Chance didn't really have any signs of cancer, he always had this semi-annual check ups and yearly exams and his blood work looked great.
He was scheduled to get this teeth cleaned a couple of weeks ago, but when they ran his blood work it showed an increase of enzymes in this pancreatis this was because he had garbage gut (he got in the trash the night before and helped himself). His cleaning was postponed and we schedule him to come back in on July 29 and have his blood work reran.
The night of the 28th Chance let our a yelp and just stood up and looked at my son, he called me and said he thinks Chance had hurt himself. When I got home and he was limping I thought he had just twisted his leg. I looked at it and it didn't seem like anything was broken, so I told him we had a doctors appointment tomorrow and we will have him look at it.
That night he wanted me to hold him, Chance didn't have a very high pain tolerance so I held him assuring him he would be ok. The next morning I noticed he was breathing hard and he wasn't moving very fast, so we loaded him in car and we headed out, when we arrived at the vet it seemed like his heath rapidly began to decline. I noticed brusing on this legs and showed the doctor, so she ran a test to see how this clotting time was. The test showed his blood would not clot, the doctor ran xrays and it showed this colon and stomach was pushed down about 3 inches lower then where it should. The doctors office didn't have an ultrasound machine at there facility so I drove him to an Animal ER, which was only 5 minutes away. Chances health continued to decline. They did the ultrasound and it showed blood in this abdomen and a large mass that had ruptured. The doctor said it was retroperitoneal Hemangiosarcoma that looks like it started behind his kidney and he was bleeding internally, as we discussed a game plan, the doctors assistant came in the room and said Chance was asperating and it wouldn't be much longer. My heart sank and I ran to this room he was laying there with an oxygen mask on struggling to take a breath, he was almost gone. I hugged him so hard, told him I wasn't done loving him, it not fair and at best I hope he could hear me and that he knows he was loved because he wasn't just a dog he was a part of my heart, and I will miss holding him. The cancer Chance had is a very fast growing cancer and sometimes shows no signed until it ruptures, by that time the outcome is grim.
I wrote a research center and asked questions about Chances cancer and they told me; only based on my information, keep in mind they did not see Chance;
Again, it is important to recognize that this cancer is not like others that forms big, uncomfortable masses. It does its damage in other ways.

Bruising in his legs from the tumor rupture is due to loss of the platelets that normally help blood clot. Hemangiosarcoma really wrecks havoc with the coagulation system. The tortuous vessels create a nidus for clots (thrombi), which in turn tilt the balance in the blood from one where blood flows without clotting in vessels to one were blood is hypecoagulable (clots too much). This increases the clot formation in small vessels, which can damage vital organs – all without very obvious clinical signs. Eventually (days), the clotting system is exhausted because the body cannot keep up making new clotting factors and the blood becomes harder to clot. Platelets, which are small cell fragments that act to “patch” small holes in blood vessels are consumed by the clots and there are no longer enough of them. At about the same time, the tumor can reach a size that, while surprisingly small, is too big for it to support itself without normal blood circulation (the blood provides oxygen and nutrients), and so the middle parts of the tumor can die. Because they are intimately connected to blood vessels, when they die, they essentially make a hole in the vessels that cannot be “patched”. Blood is lost, more platelets are lost, and the vicious circle continues. If the bleed is into an organ (like the spleen), the pressure from the organ may contain the bleeding eventually and form a big blood clot (hematoma) surrounding the tumor. These dogs will survive the bleeding episode, and if they are lucky enough to get a diagnosis then, may be treated. One of the signs that we see commonly is bruising throughout the body because of the fact that the system is unable to control even small bleeds very well and everywhere where blood escapes outside the blood vessels, a bruise will form.

In Chance’s case, the tumor may have started in the spleen or elsewhere, and what was in the abdomen may have been a metastatic lesion that was bleeding and was surrounded by a hematoma. It is very sad – but unfortunately not uncommon. That is why this disease is such a priority for us.

If you had caught the disease weeks before (and really, the only way you would have realistically would have been if he had shown those signs weeks before. There is no test that will specifically provide that diagnosis currently available as part of the diagnostic toolbox at vets’ disposal) the outcome might have been the same, or you might have been able to institute treatment. Assuming that his disease had spread beyond the primary site (since the major mass did not seem to be associated with the spleen), surgery and chemotherapy may have yielded an expectation of 2-3 months survival (50/50 odds). If the disease would have been caught without visible evidence of metastasis (there is always microscopic metastasis), the 50/50 odds go to 4-6 months. About 1 in 7 to 1 in 10 dogs with this disease survive one year with treatment, and a small percentage actually are cured.

They are trying to understand why and how this disease happens, so they can develop better diagnostic tests, and to develop more effective treatments. They are making progress against this challenging disease.

Be there for them, hold them if they want you to. Love them.