Hi All, im new to the site. I have a wonderful 10 year old rescue female Siberian named Sierra whom ive had for 5 years now whom was just diagnosed with a spindle cell tumor on her front left leg. The last 9 months have been simply brutal and my vet considers her a wonder dog as she has had a malignant tumor removed from her liver, a bile duct obstruction resulting in a cholecystduodonotomy surgery, pancreatitis resulting in diabetes, hypercalcemia/hyperparathyroidism, and a benign anal mass as well as eye wart/cysts.


This initially started 2 years ago when my vet and i noticed an almond shaped growth and thought it was a lipoma as it was movable. After she became diabetic 6 months ago, the tumor grew (as ive read they feed off sugars), my vet checked it with a needle aspiration and deemed it to be a cyst. Well it further grew over the last 4 months to the size of half a tennis ball located halfway up her front left leg. A few days ago, I took her to a imed specialist whom told me its a spindle cell tumor. My choices are amputation (out of the question given she is a diabetic and has some neuropathy and hind leg muscle wastage), or surgery with grafting and possible chemo. Im planning to meet with a surgeon soon to enter surgery #4.

Im curious if anyone has dealt with this? ive read these do not metastasize to the lymph nodes and major organs but can go to the lungs.

Thanks for any help.

Sorry to hear about your girl Sierra, my Sierra had a cancer mass removed in Feb off the top hind leg.
https://www.itsahuskything.com/t12421-found-a-lump-soft-tissue-sarcoma-recovery-result-from-test

i do not know much about the spindle cell but it sounds like she is a trooper like my girl! best of luck to you both and keep us posted

Hi thanks for your link, it was a good read and glad to hear your Sierra rebounded.

My Sierra has essentially something similar to yours in that its classified under a soft tissue sarcoma but the composition of the cancer cells classify it as a spindle cell tumor. Being in the leg, they will not be able to attain any margins. So i am opting for tumor debulking and depending on the cytology analysis, may need radiation. Im hoping for a grade 1 tumor which can allow her to finish out her remaining few years without any other treatment.