Lymphoma in dogs

[billbuster84]

Not a retriever, but my fiancé just got the call back from the vet, that her little dog has lymphoma. Evidently it is pretty far along. Has anyone had any experiences with this? This little dog is much more to her than just a dog. If you guys could say a little something extra for my fiancé, as well as 'Miss Bella' I would greatly appreciate it.

[jwterry3]

Slippery slope...lost a golden to it at 8yrs old as it is prevalent in goldens.

Started with elevated liver enzymes and started to spread....I loved that dog and paid a lot cash in chemo treatments etc that only got us another 7 mths. They out her on steroids and other drugs that masked her condition and made her happy......took her to the beach ...she walked down to the beach itself and laid down...knew it was time.

If I had to do it over ...not sure I would have gone the same route.

[Saltydog235]

Lost my favorite GSP ever to cancer at age 10. Had to put down a 5yo GSP 2 years ago due to lymphangiectasia. I ain't going to lie, the outcome is not good.

[El A Minnow]

My 10 year old black lab died because of it. I found the lumps in his neck and three months later we had to put him to sleep. It spreads fast in dogs from what our vet told us. Cancer sucks- in people and dogs...

[billbuster84]

She's had swelling in her lymph nodes for a while. After we started noticing they weren't going away we took her to the vet. This girl is going to lose her mind. Thanks for the info.

[HuntinCosta]

I worked for internal medicine in Columbia for several years when I was in school. I saw lymphoma all the time, all breeds. I also saw quite a few get treated and do well. It was the most treatable of the issues we saw.

[SOUTHERN WOODS]

I worked for internal medicine in Columbia for several years when I was in school. I saw lymphoma all the time, all breeds. I also saw quite a few get treated and do well. It was the most treatable of the issues we saw.

Might be a stupid ass question but any idea what causes this? Is it genetic or something that can be guarded against by feeding a certain feed with the right amount of protein?

I lost a lab a few years back to this at age 10.

[Zephyr]

Lymphoma is one of the most-amenable-to-chemo cancers in dogs. In other words, IF there is a cancer that is going to cured by chemo, it's lymphoma. If you don't do it, you have absolutely zero chance of curing it or of prolonging life.

A veterinary oncologist will stage it to see how advanced it is and give you more of an idea of prognosis than your general practitioner can.

BTW, dogs take chemo waaay better than humans do.

[baydog]

Dont necessarily know if it was lymphoma, but my old Chessie had a big black growth in her mouth that got big enough to hang out of her mouth, and it spread down her throat.

[jwterry3]

Our situation was a roller coaster......stopped eating got lazy...took her in for blood work...found elevated liver levels..additional tests found lymphoma on her spleen.....they did 3 rounds of chemo and put her on pregnazone while doing chemo.......once she came off the steroid she went downhill with a swiftness......lost a ton of weight and basically slipped away.

Think I spent $4500 to get 7 more months.....looking back on it I might of been selfishly trying to prolong it all the while knowing where we were headed.

[Saltydog235]

Our situation was a roller coaster......stopped eating got lazy...took her in for blood work...found elevated liver levels..additional tests found lymphoma on her spleen.....they did 3 rounds of chemo and put her on pregnazone while doing chemo.......once she came off the steroid she went downhill with a swiftness......lost a ton of weight and basically slipped away.

Think I spent $4500 to get 7 more months.....looking back on it I might of been selfishly trying to prolong it all the while knowing where we were headed.

Yep and I'll never do it again.

[MRoss]

I lost my dog last year at 10 years old to cancer. It sucked.

[WoodieSC]

billbuster, it sounds like Zephyr has the best short term advice for you.

Over the past 13 years, we've lost six Goldens due to one cancer or another. It's just something that we've come to accept is most likely going to happen at some point.

Good luck to 'Miss Bella' and your fiance'. Hope it works out for them.

[billbuster84]

Little "Miss Bella" is at the Oncologist now. Hopefully here shortly we'll have some answers to how far along it is, and what type of treatment, if any, will help.

[billbuster84]

Report from oncologist is that there is no cancer in any of the vitals. The only places they are seeing it is in her lymph nodes. Doc says outlook is great. Started chemo rounds yesterday. Good thing, according to the doc, is that dogs normally have no side effects to it. Swelling in the nodes and redness of skin around them has decreased dramatically after only 24 hours.

[WoodieSC]

That's great to hear. Good luck to her!

[Zephyr]

Good luck!

[El A Minnow]

Nice!!

[billbuster84]

Just to give you guys an idea of what I meant by dramatic in how much change we noticed in the size of the lymph nodes and skin redness from yesterday to today, check this pic out. This is the bottom half of her belly.

[WoodieSC]

And that's after ONE chemo treatment???