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Your Pet's Health Status

Another important factor to be considered before your pet has surgery is your pet's current health status. Unlike dogs and cats, it is common for pets to have multiple diseases or tumors present at the same time. These tumors are usually unrelated, and when they are individually removed, the prognosis can be quite good. (If dogs or cats had tumors in two or more organs, it would be common for there to be a primary tumor that has spread, which would mean a more likely poor prognosis. This scenario is less common in the pet.) In addition, since pets are such resilient patients, they generally recover well even with advanced tumors that are very large.

What are other health care concerns that may afflict pets?

There are several physical aspects about each patient we should consider prior to surgery, including age, body condition, activity level, and concurrent disease. It is important to note that we should be careful not to take any one aspect alone as an indicator, but instead we should always consider all aspects of the pet's health status. Therefore, I can't give you an absolute on when to do surgery and when not to do surgery based on one aspect, since we should always consider all factors simultaneously. (For example, we can't say definitely don't do surgery over a certain age, because age should never be the sole, determining factor.) The goal here is to get a current snapshot of the pet's health status now so we can give an owner a probability or expected success rate based on all factors, so the pet's mom or dad can make an informed decision for how to proceed.

Remember, since each veterinarian has a different skill and experience level, and each hospital may have vastly different equipment and monitors, it is possible to get different opinions (actually, vastly different percentages) about the survival rate for the same procedure. Again, the pet's health status, alone, is not the only factor that will affect the outcome.

Let's now discuss the three major factors that make up the pet's health status: age, body condition, activity level, and concurrent diseases.

How does my pet's age influence the success rate of surgery?

Age will sometimes influence our decision about the pet's current health status in two ways. First, it may affect the veterinarian's opinion of the success rate; second, it may affect an owner's decision on whether or not to do surgery (some clients have a certain age in their mind that over this age they will not consider surgery – this is highly personal and not the topic here).

The average pet life span is about 7-10 years. With all of the dramatic advances we have made in pet medicine and surgery in the last 5-10 years, the life span has greatly increased. It is important to understand that each year of a pet's life is equivalent to 10 years in our lives. So, when we can treat a tumor or disease and extend a pet's comfortable life for 1.5 years, that would be comparable to extending our lives by 15 years (even though I know we would always love more time with our beloved fuzzies).

The pet's current age will help us most by helping the veterinarian discuss a possible life expectancy with and without surgery. With this probability, you can make an informed decision on what course to take.

What are the determining factors we consider to know a pet's body condition?

A pet's body condition is relative. What I mean by this is we should always compare our pet's body condition to the way this same pet was in the past. Although to some people pets may look all the same, we all know that there is a wide variation in body type from pet to pet. Each pet has slightly different variations in body shape, proportion of muscle to fat, and weight. Due to these variances, it is critical that veterinarians ask you questions about how your pet looks compared to how this same pet looked previously. If your pet is in a negative nutrition plane (currently losing weight or muscle), it is important to determine if it is best to hand feed your pet and help your baby gain weight first, or if the threat of the disease is so urgent as to warrant surgery first (and to work intensely on your pet's nutrition post-operatively). Your veterinarian should help guide you with this decision.

How does my pet's activity level influence my decision whether or not to do surgery?

Your pet's activity level is one of the determinants of how your pet feels. In addition, there is a wide variation of activity level from pet to pet. Some pets are always very active and others may lead more sedentary lives. As a result, it is always important to only compare your pet's activity level to what it was in the past. Also, keep in mind that as your pet ages, he or she may become less active. So, over time, your pet may gradually play less than previously.

How do concurrent diseases influence my decision of whether or not to do surgery?

There are several diseases and tumors that are common in pets. Some of these include adrenal tumors, insulinoma, heart disease, and conditions that affect the intestines, liver, and spleen. Since these conditions are relatively common in pets, it is not unusual for them to have more than one of these concurrently. As a result, to help us access your pet's current health status, we routinely run lab tests, including X-rays and blood work, prior to surgery to help us better understand your pet's current health status and to know if any concurrent disease will impact the outcome of the surgery.

Now that I know my pet's current health status, how do I decide whether or not to do surgery?

Once you know the health status of your pet, your veterinarian can help you assess the risk level associated with your pet's procedure. The risk level your veterinarian tells you will be based on:

It is very important for you to recognize the fact that your pet could be given vastly different odds for survival based on each of these factors. This is why you should be very cautious getting information over the internet. For example, if you have a seven year old pet with insulinoma, some well-meaning person may tell you the surgery is too risky; however, this may or may not be true. The person telling you this could be basing it on one case or a few cases, or this information could be based it on his/her veterinarian's advice. Remember, even if the advice comes from a veterinarian, that is the risk level given the skill level and experience of that veterinarian, combined with the health status of a given pet and the surgical setup and staff at that veterinarian's hospital. I want to make this clear because I have seen many second opinions from very reputable veterinarians (some board-certified veterinary surgeons) who have said a tumor is inoperable - some of these pets we performed surgery on, have done great, and have even been cured.