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Sudden Loss of a Young Beagle to a Ruptured Intestinal Tumor

by Dawn

Reader Question
I lost my 6-year-old Beagle to cancer, and it came as a complete shock. Two weeks earlier she'd had a normal checkup and vaccines, and her thyroid medicine was changed because her level was low. A few days later she started vomiting off and on. I asked whether the medicine change could cause it, and the vet said no. She didn't seem sick, but every couple of days I'd find a small puddle of vomit. Then one day she couldn't get up. At the emergency clinic, blood tests showed infection and inflammation, and her belly was very bloated, though the vet thought it was her weight and thyroid problem. I even asked if it could be cancer, and they said no. They gave her antibiotics and fluids. The next morning our vet took X-rays and found a tumor with fluid around her organs. In surgery they found a tumor that had burst. The cancer had started in her intestines and spread to other organs, and it was inoperable. Even the vet was shocked to find cancer in a dog so young. I'm heartbroken.


Answer from Our Team

We're so sorry. Losing a dog this young, and this suddenly, is a terrible shock. Intestinal tumors can grow quietly with only mild signs, such as occasional vomiting, until they tear or burst. When that happens, the belly fills with fluid and becomes inflamed and infected, which would fit the sudden collapse, the bloated belly and the blood test results. At that point it is an emergency, and surgery often can't save the dog.

Most cancers are diagnosed in dogs around 9, but many dogs are diagnosed younger. We aren't aware of any link between a change in thyroid medicine and intestinal tumors, so the timing was very likely a coincidence. You noticed she wasn't right and asked the right questions. Mild, on-and-off vomiting in a dog that otherwise seems well is very common, and it rarely points to cancer, which is why this is so hard to catch.

See intestinal cancer in dogs and dog vomiting.

This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.

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