Chemo for dogs

[Bearpaws64]

My little staff has recently been diagnosed with Lymphoma. She is nine and half years old. Sadly, almost immediately after the first test results came back she stopped eating, so the vet put her on steroids. Because of Christmas the second set of results were delayed, but I was told on Friday she had B cell lymphoma and the treatment was something called CHOP.
CHOP involves 24 weekly vet visits with intravenous chemo treatment. My little dog hates going to the vet, she gets really stressed and shakes.
Because she is already on steroids the treatment may be less effective.
She is not herself on the steroids, excessive drinking, lot's of peeing ( I'm getting up 2-3 times a night to let her out) Eating a lot, on walks she snatches up anything she considers food, dead stuff, poo, she has never behaved like this before. She can't settle and keeps staring at me.
I have to decide whether or not to put her through the chemo, or remain on the steroids. The vet says she could go into remission after chemo for 2-6 months, with steroids it's 6 weeks.
I'm in bits. I know she will suffer with all the vet visits, needles etc, and it's not certain she will achieve complete remission. I want to do whats best for her. Any advice or experience to offer?

There is no right or wrong answer in this situation.

You know your dog the best.

For me I know my dog would suffer hugely mentally with this so no I would not put him through it. I also know people who decided to try chemo but ultimately they ended up having to make the PTS decision anyway.

My old vet used to try and discourage people from chemo for their animals in the majority of cases. He said it was just not right for them most of the time. It is distressing for animal and owner.

I personally wouldn't do it, but you know your dog the best and how they would cope.

So sorry you are going through this.

We did, many years ago, so sure the treatment must be more advanced now. Sadly it didn’t give us extra time, our dog would have 3/4 good days a week. Lots more info available now though to help you decide.

I think there probably is a right answer here and that is it's time to put your dog to sleep.

Either treatment option is going to cause her considerable distress and (if I've understood your post properly) neither is likely to prolong her life by much.

I know how awful this is for you and have had to make similarly agonising choices in the past. Vets lay out all the options for you but it doesn't mean that they're all appropriate. Before I was in this situation myself I always thought vets would guide me towards the right decision. But they don't, they just give you the options. I was offered chemo for a much loved elderly family dog who had also developed spine problems and Cushings. She was also terrified of the vet. I had to raise the pts option myself (which felt like the supreme betrayal) at which point the vet looked visibly relieved and said he thought that was the right thing to do.

It's such an awful situation and you have my full sympathy

Personally I wouldn’t do it.

A dog who hates the vet anyway, is going to get more distressed going especially when chemo makes them feel poorly.

I would let them live as comfortable as possible and pts when needed.

The thing with chemo is that it’s pretty awful for anyone (animal or person). But with people there is an understanding that the pain is potentially worth it in the longer term, eg my mum had chemo in 2014, which enabled her to continue living and see major life events for me and my sister. A dog has no such understanding and as such I wouldn’t consider it for a pet. I’m sorry though, losing a pet is always hard.

I'm going through this with my dog at the moment. It's slightly different because he's 13 so we decided right at the start that we wouldn't do chemo. We don't know what type of lymphoma he has but it has spread to his spleen already, he's been on steroids for 5 weeks now and he's gained a kilo back in weight and his condition has improved.

We don't know how long he's got but as long as he's eating and still wanting to go for a walk we'll keep him on the steroids. I know it's not a long term thing, the lymphoma will spread and when it does we'll do what we have to 🥲.

It's horrible and I feel for you.

I was a veterinary nurse for many years and saw loads of pets through chemo, the side effects aren't like that in humans so no sickness, hair loss etc and they tend to cope exceptionally well with it. If it was my pet I'd definitely do it. However mine are scared at the vets so that is your real issue. If the dog was terrified then I may think twice. It's a hard decision. Best of luck!

My darling dog was very ill this time last year and on steroids, chemo pills, appetite stimulants and goodness knows what else. She died in April, we had her PTS after she lost interest in walks & biscuits. I think the potential extra months won’t be worth having as your dog won’t be well, she’ll just be less ill & very stressed.

You know your dog best, if it was my beloved boy I don't think I'd do it but it really would depend on the potential outcome. Mine is diabetic and the first thing I asked the vet was am I being cruel putting him through being injected twice a day etc he said I wasn't and so 2 years on he's still here and doing OK. But the minute he looks like he's unhappy, is suffering or just had enough I will stop. He's terribly thin now and I'm worried we are nearing the end but he's very happy still. There are tests that can be done regularly by myself and the vet to check his blood sugars etc but I know he will be incredibly distressed (the vet struggles to just take bloods from him) so I don't do it. I decided I would rather my dog has a short Happy life then a long miserable one.

I'm grateful for all the replies. I have to decide by Tuesday, but I think I'm going to keep her on the steroids until it becomes obvious it's time to let her go.

Meanwhile I'll spoil her rotten and give her loads of love.

We've dropped the steroid dose down so my boy is not drinking and weeing so excessively now, my vet suggested the initial dosage and then when to reduce it. You could ask your vet about that on Tuesday

Yes, I will, it's crazy how much she's peeing. Thanks

Just because a treatment is available doesn’t mean you should put your dog through it. Very sadly, with her diagnosis the outcome is going to be the sane - it’s just a question of when not if. For me, if it meant that the last few weeks/months of her life were filled with stressful vet visits, unpleasant side effects and the debilitating cancer symptoms then I couldn’t do it. She won’t know you’re giving her ‘extra’ time - she’ll just know she’s feeling increasingly unwell. If she were mine, I would spoil her rotten for a few days and then ask the vet to put her to sleep - preferably at home so she didn’t have one final stressful vet visit. It is such a horrible decision to have to make - I really feel for you.

I would never put any animal on chemo. Just because we can doesn't mean we should. I had a lymphoma scare a few years ago with my cat. And decided against chemo. (It turned out not to be that anyway)