Our dog has cancer

F

Foghorn Leghorn

Recycles dryer sheets
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
58
Location
League City
Our 7 year old rescue, boxer/pit/bird dog mix, was just diagnosed with incurable lymphoma on her spleen. Shes the sweetest dog in the whole world and this is killing us .

We have decided we wont put her through chemotherapy because the vet said typical results are dubious in her experience. We brought her home to love on and spoil and pray for. Shes still really active and has the appetite of a small horse. The vet found the mass during a routine yearly check up

Anybody have experience with homeopathic treatments or other ideas that may give our girl some quality and maybe a bit more time ?

Thank you
 
Aww, I'm sorry, man. That's sad. Dogs are so great. I've lost two of them, and it broke my heart each time.

I don't have any experience with treatments for cancer, so I'm afraid I'm not going to be of help there.

That makes sense, to spare her the rigors of chemotherapy. I imagine chemotherapy can be worse for animals than for humans, because they don't understand what is going on or what the purpose is.

When the time comes for euthansia, just remember you're acting out of love, and that you'll see each other again someday. I've known pet owners who feel guilty about euthanizing their pets, but there's really no warrant for guilt. You're doing it out of love for them, to spare them unnecessary suffering. We should be so kind to people.

I'm sorry to hear about your friend's condition. Enjoy your remaining time together.
 
I don't have any experience with homeopathic treatments but I know what you are going thru.
We are dog lovers and have been fortunate enough that ours have all made it to a reasonable old age for the breed(collie) and lived for about 12 years.
Our last guy survived bladder cancer for a year when we were told he might only make 3 months. We had to stop the hard core medicine because it caused a GI bleed that nearly killed him form blood loss.


I have a friend who had a lot of success by giving his Lab(who had cancer) CBD oil for the last year of its life which he says made a huge difference.
Literally form laying on its death bed to progress to hiking thru the woods with him for 1-2 miles daily.
I don't know if he used the CBD with the actual THC ingredient in it or not.
You might research the use of CBD?
 
Sorry to hear...

I have no remedies, but it's worth a try to alleviate pain with something homeopathic.

We had to put down a dog over 30 years ago. It left a big impression on us. We take care of daughter's dog now and then, and I am looking forward to the inevitable.

You'll know when the right time comes to make your decision.
 
I'm sorry to hear about your dog.

I don't directly have experience with homeopathic treatment for cancer but I have a new vet who does homeopathic medicine for animals. IIRC the person who recommended him to us said she met him when her poodle had cancer. I swear she said her dog had another 2 years of quality life because of what he did for her dog. Apologies for not remembering more of our conversation.

I don't know how to find a homeopathic provider but they're out there.. hopeful you can find one that can help.
.
 
Last edited:
finnski1 said:
I don't have any experience with homeopathic treatments but I know what you are going thru.
We are dog lovers and have been fortunate enough that ours have all made it to a reasonable old age for the breed(collie) and lived for about 12 years.
Our last guy survived bladder cancer for a year when we were told he might only make 3 months. We had to stop the hard core medicine because it caused a GI bleed that nearly killed him form blood loss.


I have a friend who had a lot of success by giving his Lab(who had cancer) CBD oil for the last year of its life which he says made a huge difference.
Literally form laying on its death bed to progress to hiking thru the woods with him for 1-2 miles daily.
I don't know if he used the CBD with the actual THC ingredient in it or not.
You might research the use of CBD?
Click to expand...
Dogs cannot have THC! If you give them CBD make sure its made from hemp! Ask a vet or health food place and tell them hemp only.
 
MRG said:
Dogs cannot have THC! If you give them CBD make sure its made from hemp! Ask a vet or health food place and tell them hemp only.
Click to expand...


I believe you may be right. I did see that very accurate dosing may be ok but perhaps it is too critical to do correctly.
I didn't actually recommend THC but only to research the use of CBD and see if it was with or without THC.
 
Our 10 year old dog has cancer and is on 1ea benadryl per night per the Vet. It helps to counter the histamines that the cancer produces.
 
I am so very sorry. I also have had a dog with lymphoma, a yorkshire terrier. We also chose not to do chemo.

As the disease progressed we realized he was having difficulty defecating, and the vet said that tumors were probably pressing on his bowel making them so narrow he couldn't empty them. It was at that point we stayed with him while the vet put him to sleep. And we cried......and cried.

I mention this as just something to watch for. Our animal friends trust us to do what is right for them, even when it is so hard for us.
 
Our 7 yo mixed had Lymphoma, our vet said maybe 3 good months. We started him on the, Budwig Diet is an unproven anticancer treatment developed by the German biochemist Dr. Johanna Budwig in the 1950s. The diet consists of multiple daily servings of flaxseed oil and cottage cheese, as well as vegetables, fruits and juices. Processed foods, meats, most dairy products and sugar are prohibited

It helped give our dog another fairly good 9 months.
 
I am very sorry to hear about the cancer diagnosis for your buddy, we know the feeling all too well. We've had 4 Shelties and 2 died of cancer although that advanced ages thankfully. Enjoy your remaining time together and make her as comfortable as possible, that's all you can probably do.
 
I'm so sorry. Dogs are good for the soul.

When the time comes you might look for a vet that can come to your home. I did that for our Golden a bit more than a year ago. It was beautiful & peaceful. We sat outside in the sun & talked & remembered stuff. Then came inside when the vet came. Very nice experience

Good luck
 
Scrapr said:
I'm so sorry. Dogs are good for the soul.

When the time comes you might look for a vet that can come to your home. I did that for our Golden a bit more than a year ago. It was beautiful & peaceful. We sat outside in the sun & talked & remembered stuff. Then came inside when the vet came. Very nice experience

Good luck
Click to expand...


That's a good idea. A year ago we went in to the vets to do this but it would have been much nicer at home in the yard or on his favorite bed.
 
Retired vet here. Your veterinarian is certainly giving you his/her best advice, but with a diagnosis like this, a second opinion from an cancer specialist is a good idea. Check out this website:
Veterinary Cancer Society | VCS
 
Scrapr said:
I'm so sorry. Dogs are good for the soul.

When the time comes you might look for a vet that can come to your home. I did that for our Golden a bit more than a year ago. It was beautiful & peaceful. We sat outside in the sun & talked & remembered stuff. Then came inside when the vet came. Very nice experience

Good luck
Click to expand...

Yes, a home visit from the vet is much less stressful for the dog, IMO, as well as the people. There are veterinarians who specialize in this service, and the ones I've dealt with are wonderful.

We lost an Aussie to lymphoma about five years ago. It was undetected until she stopped eating. At that point she went downhill quickly.

As a fellow dog lover I feel your pain, FL.
 
Been there done that with several of our dogs. We had a golden retreiver with (if my memory is right) the same thing as your dog. A cancerous tumor on his spleen. The tumor caused him to leak blood internally, and the dog went from being seemingly healthy and good shape one day to having to make the fateful decision to put him down 24 hours later. The hard part on out golden is the tumor is hard to find until it is beyond surgery, plus it likely had spread to other small tumors on other organs by the time it was detected. Another shepherd mix had heart tumor, with the same result of internal bleeding and forced to make quick fateful decision. It just sucks to make those decisions. I'm sad now just writing this.

So Foghorn, treasure the days with your dog. Give her treats and spend time together. Just watch for if she seems listless, and especially if her gums turn pale or white - that is key indicator of poor blood flow and symptom of the internal bleeding.

I don't have any homeopathic advice, we never had the luxury of time to consider any options like that.
 
Cancer treatment is the one thing I won’t do for our dogs. It is super expensive and the dog dies regardless. I have helped many to go to the Rainbow Bridge and it’s always heartbreaking. We did Maltese old dog rescue. The youngest dog I lost was 3 due to brain inflammation. So sorry.
 
I certainly sympathize with your plight. I don't care to count the number of furry critters that have blessed my life and have been called across the rainbow bridge. What I have figured out is... crossing a little early is much better than too late. I won't tell the stories because, well it's too painful.

The last two we had to euthanize, we made sure it was one of the best days of their lives before passing them on. They were given treats (GREAT TREATS) and taken places that they had loved in life (such as the lake, dog park, etc.) It was very hard to do, and knowing that the end was near didn't make it any easier, but there was no doubt in their minds that they were very loved and the last day on the earth was one for the ages.

I will never again wait too long where we would not be able to have one last "celebration of a great life" where they can appreciate it just so we can have them around a few extra days. They have no real concept of time nor mortality (thank goodness) and the suffering when they pass is ours alone...they are at peace.

My thoughts are with you and hope the last days with your companion is full of joy and love.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
I certainly sympathize with your plight. I don't care to count the number of furry critters that have blessed my life and have been called across the rainbow bridge. What I have figured out is... crossing a little early is much better than too late. I won't tell the stories because, well it's too painful.

The last two we had to euthanize, we made sure it was one of the best days of their lives before passing them on. They were given treats (GREAT TREATS) and taken places that they had loved in life (such as the lake, dog park, etc.) It was very hard to do, and knowing that the end was near didn't make it any easier, but there was no doubt in their minds that they were very loved and the last day on the earth was one for the ages.

I will never again wait too long where we would not be able to have one last "celebration of a great life" where they can appreciate it just so we can have them around a few extra days. They have no real concept of time nor mortality (thank goodness) and the suffering when they pass is ours alone...they are at peace.

My thoughts are with you and hope the last days with your companion is full of joy and love.
Click to expand...



We did something similar five years ago this month with our beagle. Took him to his favorite trail, spoiled him with steak and treats. Took a ton of pictures. The entire day was about him.
About two days later he was letting us know it was time and everything would be okay. He always loved the staff at the vet, so it was not upsetting to him to go there. They were crying as much as we were. We spread his ashes among his favorite spots in our back yard. We have a little statue of a beagle overlooking our yard as he used to do. Our grandkids never knew him, but they love to hug and pet the statue.
 
Asmo said:
Retired vet here. Your veterinarian is certainly giving you his/her best advice, but with a diagnosis like this, a second opinion from an cancer specialist is a good idea. Check out this website:
Veterinary Cancer Society | VCS
Click to expand...
+1 Definitely try to see an oncological vet to check your options. When our last dog was diagnosed with nasal cancer, that's what we did. That cancer vet outlined the various options available and we opted to try an experimental canine cancer drug that was taken orally and quite affordable. He also received a Chinese herbal medicine on the advice of the vet. Our dog tolerated the treatment well and he ended up having decent quality of life for more than a year well beyond what would have been expected with only palliative care. When he finally deteriorated, it was fairly rapid due to failing kidneys and it was then we had him euthanized. We also feel we contributed to knowledge about the efficacy of this new drug on this particular cancer so perhaps others would be able to avail themselves of it.
 
Foghorn--I am so sorry to hear this. Our fur babies are so important in our lives and to our mental health! Their unconditional love is a soothing balm.
Please take care of yourselves along with tons of treats and love for your pup.
You will know when the time is there to say goodbye.
 
ExFlyBoy5 said:
I certainly sympathize with your plight. I don't care to count the number of furry critters that have blessed my life and have been called across the rainbow bridge. What I have figured out is... crossing a little early is much better than too late. I won't tell the stories because, well it's too painful.

I will never again wait too long where we would not be able to have one last "celebration of a great life" where they can appreciate it just so we can have them around a few extra days. They have no real concept of time nor mortality (thank goodness) and the suffering when they pass is ours alone...they are at peace.

My thoughts are with you and hope the last days with your companion is full of joy and love.
Click to expand...


This is very important. I fear I may have waited a few days too long this last time though my vet actually stated, without any prompting, that it was good to bring him in when we did. He said some people wait too long.
My wife wanted us to bring him in several days before I did. I just couldn't let go of him. We got him at 10 weeks old and he lived to nearly 12 1/2 and was a daily, constant , integral part of our lives.
He went everywhere with us and many of our purchases(cars, home items etc) were always with him foremost in our decisions.We don't regret any of that. Our newest puppy turned out to be the great nephew of the guy we recently lost and looks so much like him it is scary!
 
Dash man said:
We did something similar five years ago this month with our beagle. Took him to his favorite trail, spoiled him with steak and treats. Took a ton of pictures. The entire day was about him.
About two days later he was letting us know it was time and everything would be okay. He always loved the staff at the vet, so it was not upsetting to him to go there. They were crying as much as we were. We spread his ashes among his favorite spots in our back yard. We have a little statue of a beagle overlooking our yard as he used to do. Our grandkids never knew him, but they love to hug and pet the statue.
Click to expand...


:flowers:
 
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