Cancer - Treatment/Successes?

ladyt25

ladyt25

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My parent's dog has just been diagnosed with cancer after having a large lump removed from her neck. We got the news yesterday and, although the senior vet was quite hopeful he'd removed all the cells, the pathologist seems a bit more pessimistic.

My parents are taking her back to the vets Monday to have the stitches out and to discuss it in more depth/find out what, if any, options there are.

I was just wondering if anyone had any stories of any successful treatments in their dogs? I know chemo is essentially just a life-prolonging treatment and not a cure so I guess I was wondering more if people had tried any supplements/diet changes etc to help the dog fight the disease.

She is 9 years old and currently is exhibiting no other problems and is as happy as larry but they are going to test whether her thyroid has been affected as that's where the lump was situated near.

I guess I'm just trying to find ways to help my parents ensure they are doing what they can to help her so any tips/advice would be appreciated :)
 
My little Megan was diagnosed with a brain tumour in January 2013. I thought long and hard about treatment as she hated going to the vets, but after seeing the specialists at Cambridge vet school, we went ahead and she had a course of radiotherapy. They were fab, sedated her as we walked in the door and I could stay with her through the whole process.

The treatment gave her at least an extra 6-8 months, we called it a day on the 24th January 2014. She never had any side effects and was fine the day after the treatment, so I would not hesitate to do it again in the same circumstances.
 
Thanks for your reply and I am really sorry about your dog :( .
Radiotherapy is used when the tumour is still present isn't it? I assume she started to show symptoms that made you come to that this year? It is just awful sort of knowing their time is probably limited but then on the plus side, unlike humans, the dog doesn't know what is wrong (or at least doesn't exhibit the same symptoms). I think it's harder as they lost own older family dog just before Christmas and he was 16, so a great age so 9 seems so young.
 
Yes, she started loosing her sight and that is why I initially went to the vets. The radiotherapy gave her back more sight and it was only towards the end that her sight was really going again. She also started loosing her coordination and was having trouble standing, so the tumour must have been pressing on something else as it grew back. It was the hardest decision to call it a day, but her quality of life was getting very poor.

I would advise seeing a specialist to get a fully informed picture on what treatment can do and what is involved.
 
Yeah, I think after talking to the vets on Monday we will get a better picture. They will take some bloods in a few weeks I think to see how her thyroid is as, prior to having the tumour removed they tested the thyroid and said it was ok. However, they are wondering if that may change now the growth's been removed.

I am just keeping my fingers crossed that it hasn't actually spread and the pathologist is wrong (the eternal optimist inside me!)
 
If he is anywhere near you, Nick Bexfield at Nottingham University Oncology department is fab. He was at Cambridge when we went, but he moved to Nottingham late last year.

I hope you get better news in the next blood results. xxx
 
Well, Notts isn't far so good to know of a contact as our vets aren't specialists so it's always worth a 2nd opinion and advice. Thanks for that!
 
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