Dogs and Chemo ? Tell me about your experiences

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maisiemoo

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My sister's 11 year old sheltie bitch was diagnosed with Mamary cancer just before xmas , has had 2 lumps removed the 2nd was last week and vet phoned yesterday to explain they had taken away a lymph node and the cancer has spread , the little dog a present is fine in herself and still enjoying life , the vet gave my sister 3 options to consider .
Option 1 .. leave her alone and pts when the she becomes poorly .
option 2 .. chemo at her local vet , will only maybe buy abit more time as bitch is'nt curable .
option 3.. treatment at AHT for radiotheraphy , AHT is 3 hours drive and the dog will need to stay a while , not insured so going to cost thousands , the money would'nt be an issue if she were younger and a full recovery would be the outcome , she is a sweet little dog and shelties don't cope well away from home so would be very stressed .
The way of thinking at the moment is option 1 , be interesting to hear other's stories even though we know every case is unique .
 
I would go for option number 1 . I would not send an 11 year old dog 3 hours away for chemo when it would involve a hugh amount of stress and may not be curative.
I would consider number 2 depending on the tumour type and how ok the dog is with being handled and injected/having blood taken regularly by vets...a very chilled out lady it might be an option. In a dog that does not enjoy being in the vets I would not put them through it.

Any idea on what type of mammary cancer it is? different cancer cell types have different prognosis' and chemo treatments....

In my personal opinion Lymphoma is about the only cancer I would put my own dog through chemo for as it has the most potential for life extension/remission.In many cases putting an older dog through chemo for the sake of a few extra weeks/short months is not (again in my personal opinion) always in the best interest of the dog, though those few weeks can mean a lot to the owner.

On the other hand it is worth nothing however is that side effects of chemo in dogs is a much much lower than in humans so it is not as hard on the dogs than it sounds! So that is less of a concern. The university I studied at had a lot of chemo patients and the vast majority did not suffer from side effects and tolerated the chemo administration etc very well. Many were long term patients and greeted everyone with the same joy and bounciness every week :)

Good luck with your lady whatever way it goes. Enjoy your time with her regardless of which route ye go down.
 
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Without question, it would be option 1. Not just from the financial viewpoint, but from the dog's. At the age of 11 years, I wouldn't subject the poor little thing to any more distress, when the outcome is inevitable.

Difficult days and difficult decisions. Whatever the choice, I wish you well.

Alec.
 
Thankyou for your replies, not sure what type of cancer exactly , my sister will know more , we have lost dogs before due to various cancers and always just enjoyed our time with them while they were happy and pain free , had them pts at home where they are most content and reassured , really doubt my sis will opt for treatments , she phoned me last night for advice and we both agreed option 1 , i know vets are only doing their job but kinda wish they had'nt dangled the carrot of treatment so to speak .
 
Our beautiful Daisy doberman has possibly got cancer (we are going back to vets next week for more tests).

She is 9 years old and we are adamant she will not be having any chemo or anything invasive.

She is still very bright and happy, eating well etc so we have said she will have painkillers if needed at a later stage (the potential cancer has caused some changes to her joint in her front leg) and when the time comes she will be PTS before she suffers even a little bit.
 
I would go with option 1 as its not curative, i'd go with quality not quantity. Am in the same position with my woofer (different cancer but same problem) I opted out of chemo. xxxxx
 
I have just gone through radiotherapy with my 11yr old dog at Cambridge vet school. She had 5 treatments, one a week. We arrived, she was sedated so she didnt stress, had a light GA, radiotherapy took about 10 mins, she woke up about 20 mins later, walked to the car, everything done and on our way home in 2 hours or less. She was fine the next day. It was a 2hr 15 min journey each way for me.

I know it all depends what the vet recommends as far as therapy is concerned and I had been told by my own vet that it would be 3 treatments a week for 4 weeks, which I was not prepared to put her through and only went to the initial consultation to see what other options there . It is possible it will give her another 6-12 months of a good quality of life, but only time will tell on that ( she has a brain tumour). So I would say talk to the specialists at least. My girlie is a very spritley 11 yr old, with nothing else wrong with her before this. Had she been arthritic etc or if I knew the cancer had spread I would not have done it.
 
Another vote for option one.
My Borzoi has cancer and is in the same sort of stage. No cure but maybe chemo will give her a bit longer... IMO no contest as the chemo will not enhance her quality of life.
 
Some very sad stories on here, I agree with the other posters about not going for the treatment, I would spoil my dog rotten and have them pts at home when the time was right.
 
we put our 9 year old springer through radiotherapy for cancerous melanomas last year. She coped amazingly. Had a small amount of hair loss at the site, was a little off colour for the duration but nothing major. Vets were amazed with her and she is now in remission.

I know its not chemo exactly but a similar process.
 
My friend's dog had chemo at Liverpool, he coped very well with the treatment and lived another 2 years when untreated his life expectancy was a couple of months. She was glad she did it, but hindsight does give you 20/20 vision.

Do what you think is best for your dog.
 
Percy was 9 when he was diagnosed with cancer - he'd been losing weight, and Id tried every kind of food to make him put it on before I took him to the vets, they rang me and said the blood results had come back and while they could operate to see what was going on inside him, the blood results were bad enough to be conclusive on their own. I was given three options for him -
1) do nothing, prognosis of 0 - 3 months.
2) give him steroids, he will feel better in himself and have a better appetite, but at most will only have 6 months
or
3) chemo. Max of 9 months.

I went with option 2, but it was 2 weeks before he took a bad turn and I had to have him put down. The two weeks were full of all his favourite things (as far as he could cope with) and I really hope that I made the right decision. I couldnt have put him through Chemo - it wasnt going to change the final result and I dont like the thought of it at all. When the vet offered it, I said "no, we cant do that" and he said he was very glad Id said that, because he didnt think it was right either, but he had to offer it because it is one of the options.

Very sad - but Id do this again, give the best time possible for as long as they have left.

huge hug x x
 
Mammary carcinoma - option one. You could have her spayed if she isnt already and that would reduce the rate of growth of some mammary carcinomas (due to removal of hormone influence) Did they xray her chest - cos if its already spread to the lungs then there is no point dong anything other than pampering.
 
fatpony said:
Mammary carcinoma - option one. You could have her spayed if she isnt already and that would reduce the rate of growth of some mammary carcinomas (due to removal of hormone influence) Did they xray her chest - cos if its already spread to the lungs then there is no point dong anything other than pampering.
Click to expand...

Lungs are clear and she has been spayed .
 
Some interesting comments on here. I'm looking after a friends dog at the moment while they are on holiday. He's a six year old munsterlander and has an uncurable tumour, it's attached to his nervous system. At present he's on chemotherapy, but this is in tablet form and I've been administering them at home.
I'd have to say he's very happy in himself at present with no visible side effects. So I wouldn't completely dismiss the option for treatment though accept that the dogs quality of life is paramount.
 
Option 1. Watched my family's beautiful giant schnauzer go through 18 thousand pounds worth of various ways of ridding him of cancer over 4 years. I hated it and begged them to let him go. At the times he was absolutely fine, opposite at others. His cancer was aggressive and in an awkward position.

Do what is best for the dog. Hugs xxx
 
My dog died two years ago from mammary cancer. We went with option one (took the tumors out and treated symptomatically) and although vet only gave her about 6 months to live, we were actually able to keep her with us for about 18 months - and up to her last day, she kept coming to the gate to greet me everyday when I came home. She was a brave girl.

Back then we also considered chemotherapy, but I had seen a dog go through it a couple of years back and back then I promised myself I would never put any of my animals through it. Its so hard on them, you can see the pain in their eyes. I guess if I were a dog I would rather have a few nice months of eating well, going to the beach and enjoying life instead of constantly feeling sick and not understanding why.

I'm so sorry for your girl, and I know you'll do the right thing for her.
 
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