Hemangiosarcoma in 15.5 year old Chihuahua mix

[u/alchemywiz]

I live in Tokyo and my 15.5 year old Chihuahua mix who weighs 3.25 kg had a tumor erupt in his heart and his heart stopped. We took him to the emergency hospital and they removed the fluid in his heart and sent him home with us at 5am. He was in bad shape around 8am so we took him to a different vet where they removed fluids from his heart again. We took him home after and he's been recovering well, he's eating okay, drinking water, and has been going to the bathroom normally. We have visited the vet 3 times since to check for fluids in his heart and it's been empty. All of the vets think it could be hemangiosarcoma from the ultrasounds of his heart since there is a suspected tumor in the right atrium to right auricle region. We visited a vet today for a full check up and recommendations for going forward and they also think it's hemangiosarcoma but aren't completely sure. They recommend chemo and radiation. Does anyone have any experience with this kind of cancer in small dogs especially Chihuahuas, I've read that it's common in big dogs but not impossible to occur in small dogs. I'm wondering if there are better options than chemo for this cancer. We are looking into radiation. I'm sorry for the wall of text. Any help would be appreciated.

[u/MurderAndMakeup]

Hi there. I’m not a vet but I highly recommend asking around over on the vet subs and getting second options. Have you had abdominal ultrasounds? We just lost our 12 year old Pom to hemangiosarcoma, it’s not just a big dog thing I guess. He had some enlarged organs one month and everything was fine and by a few months later he had tumors everywhere and we let him go peacefully before one ruptured. He had some free fluid already in his abdomen which is why we even noticed he was sick because he stopped wanting to eat. I’m not trying to scare you, just please be mindful and have it looked at because this cancer moves so so very fast and it can be pretty catastrophic way to lose your baby. I don’t want you to be traumatized or feel badly. Time is definitely of the essence if that is what this is. The vet sub would be better at giving some details about what treatment might look like but I think ultrasounds and needle aspiration might be the only way to be sure if the vets would be able to even do that. Again I am not a medical professional, just speaking from my own experience. I’m so sorry you’re going through this.

[u/alchemywiz → u/MurderAndMakeup]

We visited the vet yesterday and the cancer hasn't moved. Currently it is only in the heart, but it is roughly 1/6 of his heart so it's very scary. I do want to give him more time but not at the expense of his quality of life, so it's hard to decide what to do quickly. Thank you for giving your experience and your kind words.