16/11/2025
Watson is back in business and enjoying walks again!
After his splenectomy last Tuesday, he's doing so well and is feeling himself again. I keep getting asked about his results, so I'll add those details here, too.
His spleen was sent off for testing, and it came back that it wasn't cancerous, so they're going to test some other parts of it to double check. They said 80% of dogs with an enlarged spleen have cancer, so it's unusual that it wasn't that.
There wasn't a mass on his spleen, but it was enlarged, which means he's producing extra white blood cells, meaning he's fighting something off, but we don't know what. There's various possibilities, but the ones the vets names as the more likely ones are blood cancer and Leishmania. Watson came from Cyprus with Leishmania, which is an incurable, parasitic disease (google it for more in-depth details). He had treatment for it in Cyprus, which we continued here, and the disease went dormant, and the parasites stopped multipying and spreading. It is possible that he could be having a flare-up, which is not good. Leishmania can be fatal, causing organ damage, like kidney failure. Treating him again is possible, but there's no guaranteed outcome, especially now his spleen is gone. The vets said they either "forgot" he had Leishmania or didn't check his notes properly, which is why they didn't test for it in the blood tests before the surgery to remove his spleen. So, they sent some more off to be tested, and now we wait and will hopefully find out what caused his enlarged spleen in the coming week. For now, we're just happy he's feeling well and enjoying his walks again๐พ