes well with a speedy recovery.

I'm glad that you posted this, because our dog is going in to the vet tomorrow, due to a sore spot on her skin. She had a bump there, and now it looks different and is bothering her a lot, so I'm feeling concerned that it may be a skin cancer, and I'm worried.

Our vet will fetch her from the car and return her afterwards. I hadn't thought about the virus clinging to the dog. She should be happy to run around, chasing a ball in the yard, before we bring her into the house. And we can clean her paws before she comes in. I'm not sure I will do more than that to try to disinfect her. We won't give her a full bath, due to her sore spot, and I don't have anything I think I could spray on her hair. We can make sure to wash our hands after petting her for a couple of days.

I hope you get good news!

[Pen]

6 hours ago, Storygirl said:

I'm sorry about the cancer diagnosis and hope the surgery goes well with a speedy recovery.

I'm glad that you posted this, because our dog is going in to the vet tomorrow, due to a sore spot on her skin. She had a bump there, and now it looks different and is bothering her a lot, so I'm feeling concerned that it may be a skin cancer, and I'm worried.

Our vet will fetch her from the car and return her afterwards. I hadn't thought about the virus clinging to the dog. She should be happy to run around, chasing a ball in the yard, before we bring her into the house. And we can clean her paws before she comes in. I'm not sure I will do more than that to try to disinfect her. We won't give her a full bath, due to her sore spot, and I don't have anything I think I could spray on her hair. We can make sure to wash our hands after petting her for a couple of days.

 

If she lies on floor of vet office, while she’s in sun you might see if she’d lie down so her underside could get some sun too.  

Another mild wipe down option would be water with just a drop of iodine. 

[Pen]

I hope everyone’s dogs will be okay.  

Ours was acting sick earlier, which was worrisome, but seems to be feeling quite a lot better now.

[Reefgazer]

On 5/12/2020 at 4:20 PM, Spryte said:

It’s a hard day here.  Our boy had to go to the vet today, for what we thought was cut on his pad.  Instead we found out it’s a tumor, looks like cancer under a slide, and will be removed, along with his toe, on Friday.  We’ll get bloodwork back then, too.
 

Vet is curbside.  Everyone wears a mask.  Only doggy went into vet office.

I’m going to wash his leash, and will wipe down the cone of shame he has on, but wondering if I should ... I don’t know... wipe down his face and body somehow?  We are in an area with a lot of cases, and they are still rising here.  My 80 yr old mom lives with us, and other vulnerable people.  I did read that there is potential for pets to carry fomites on their fur, so I want to keep everyone safe.
 

How best to handle this?

 

ETA:  I really just want to hug my dog the minute he walks in the door.  This is the pits.

Did you ask the vet for his advice on this?

[Spryte]

10 hours ago, Reefgazer said:

Did you ask the vet for his advice on this?

No, when got the news that the cells look like cancer to him (he went into some detail about that) and what he’d like to do about it, it was on a voicemail.  So we did not speak to the vet in person this visit.  We spoke to a tech immediately afterward, but we were so wrapped up in the bad news, no one was thinking about fomites.  This hit us hard, as we lost our other dog to lymphoma a couple years ago.  
 

We will, post surgery, since pup will be spending a night in the office.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Spryte

[Storygirl]

On 5/13/2020 at 4:45 PM, Spryte said:

I hope you get good news!

The vet thinks the skin issue is not likely cancerous, since our dog is only two. She thinks that the lump was a cyst, not a tumor, and that Winnie began worrying it and damaged herself with her teeth. If it doesn't heal well, she will biopsy but doesn't think it's necessary now. So Winnie has to wear her cone and take several meds, and we will keep an eye on how things go.

We didn't end up trying to wash her off and tried to be careful about washing our hands after touching her. She wasn't feeling peppy enough to be out in the yard, and it happened to be rainy here today, so my thoughts about exposing her to the sun didn't pan out. Our vet has not let any people other than staff into their building since mid-March, and they are wearing masks, etc., so we think the risk of contracting the virus through our vet experience was low.

It's a pretty ugly wound with a large shaved patch around it, so we still have issues to deal with, but overall, it was good news.

Edited May 15, 2020 by Storygirl

[Spryte]

9 hours ago, Storygirl said:

The vet thinks the skin issue is not likely cancerous, since our dog is only two. She thinks that the lump was a cyst, not a tumor, and that Winnie began worrying it and damaged herself with her teeth. If it doesn't heal well, she will biopsy but doesn't think it's necessary now. So Winnie has to wear her cone and take several meds, and we will keep an eye on how things go.

We didn't end up trying to wash her off and tried to be careful about washing our hands after touching her. She wasn't feeling peppy enough to be out in the yard, and it happened to be rainy here today, so my thoughts about exposing her to the sun didn't pan out. Our vet has not let any people other than staff into their building since mid-March, and they are wearing masks, etc., so we think the risk of contracting the virus through our vet experience was low.

It's a pretty ugly wound with a large shaved patch around it, so we still have issues to deal with, but overall, it was good news.

Yay for good news!  Sorry you have to deal with wound care, though.  That part is not fun.  I hope she gets better and better.

Our boy is in surgery now, getting tumor and toe removed.  😢 He’s always been “lumpy” but this is the first time he’s had a tumor like this.  I hope they can get it all, and it hasn’t spread.  He’s 11.

We lost another dog, 3 yrs ago, to lymphoma.  He was gone in 6 weeks.  It’s hard not to panic.  That dog and this one were very close, same age, and had always been together.  Other than that, DH and I have never known dogs with cancer.  It’s very unsettling to have another cancer incident.  

[Pen]

41 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Yay for good news!  Sorry you have to deal with wound care, though.  That part is not fun.  I hope she gets better and better.

Our boy is in surgery now, getting tumor and toe removed.  😢 He’s always been “lumpy” but this is the first time he’s had a tumor like this.  I hope they can get it all, and it hasn’t spread.  He’s 11.

We lost another dog, 3 yrs ago, to lymphoma.  He was gone in 6 weeks.  It’s hard not to panic.  That dog and this one were very close, same age, and had always been together.  Other than that, DH and I have never known dogs with cancer.  It’s very unsettling to have another cancer incident.  

 

I hope your dog does ok!!!

(Modern pet food may be related.) 

[Storygirl]

1 hour ago, Spryte said:

Yay for good news!  Sorry you have to deal with wound care, though.  That part is not fun.  I hope she gets better and better.

Our boy is in surgery now, getting tumor and toe removed.  😢 He’s always been “lumpy” but this is the first time he’s had a tumor like this.  I hope they can get it all, and it hasn’t spread.  He’s 11.

We lost another dog, 3 yrs ago, to lymphoma.  He was gone in 6 weeks.  It’s hard not to panic.  That dog and this one were very close, same age, and had always been together.  Other than that, DH and I have never known dogs with cancer.  It’s very unsettling to have another cancer incident.  

I hope it goes well, Spryte!! I understand the fear. Our cat died earlier this year, and it would be traumatic for our family to lose another pet. I am a worrier, so I still have some anxiety that our dog could have cancer and have it go undetected, but DH reminds me to trust our vet's expertise. Winnie has has several scary health problems in her short two years of life so far, so it's easy to get caught up in worry.

I hop your vet can get the whole tumor, and that your guy recovers well!