Arthur is a twelve year old yellow Labrador who lives with his family just outside Crediton. In February this year his owners noticed a lump on his right foreleg and took him in to see vet Katie, who decided a biopsy was in order (ther first photo shows the lump after the biopsy had been taken). The results showed that Arthur had a soft tissue sarcoma. Although Arthur is getting on in years, he is in generally good health, he is not overweight and has only a touch of arthritis which is managed well with medication and joint supplements. So, he was considered a good candidate for surgery.

Given the location of the tumour, removing it successfully was going to be difficult because there was not much skin available to successfully close the wound. So after chatting things over with Anna, it was decided that specialist vets Cave, in Wellington, would perform the surgery. Since the removal was likely to leave a rather large area exposed, the original plan was to also complete a skin graft over the exposed area.

Arthur went to Cave for a body scan and surgery on March 25. The biopsy indicated that the tumour was a low grade sarcoma, so it was not a very aggressive tumour. A full body scan at Cave confirmed that the cancer appeared to be localised, and there did not appear to be evidence of additional growths elsewhere. This was good news as it meant it was worthwhile going ahead with the tumour removal. The surgery went well, but the tumour was locally very invasive and had gone down between the bone so it was difficult to totally remove. It was not possible to complete the skin graft phase at this time because the wound bed was too deep and uneven to receive a graft. So Arthur was sent home in order that the wound bed could have a chance to stabilise in the hope of trying the skin graft later.

And so began, Arthur's very frequent trips to St Boniface for dressing changes. Arthur was a model patient and Nina, who mostly looked after him post surgery, grew very used to seeing him. Although he was in considerable discomfort, he was always happy to see her! The full dressing change was quite involved and tricky, and Arthur would always sit still whilst it was being done, which made the process a lot more bearable for all concerned. He very soon learned that the quicker the dressing got changed, the quicker treats would be given!

After a couple of weeks, the wound bed was sufficiently stable for the skin graft surgery, so in early April Arthur returned to Cave a second time. Although the surgery went well, post operative complications meant the skin graft unfortunately did not take. So instead Arthur's wound would have to heal over, or granulate, by itself. This was a bit disappointing, but it was not a major problem, it just meant a longer period of recovery and even more trips to see Nina!

For several more weeks, Arthur, bravely put up with dressing changes, and not being allowed to go outside except for very short walks on the lead and always wearing his protective plastic boot; to ensure his dressing stayed dry. Arthur developed a couple of infections during the healing process and required a range of antibiotics to combat these, but slowly and surely, his wound started to granulate.

Some of these pictures below show how his wound has progressed over the past two months, showing his first dressing change after surgery and how deep the wound was initially. The bright pink flesh is a good sign as it shows the wound is starting to heal.

A couple of weeks later after the second surgery. The edges are starting to contract well.

Then, unfortunately, Arthur then had a bit of a setback when he developed an infection. The photos show how the wound had started to seep through his dressing (and it was also very smelly) and also how the wound started to develop lighter patches that showed the healing process was not going so well.

After antibiotic treatment, Arthur’s wound started to heal properly. By the time the last photo was taken at the end of May, his regular dressing changes were thankfully at an end.

Two months after his original surgery, Arthur was finally allowed to go without a dressing to allow the final bit of healing to take place. Things got a lot easier, although he did have to go back to wearing his Elizabethan collar all the time, apart from when he was eating/exercising as he was quite keen on licking the wound given a chance!

Arthur is now back to his regular length walk. Living in the country, he is used to being off the lead but has had to be on the lead a bit more to ensure he doesn't overdo it or cause the wound to reopen when he is charging through the undergrowth or going to say hello to his doggy friends. He is now back to full mobility, chasing his ball and running around, as these photos show!

He will probably start metronomic chemotherapy shortly which we hope will retard the tumour regrowth and give him a chance to enjoy life for a bit longer.

Arthur is our star patient because he has been such a model patient from start to finish. In spite of being in considerable pain, and having to come to see us so often, he was always happy to see the staff at St Boniface, and always well behaved when seeing the vet (apart from licking Nina a bit too much)!