One of the most difficult decisions is to euthanize your dog when its life is at stake. Hemangiosarcoma one of the deadliest syndromes that leads to a painful death to your dog. So many of us prefer to euthanize the dog as a result, it won’t undergo a painful death. If you are having a dog diseased by Hemangiosarcoma and now thinking of When to euthanize a dog with hemangiosarcoma, then you have come to the right place where we disclosed every scenario of it.
What is Hemangiosarcoma?
If you never heard of Hemangiosarcoma, then it took a little surprise for you. Yes, even a dog catches a tumour that turns out cancer. Hemangiosarcoma is a stage of malignant tumour that comes from endothelial cell lines. This kind of cell lies in the blood vessels and the consequences of the aggressive development of metastases.
If you have an old dog and you get to see the symptoms then this won’t be a surprise because around 8 out of 10 senior dogs get along this disease.
The unfortunate truth is there are no ways to cure this cancer. Your dog may undergo surgery and live some bonus life but, in the end, it will suffer and died by excruciating pain out of it. On the other hand, what vet can do is to do some treatment in the primary stage for that, cancer won’t spread out.
What are the Symptoms of Hemangiosarcoma?
Many of us fail to understand the sings dog dying hemangiosarcoma because they are the common ailment of any dog. You won’t surprise to see your dog vomiting or get to see the disease like diarrhoea. Also, to lose some weight or appetite are a pretty common phenomenon.
But they are the major sign of cancer and if you won’t able to detect the symptoms and get to know whether they are related to cancer, then your dog will have a serious condition.

The second stage and worse hemangiosarcoma dog symptoms would be difficulty in breathing, external or internal bleeding, and reclusive behaviour. The sad part is the symptoms will be getting worse from time to time and finally, there would have no alternative without euthanization.
Early Stages Signs
In the early stage the signs seem indolent and then break out with the following symptoms:
- loss of appetite
- weight loss
- exercise intolerance
- vomiting/diarrhoea
- pale gums
- lethargy
- Distended abdomen
- Respiratory rate increases dramatically
Middle Stages
In the second or middle stage the signs of the first stage will remain and there would be some other signs come to add with it. Those signs are shown in the following;
- persistent early stages
- difficulty in breathing
- panting, gasping for breath
- Black or tarry stool
- sudden collapse
- distended abdomen
- reclusive behaviour
- dull mentation
Crisis Stage-This would be the final call to take Veterinary assistance
In this period, you will see your dog will feel acute pain from the internal bleeding with the following worst signs:
- The prolonged seizures will come all on a sudden
- Uncontrollable vomiting & diarrhoea
- The sudden collapse of sensitivity
- Profuse bleeding — internal or external
- Crying/whining from pain*
Why should you choose the process?
If you are going to euthanize the dog don’t be sad. Because it is the best way to remove the pain of your dog for good. Unless, the journey of its death seems painful, and as you love him so you don’t want him to die feeling the worst pain.
In the last stage of the cure, you need to sacrifice your dog making the decision that you are going to kill him. Well, it sounds harsh and inhuman that you are going to kill your dog. The truth is you will kill the pain, not the dog.
But how?
Well, the euthanizing process is to make the feelings of your dog numb so it won’t feel anything. Hence, it will die in a cold way, just feeling nothing at all. So far, this is the best way to die like a dog indeed.
How to diagnosis Hemangiosarcoma (HSA)?
The pre-stage prognosis of HSA is a difficult task to do. Very few owners get to know that their dog’s symptoms relate to this disease. Normally, the major symptom lies in the skin without internal involvement. The sign will be visible or easy to understand when internal bleeding gets started. Unfortunately, that period is the last stage of the overall lifespan of cancer spreading.
However, on that stage, you may only be carried by tumour surgery which only saves your dog for 1-4 months. The disease will continue to rapidly form in spleen, skin, or even Hemangiosarcoma in dog’s legs. The Dog spleen tumour rupture signs only encounter when internal bleeding get started. Therefore, the overall prognosis is quite difficult to understand by ourselves.

So, when the final call will come the Chemotherapy or surgery won’t work out effectively and the metastasizing process will continue till death of it. Cancer may occur in one spot that causes internal bleeding in a later stage afterward to become even more severe by spreading out different spots. Meanwhile, the bleeding won’t spot therefore, the dog will feel extreme pain where no pain killer even works out as well.
Therefore, there would be no alternative without choosing the Euthanization process, and you must come to know when to euthanize your dog with Hemangiosarcoma.
When to Euthanize A Dog with Hemangiosarcoma?
Obviously, in the last stage of cancer, you will need to choose the death process. For that, the Doc will prescribe to do so. Normally the dog undergoes some symptoms in the first stage, those are bearable and the days pass on the symptoms turn out unbearable to them. In the final stage, you won’t see your dog feel horribly bad hence that time you need to make a decision.
However, if you still get to see your dog is eating, playing, and living his/her life in a comfortable way then there is no need to make the decision right now.
This is one of the most controversial issues so far, we know and some people protest against the process when it came first. Later on, they come to know this is all good to go. On the other hand, euthanasia is not due to bear expensive medical treatment or you are not able to take care of your dog rather it is a decision when your vet suggests you the time is now over for treatment.
CFMV has shown a guideline to follow the practices of animal euthanasia. That guideline directs when to make such a decision. The whole guideline shows the path to the vet and the owner a proper way and by following so, the owner may draw a conclusion of its life.
FAQs
Should I euthanize my dog with hemangiosarcoma?
In the last stage, neither surgery nor chemotherapy works out at all. The internal bleeding even getting worse as the cancer cells continue to metastasize. If you encounter the HSA in the beginning then you may only expand the dog’s lifespan up to 8 months. But in the end, you should go with the euthanization process with Hemangiosarcoma.
Is hemangiosarcoma in dogs painful?
When you can’t find any signs then you won’t see your dog’s painful hurdles. Most of the time of its overall lifespan it remains indolent. But when things are getting worse after day to day spreading, then the signs are coming out. In the last days or the worst days of this HSA, the dog undergoes a very excruciating pain.
How long can a dog live with hemangiosarcoma without surgery?
It depends on the severity of the tumour. If internal bleeding begins then it seems high time to go for surgery or euthanize the dog. However, in early-stage when primary signs only come to visible, you may keep your dog without surgery up to 6 months. If you encounter the signs then you may visit the vet and get to know how to take care of it.
How aggressive is hemangiosarcoma in dogs?
Pretty aggressive, indeed! And, why not as it has no cure even though the dog undergoes the surgery. Almost every dog will either suffer from pain and die eventually, or you should choose the euthanization process. The severity is so extreme therefore, the euthanizing process has been endorsed by the Vets. The extreme level of aggressiveness begins while the internal bleeding from the tumour gets started.
Final Words
So far you are going to make the most difficult decision for your dog while euthanizing. But believe it or not, there would be no choice left for you and who wants to see his dog is dying by extreme pain? Therefore, we explain when to euthanize and how the severity of Hemangiosarcoma. Hopefully, after reading the whole article this will make sense to you now.