spaying

Question
I have a 9 year old female boxer who has a mass tumor between her last two left nipples, I was advised to have it removed and some skin around it to remove all cancerous cells.  She also has gum growth over her molars top and bottom, which is causing her not to eat well.  She is not spayed. the vet advised me to do all three things at once, they did blood work and she is pretty healthy.  The vet mention spaying her to prevent her from getting any more cancerous tumors, but then explained that the spaying is not a guarantee that she will not get cancer tumors again. I am very confused, First of all I think it might be too much to do at once, she will be in a lot of pain after the surgeries.  Second I don't want to spay her, if it is not really needed.  My biggest concern is her teeth and the removal of the tumor, but I am not sure if she should be spayed. i need honest advise, I don't want her to go thru so much if it really is not needed. Money is not an issue, it is her recovery That I am concerned about, even though she is healthy she is 9 yrs old. Is it really important to spay her now? This is the only tumor she has ever had, what is the possibility of her getting another one in her remaining yrs.

Answer
The spaying is to help prevent the cause of the tumors.

Spayed females generally don't get the mammary tumors like unspayed females do.

I do recommend removing the mass tumor growths and generally, if the rumor size is over a certain weight, the vet will do a mastectomy on that teat as well. Vets do want to do the hysterectomy at that time to help decrease the chance of returning tumors.

I would wait until she is completely healed before doing the mouth surgery. They will cut the gums to expose the teeth and clean the gums. When the gum growth begins, hair, food and bacteria is trapped in the gums.

I would not recommend the "three" surgeries at one time= simply remove the mass tumor and breast if necessary, then, allow her to heal and take her in for the gum surgery.

Not all at once. I am in agreement, she should not have to be uncomfortable and in pain from those surgeries. She will need to be able to eat while healing from the tumor surgery and possible mastectomy and hysterectomy.

I would feed her soft foods like canned dog food or patties that you can break-up until she gets her surgeries, and ask the vet what to feed her after she has the gum surgery.

By the way, unfortunately, both the breast tumor in unspayed females and the gum over-growth is common in the Boxer breed.