Any experience with dogs, lymphoma and chemotherapy?

My brother's dog Jessie (a girl), a lab/Shepherd mix around 10 years old, has lymphoma. The choices the vet has presented him are a) do nothing, and she'll go downhill swiftly in about a month; b) steroid therapy and she'll have about 3 months; or chemotherapy and she'll have about a year. The question is what her quality of life would be for that year. At the moment, she's throwing up most of her food, and has lost weight rapidly, from about 80 lbs to 66. What he doesn't know is whether steroids or possibly some operation would let her digest her food better, since clearly she's starving now. She's still active and rambunctious, but tires quickly. Apparently, starting on the steroids would compromise the effectiveness of chemotherapy if he changed his mind later, so he needs to make a decision. He sees the vet Wednesday. Money isn't a problem. Any thoughts?

Dogs are better off than we are, because a loving owner can take that action.

1. First dog was an 11 yr old Doberman who weighed 80 lbs. We did the steroids and that actually DID extend his life for the three months. And he had a lovely, easy quality of life. Sure, he was tired and not his usual self but he went on trail rides as usual, ate his food like a fiend, played with the cats and our 2 yr old daughter.... in other words, a great quality of life. The day he "told" me was "his day to go", was when I woke up and found him beside my bed, drooling, in serious pain, staring at me with such anquish, it was unmistakable. I will say though that the 3 months we had were incredible. So much love, joy, happiness.... 3 months is a lot of time to say goodbye.

2. Second dog was a mutt, some kind of sheepdog/lab mix. DX of lymphoma at 12 yrs old, weighed 45 lbs soaking wet. I was crazy about this dog. We did everything! Chemo, radiation, drugs, steroids - you name it, money was not an object. We spent it all. His quality of life was pretty bad but I was determined to do it "differently" this time - give him every chance. Joe lasted 6 months and I will never inflict chemo on a dog again. I should have listened to my instincts and just gone with the steroid option, leaving him to have those last couple months without the chemo toxins that are so nauseating. 3 vs 6 months, or a year....

Dogs understand, way more than we do (in fact most creatures imho) that death is a part of life. I believe they value "life" and so in my experience caretaking thousands of dogs, cats, horses... choose a great quality of life for those last few days/months. Don't inflict more suffering so YOU can gain another 4 weeks with your beloved pet. In the scheme of things, extending their life through torture isn't productive or happy. Minimize pain, minimize the symptoms and play with them, love them, hold them and then... finally let them go with dignity.

We also chose steroids and she lived through the spring, passing away right before our daughter's birthday. She was just past 10 years and it didn't seem like chemo offered the tradeoff we thought was best for Sunny. When she let us know that she was ready, she'd stopped eating and then drinking. We had made an appt. to take her to the vet to have her put to sleep but she didn't make it. It didn't seem like she was in pain but she probably was. The best you can do for this age, in my opinion, is to just make them comfortable with what you're comfortable doing but don't get your hopes up.

:hug:

Hoping a vet can offer suggestions for how to improve this. :hug: back

I'm just sorry that your brother is faced with this. Best wishes to him, and to Jessie, of course.

and i opted for chemo -- mostly cause i was going through it too at that time.

anyway -- it was five days of drip for him at the vets -- and other than him being pissy at the end of the day -- it went great.

and he lasted another 4 years -- so this big ol' 80 lb mutsky got another 4 years of good living.

But how advanced was the cancer when it was discovered?

he had it removed and after a little wound healing went right in for chemo.

we knew that some day the cancer would reappear some where -- but his drs were good and the chemo did better than anticipated.

now here is the nicest part of the story -- dogs don't get sick like we do from chemo.
i'm not saying they're a 100% -- but sport still ate just fine, went for his walks, a fooled around in his back yard with out incident.

Chemo is very expensive. My sweetie (gone since '99 - how bizarre) enjoyed a good quality of life for an extra few months thanks to steroids. That's the way to go. All the best.

and all condolences for yours.

The steroids are much less shocking to a dog's system and should improve quality of life for the short term; they gave us nearly 6 extra months with Yogi. Chemo is an unknown from dog to dog and if Jessie has a hard time tolerating it, the results might be worse than the 'cure'.

Best of luck with Jessie and her health.

When I was growing up, we had a rescued mutt named Blackie. He was us kids' constant companion growing up in the country. In his later years, when he was about 10, he developed a sort of skin cancer (as I understand it -- I was in college by then), and thanks to skin grafts, very good treatment and lots of TLC, he was about to live happily (and vermin-chasingly, in the country) another four or five years.

But my parents got two or three vets' opinions before they settled on a course of treatment for Blackie. I'd suggest your brother do the same for Jessie.

Love, comfort and blessings to you, your brother, and Jessie. :hug: :hug:

:hug: back

I wouldn't trade that time for the world. His quality of life was fine and he was happy and non-painful. He had no problems eating nor getting around. Not cheap, but excellent value for money. Good luck to your brother and Jessie.