Dog With Huge Tumor Nobody Would Operate on Saved in Incredible Transformation

Veterinarians recently saved a dog with a huge tumor on its face that nobody wanted to operate on.

Rex, a 6-year-old Siberian husky, was suffering from a tumor on his snout so large that it prevented the canine from seeing and breathing easily. The fast-growing tumor was a fibrosarcoma—a cancer derived from fibrous connective tissue. In dogs, this cancer occurs most frequently around the mouth area.

Rex's owner, Damián, is from Cádiz in southwestern Spain. Concerned about the dog's condition, Damián sought treatment for his beloved pet at several veterinary clinics in the province of Cádiz.

However, all the clinics he contacted told him there was nothing they could do to help and that this type of tumor could not be operated on. The veterinarians did not give Rex long to live at this point.

In a final desperate attempt to save his pet, Damián posted a video to TikTok in the hopes of finding a veterinarian in Spain who could help his dog, according to an article from La Opinión A Coruña.

The director of an animal sanctuary who saw the video subsequently told the owner to contact the Faunivet Veterinary Clinic in Vinarós—located around 560 miles away by car to the northwest.

"Rex is a male Husky dog ​​that we heard about through the director of an animal sanctuary," veterinarians Nacho Martín-Macho and Francisco Serrano with Faunivet told Newsweek last week. "This woman showed us some photos with images of Rex's head, and the large tumors on his face, to ask us if we could do something for him."

The Faunivet team told Damián that they thought it was feasible to operate on the tumor. The owner did not hesitate and decided to drive the long distance to the clinic.

"No clinic they had previously consulted with gave him any chance, and the only remedy they gave him was euthanasia," Martín-Macho and Serrano said.

Once Damián arrived at the clinic with Rex, the Faunivet team examined the dog and decided that the operation was viable.

"Rex at that time was already suffering from respiratory problems, difficulty eating, and extensive infection in the area due to ulceration of the tumor," the veterinarians said. "The type of tumor is a fast-growing fibrosarcoma, with a low possibility of metastasis, but a high possibility of local recurrence."

The operation was long—lasting more than three hours—and challenging, but the Faunivet team said that no significant complications arose during the procedure.

"It was possible to remove the tumor, and then [conduct] a complicated facial reconstruction with success," Martín-Macho and Serrano said.

Since the surgery, Rex has been doing very well, according to the veterinarians. He has gained weight and his mood has improved. He is also undergoing periodic check-ups at a veterinarian in Cádiz.

The team added that they considered the surgery a success for providing Rex with the ability to live a normal life again. But they cannot rule out the possibility that the tumor will reappear one day.

If this does happen though, the veterinarians said the tumor could be controlled before it becomes as large as it was, as long as treatment is administered in good time.