Canine Cancer :-(

[Jellykat]

Are there any owners here with experience of Canine Cancer?
I shall try to be coherent, but my brain is addled, so apologies in advance if i am not..

My 9 year Golden Retriever has been off his food for 2 weeks, and getting out of breath a bit, but on Tuesday night he suddenly couldn't get up to do his last wee.
The vet came out, and we thought he may have a blockage as he's a one for chewing things. I immediately took him in for X rays.. we discovered he has a tumor in his Spleen, and it is in the very early stages in his lungs

It has happened so fast, i'm devastated, i thought he'd just got bored of his dog food as he eats everything else.. I am trying to not be sad around him, because i don't want him to pick up on it. He watches me like a hawk, and has always known when i'm ill etc..

I decided to go the Steroid route, and he's eating lots again, although i have to do little and often, as his tummy is squished. We rest a while when he starts getting out of breath on our walks (which i'm now doing for much shorter times and avoiding up hill) and i don't leave him alone for any length of time, as he seems scared..

Does anyone have any advice on what else i can do?
Just needed to write this down, i don't know how i'll cope without him..

I'm sure your vet has explained to you that this is the very worst kind of cancer that dogs can get - I'm sorry. There are dogs who haven't read the textbooks and live much much longer than predicted. This type of tumour is really responsive to any kind of therapy. My only advice would be to enjoy your beloved dog for the time you have.

oh that is so . Sending hugs your way. Your dog sounds like he needs your reassurance more than ever.

I'm really sorry jelly
In terms of what you can do I think it's just lots of love and reassurance which it sounds like you are doing

my 11 year old goldie died in February from liver cancer, her symptoms very similar. I think goldies are prone to cancer, sadly - this was her second bout, first was an aggressive tumour on her side.

As hard as it was, we decided not to go down the treatment route - we gave steroids and antibiotics to make her more comfortable, and tried to coax her to eat, but eventually called time on her suffering. At 11, she was an old lady, and I didnt want her to suffer needlessly.

I miss her terribly, but I absolutely did the right thing by having her PTS when I did.

Thank you all so much for your replies, phew - you've reassured me that my decisions that day were correct..
I really didn't want to go down the Chemo route - feeling that it would just be so horrible for him.

Lizcat Yes, i have a friend with a 12 yr old Goldie with breast cancer, shes had it for 3 years, no meds and no progression since first diagnosis! It's a real 'how long is a piece of string' scenario re. how long do we have together..

hatti I'm so sorry about your dear lady

The steroids and antibiotics have kicked in now, we just went digging in the fields in the sun (he dug for mice etc to no avail, silly boy).. I pray he makes it to raspberry season, he loves eating them in the garden.

Thank you all again for your support x

I used to have a staffie, she was sterilesed so we were told the chances of breast/womb cancer were very low but unfortunetly at the age of 8 she had started to grow lumps that were leaking blood.
At the vets my mum was told it was breast cancer and her chances were slim, it was quite advanced & she was in a lot of pain , so it was decided that she was to be put to rest

So, so sad it is awful when a pet becomes very ill my heart goes out to you op.
I hope your dog stays comfortable long enough for you to have some more time together.

Sorry to hear about your Staffie, pumpkin

Thank you, we've had a lovely day today, and i am getting to grips with taking each day at a time.
Luckily i work from home, so he's never alone for long, and its just me, DS2 (14 and independent), and him here, so i can give him lots of love and attention!

Our old dog does from cancer. They weren't sure where it started but it was in his bones and has spread to his throat. It was when he was throwing up all the time we took him back for a last ditch attempt and found it best not to wake him from his anaesthetic.
Our current dog had her spleen removed the other week. We are praying it's not anywhere else, she does seem to be clear so far.

I'm so sorry for your news. Want to send you some strength as making decisions is going to be hard

X

Oh bronze, yes i would've opted for having his spleen out too, if his lungs had been clear, but there's a few spots in there already. I guess i'll just know when he's had enough, he knows when i'm ill or sad and it worries him, so i have to really really keep it together.

Fingers crossed for your dog, i really really hope she remains clear x

Did you look into chemo? My cat's been having chemo for just over a year...it's not at all like it is for people.

Not treating is of course your choice and I'm not suggesting you should go down the chemo route if you've definitely decided against it - but my cat's done well on it.

I felt chemo was a risk really, if he had it and it didn't work, then it would've meant all of the side effects for nothing - he's a sensitive nervy boy, so i felt mentally it would affect him badly too.. My vet agreed and said he personally wouldn't recommend it for our case, he's a big dog and at 9 is no spring chicken, also being so heavy he would've had to have hefty chemo.

I just couldn't put him through it, but i'm really pleased your cat is doing well!

I thought that about side effects before I spoke to the oncologist, she did go off her food twice for a few days, oh and she seems to feel the cold more, but she always did dislike it, lol. Her fur is a bit paler, but I'm doubting she knows or cares.

It does mean she has to have a blood test every couple of months - but she copes fine with that.

I know some treatments involve intravenous drugs and having to stay in the vets for extended periods, I wouldn't have done that.

It hasn't put it in complete remission so she is still getting slowly iller - but her original prognosis was 3-6 months without treatment and she's still well enough to play with the DC and go outside when she decides it's warm enough.

Her initial dose was given to her to see how she got on and if she'd reacted badly, she wouldn't have got the next dose.

I absolutely don't think you should always treat - if it was my other cat, there's no way I'd be able to give her the tablets and she'd be too stressed for the vets visits, but I'm glad I looked into more because my initial reaction was that chemo for a pet was cruel.

That's interesting - when i read your first post i had a bit of doubt re. my decision, but then i realized my dog was very like your other cat in character.

Yes its good that you questioned and made the choice you did, your cat should have some good sunbathing to look forward to when Summer comes, mine used to love that too. Hope it all continues to go well for lots longer

That's the thing, there's no point giving them treatment if it means their quality of life is rubbish because of it - I hope he stays as well as he is now for a while :)

the decider for us was when our girlie refused food and then refused walks. the vet actually agreed with us that those two things were what defined "quality of life" for a fat but active dog. With no desire to do those fundamental doggie things, we knew she was leaving us.

You will know when its time. Enjoy your boy while he is still well, and let him go when his life becomes a trial.

Thank you both, and yes hatti, i guess that will be my deciding factor too
It's blinking tricky not to let it hang over us atm, especially as hes looking at me and watching me constantly - maybe he's picking up on my tension, thinking I'm a numpty who needs to get a grip now!

Thanks again for your support and advice

We lost our beloved Labrador earlier this year to cancer. It was diagnosed last spring and she underwent surgery and radiotherapy which gave her some precious time but unfortunately didnt cure the tumour. It came back at Christmas, and on the advice of a specialist she underwent further surgery. Sadly she only lived another 4 weeks. I bitterly regret the second bout of surgery as she had all sorts of problems afterwards and the tumour suddenly came back extremely aggressively. Still, as our wise vet told us - if we hadnt gone for the second surgery, we would still have lost her, but we would have forever wondered whether a second operation might have given her a good long time of quality life with us.

Guess what I'm trying to say is that there isnt always a right and wrong thing to do. Its a question of balancing their quality of life against the chance of a cure or long term remission. You've thought about it and come to the decision you have for all the right reasons. Living with the illness is horrible though isnt it, like a ticking timebomb. Its a crushing dread that is with you all the time

The few good days we spent with our precious girl after her second operation are very special to me. Enjoy all the bits you can, go at their pace, their rhythm and just take it a day at a time. Oh and remember what someone said to me on here, they dont actually know what the future holds for them, so he isnt distressed in the way you are. I found that very comforting.

Also, when the time comes, you will just know it has come. Promise.

xx

I have sent you a pm Jellykat about "chemo light". I have posted on here about Porridge, our ederly rescue Staffie, before. We rescued poridge from Many Tears just over a year ago, really because we felt sorry for him, but he has turned out to tbe the nicest, most friendly, best behaved dog we have ever owned - the whole family is totally besotted with him.

I posted on here for advice in February because he was generally out of sorts and I couldn't understand why. A trip to the vets revealed the highest white bllod cell count they had ever come across ( "that dog has no business being alive") and the stark choices of do nothing/ steroids that would buy very limited time/ intrusive and mind bogglingly expensive chemotherapy.

Our lovely vet asked all the other vets about it too, in case they had any ideas and they came up with the plan to offer steroids + oral Leukeran, a chemotherapy drug in tablets. Porridge has a blood test every 2-4 weeks and takes his tablets twice a day and is still enjoying good quality life 3 months later. I can see that he is thinner and hasn't got enough energy for walks but while he begs for fruit, raids the bin and sneaks upstairs and hides under the spare bedroom duvet I'm happy just to have him and that he is happy.

I've been more upset about Porridge than I could possibly have imagined. Jelykat I do hope you have time to do some lovely with with your dog while he is well and make some more happy memories, apart from that I can only say this whole predicament is totally shit.

Have pm-ed you back higgle, Porridge is a great name btw!

Yes, i too am more distressed about this then i would've thought, no matter what horrendous things have happened he's been there to keep me going..You are spot on, this is totally shit!

Thank you Follyfoot, and so sorry to hear about your lab

We certainly are going at my boys' pace, i've spent half the day waiting for him to stop digging holes, and we rest a lot on our bodding about outside.. We are having a lovely time together, and i hope the MNer who said that (your 3rd paragraph) was right.

It's leukeran my cat's on, only they've gone for a pulse dose of two tablets once a fortnight combined witha steroid every 2 days (of course she's a cat and a small one as well, so the dosage is for 4kg, my dog was 32 kg I'm guessing you couldn't do it fortnightly just because of the sheer amount of tablets, lol) blood tests are currently every 12 weeks because we've had so long with everything being fine.

My dog died of cancer about 6 months before the cat was diagnosed, it was inoperable and he was already on medication for arthritis, so it really was just a case of waiting it out...Follyfoot's right, they don't know anything about it, until you get to the day where they do or don't do something that lets you know that it's time. With mine it was when I took him out one day and he didn't want to wander about or sniff things, he just wanted to go to the toilet and go home to bed, for me that was when I could tell he wasn't himself anymore.

What that something is is different for every pet, but until then, they're still enjoying life.

Oh darling :(

We lost our darling dog to cancer, he was a rescue who we'd only had for 3 months. :( But he was so elderly and the cancer was so aggressive that it was kinder to put him down

14 years ago we had our Rhodesian ridgeback pts because of cancer. She had been at the vets previously due to a growth on her gum which made eating painful. At the first visit they said it was an injury due to her love of chewing sticks. I still miss her. You will know when your pet is suffering and not as they were before, and you have to think its the kindest thing you can do.

Yes Squirted, when something has gone and there's a hole in your life because of it, that gap stays forever, you might get used to it but its still there.. no wonder you still miss her

This is such a sad thread, so i will leave it in a positive note.. I had to go out today for 5 hours, i was so worried as he didn't want to go for a pee before i left.. i practically ran home, and there he was, bounding down the stairs tail a wagging to meet me.. i have never been so happy to see him!

Thank you ladies for helping me work it out in my head, so that we can carry on
having a nice time for as long as we can x

My dd was born prematurely and a month to the day we lost our old boy. Dd was still in scbu. I has counselling after to deal with her birth and only cried three weeks in when I admitted the guilt I felt for not being there for ddog in his last days. I still miss him and dd is six this year.

Oh bronze You couldn't be in 2 places at the same time!

I had the same with my old gentleman cat 3 years ago, and i was just cooking bloody sausages! It's definitely not going to happen again, i have daily plans in place and am ensuring we're covered when i leave the house (am fortunate to have a dog loving neighbour)

Will you let me know in the future how your current dog is doing if you remember?