Canine lymphoma?

[Cinnamontoast]

My brother's rescue lab has been diagnosed after his lymph glands were seen to be very swollen. I think he's about 6 or 7. The vet has mentioned chemo-cortisone tablets. Has anyone experienced this treatment with their dog and if so, how successful was it?

 

[dressagedreamer]

I had a terrier x that had this disease the outcome was not good. I have had dogs since with various cancers, animals do not react like humans to therapies to cancers. You must be brave and strong and take the advice of the experts that you can trust to have the welfare of your dog in mind.

Sorry I cannot paint a rosy picture for you

Good luck

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I feel desperately sorry for him: there are lumps all over and he 'won't be an old dog'. My SIL works for Lukaemia Research Australia, so she knows exactly what's going on. Poor, poor dog.

 

[Oenoke]

I work at a vets and have seen 3 dogs with lymphoma in the last couple of years, 1 had all skin lessions and this 1 couldn't be treated and was pts, but the other 2 have been treated with steroid and antihistimine tablets and intra-venous chemo treatments, to begin with weekly, 1 of these dogs is undergoing treatment now, the other is doing well after completing the chemo.

 

[Spook]

A friends dog was pts last week due to lymphoma, chemo was discussed but he was so ill so quickly and in pain, his legs became very swollen for some reason also extremely lethargic despite steroids. She elected to have him pts once there was a definite diagnosis.

 

[Murphy88]

Every dog is different, and the prognosis depends a lot on what grade the lymphoma is and what clinical signs the dog is showing. However I have seen a lot of dogs have chemo for various tumours, and lymphoma is the only one I would consider treating, because treatment can be successful and give dogs a much longer lifespan with a good quality of life.

By chemo-cortisone, I would guess the vet means chemotherapy plus steroids (prednisolone). Even if not using chemo for lymphoma, I would generally stick animals on preds because it does provide some palliative treatment without the side effects of chemo, however although it can control the disease a little, it generally doesn't provide the chance of partial remission and a much longer lifespan. There are several different chemo protocols for lymphoma so would depend what the vet in question uses, however generally side effects can be kept to a minimum - unlike in humans, we don't aim for a cure with chemo in animals (although cats can go into complete remission from lymphoma), hence the doses used are less and side effects are reduced, however even with lower chemo levels some dogs do respond very well and can have many months or even years of happy life, with some animals being able to stop chemo for periods with close monitoring with cycles of chemo every so often. It is very difficult to say how your brothers dog will respond, if the lymphoma is low grade (ie only in regional lymph nodes) and he is not showing systemic signs of disease then these are considered good prognostic indicators.