Hiya,
this is not for one of my dogs.
My nanner who is nearly 80 has a springer cross with a field spaniel bitch called Meg who is nearly 10.
Meg is my nanners life to the point she goes home early as she doesnt like leaving meg on her own. She has had her about 6 years.Where she rescued her from someone who treated her badly
Now i really need some advice from people who have been through this.
This is the message I have just got from my mum :-
she is in fact 10 at Christmas, she had agressive cancer in or on her thyroid and the lump has been taken out and she is due to have the stitches out on Tuesday, would you find out from them what they think of chemo for her, they have given her 21 months but she wants to know how dogs are, on chemo and would it be kinder not to put her through it.
She has had dogs all her life, When I was younger she had 3 German shepherds and an Over grown Irish wolfhound in one go!!!! LOL But she has never had to think about this.
If Meg goes she will be absolutly heart broken, but she doesnt want to let her suffer either,
Can anyone give me any facts, experiences, if you would put a dog through it ect ect. She wants to have made a decision by Tuesday. Which ever one it is it will be hard for her.
She has insurance BUT she has to pay out and then the insurance pays her back,. She has already forked out £1000.
Any help which ever way would be much appreciated.
Lea :)

To add aswell.
Nanna has had 3 hip replacements so is not as active as she used to be, ie getting up and downstairs,
And after reading the thread about Dexter and the replys to that thread i think that needs to be taken into consideration.
ALSO, I would like to print out any relevant replya to post to her on friday so she can tell the vet on tuesday her decision. And she would like to know the experiences of other people so she can make this decision if that makes sense.
Lea :)

Sorry, another update.
Her insurance company is Directline. Is there any limits to how much they pay out per year etc.
Sorry for all the questions, just want to help her as much as possible.
Lea

Anyone????
Lea :)

Hi Lea,

I have a breeder friend whose breed is prone to cancer.  She tried chemo on a young dog with leukemia, but swore she would never do it again.  It was too hard on the dog, didn't work and she decided in the end she was doing it for her own benefit, not the dog's.  

I wouldn't even try it personally, based on the experience of others.  

Hi Lea i have a breed that is prone to cancer but until last year never lost a dog through cancer.
my oldest girl had lymph node cancer she had two growths removed, only to have secondaries i toiled over the decision regarding chemo and discussed it at lenght with my vet.
In the end we decided to bring her home enjoy our time together which wasnt long and make her comfortable the poor girl in my eyes was suffering so we eventually had to make the hardest decision to have her PTS.we had 8wks with her from start to finish, it would of been very selfish of me to let her suffer for another day to safe me from the heart ache of loosing her... I made the right decision to set her free and sent her to rainbow bridge...

Hi,

I would advise you to contact CAMVET (Cambridge University Vetinary Hospital) they are the leaders in Europe with new research and trestments in cancer using Radiation and Chemo.

They will take self referals and those from a vet.

They helped my dog with a nasty Mast Cell tumour giving her 6-9 months to live if we did not go full leg amputation.Cambridge agreed to try blasting the tumour using 4 separate fractions of radiation which proved hugely sucessful and she returned to the showring under 9 months.
However the radiation caused nasty burns but with strong pain relief this was well controlled.

They take general calls and will advise you on the phone about any possible treatment that could be carried out and arrange to see one of the specialist vets in Oncology.

If you need there number let me know.

Regards Briony.

Thanks everyone. Going to collate all the answers and let nanner know.
But if anyone else has any more advice/experience could you still please send it.
Many thanks
Lea :)

It's a very difficult step to take, deciding over another beings life and health. Especially since we can't ask our dogs what they want. I work with patients terminally ill in lung-cancer. From what they have told me over the years, and from my experience nursing them, I would not put my dogs through chemotheraphy. The treatment in itself is often difficult to go through, and the side-effects can be very bad. Unfortunately you will often get other healthproblems afterwards, due to the body's resistence being weakened by the chemo. I value quality in life more than quantity, both for myself and for my dogs. Since they can't make their opinion known, I do for them what I would choose for myself. And since we all choose differently in similar circumstances, there can be no right or wrong for your nan. But maybe thinking about what she would want for herself could help? My thoughts go out to her in this difficult time.

Lea, if in doubt always ask the vet what they would do if it was their dog. Ask them to pull no punches and to tell you straight what it involves and what are the odds on it being successful and Meg having a good quality of life and it buying her a reasonable amount of time. Unfortunately, it's going to be really hard on your nanner either way.

I lost a dog to lymph cancer several years ago, but she was 13 and all chemo did was prolong her suffering. Let us know how Meg gets on.

Hi Lea, I am so sorry to hear about Megs. When dexter was first diagnosed with cancer..they only gave him a couple months to live without chemotherapy, so of course we wanted to try anything. Dexter is doing excellent after 2 1/2 months of treatment, and is still the same dog he was before the treatment, happy and full of energy. In my opinion, Megs might be one of the reasons your nanner is still going, and with a loss at her age, it might be very devistating and hard for her to recover from such a loss. Would nanner have any help from family getting megs to and from appointments? Dexter goes to the vet every other week for blood tests or chemo through an IV. Is Nanners memory still good? because she would need to give megs her medication at the same time every day. The only hassle with dexters chemotherapy is that he is on a high dose (60mg/day) of Prednisone which makes him urinate very frequently...we made the mistake of giving dexter the prednisone at 5pm, which starts to kick in at around 9pm and I have to get up 2 or 3 times throughout the night to take him out to pee, and the bed is still wet in the morning. Maybe nanner can ask the vet if she can start the Prednisone in the mornings so megs will be back to regular urinating schedule come bed time. I am in canada, so I am not sure about the price or insurance in england, but whatever nanner decides to do, Im sure it will be the right one. Give nanner a big hug from me, and keep us posted on her decision and megs progress.

PS...Is megs showing any signs of suffering from cancer? Dexter showed no signs of being sick, the only way we knew was because he had a mast cell tumor appear on his leg.

Thanks everyone.
Meg went to have her stitches out and has informed the vet that Meg wont be having the Chemo. Partly thanks to all the information i have given her off here. Both good and bad parts of chemo. So thankyou everyone.
I personally think she is making the right decisions based on everything i have learnt as dont think either of them could cope with it.
All Meg had was a tumour.no symptoms. Now just got to keep our fingers crossed that she will have at least a few months together before Nanner has to make the painful choice of saying goodbye.
Thankyou again everyone.
Lea :(

Just thought I would give you all an update.
Meg is still the same as she always has been.
Still paws nanner while she is talking to anyone on the phone and running around like sh always has done. No signs at all so far asnd thats 10 months later.
So keeping fingers crossed she will carry on for alot longer!!!!
Lea :)

That is good news!

Hadn't  realised at the beginning that this is an update post.  Very pleased to here that she is doing well.

HI
my dog has had chemo, it was not problem at all for her, she was not off her food or sick or anything, she sailed through it like it was nothing. She had one of the most aggressive forms of cancer and the most painful too, she had osteosarcoma (bone cancer), so we had amputation to deal with too, but she sailed through it all and we are now 6 years later and still going strong despite being given a 6 months to a year prediction when we were doing chemo. This is the url to her sight if you want to have a look http://bracken-canine-bone-cancer.piczo.com
justi

Wonderful news about Meg, Lea!! Thanks for updating us. It's such a difficult desicion to make, very pleased it turned out so well for your nan and Meg.
Karen

Nanner is coming up in a month for her surprise 80th party, Loads of reletives are coming up for it as well. So will talk to her properly and ask her whats happening then :)
Thanks again everyone
Lea :)

ANOTHER UPDATE (now why cant you update the title so people realise it is an update ;) )
Well we are over 2 years down the line, and I thought about her yesterday, so thought I would update this just incase people who read it for advice want to know the outcome.
Well over 26 months on from having the Tumour removed she is still fine :) :)
I havnt heard her having any problems at all, and she is still the same as ever :) :)
So looks like not having Chemo was deffinatly the right choice for Nanner and Meg :)
Lea :)

That's great News, Lea :)  Here's hoping Your Nana and Meg have a good while yet to enjoy each other's company ;-)

Ahh that's brilliant news|!

That is wonderful news Lea - really pleased to hear it :)

Meg died in her sleep last night. Will put a post on rainbow bridge when i get home.    Lea

Sorry to hear that Lea.. :-(

Your Nanna made all, the right decisions for her Meg and got to enjoy more time together its so sad. Im so very sorry.
Love to Nanna X
Viv

So sorry to hear that.

RIP Meg x

So sad to hear of your nanna's loss, I am in awe that Meg lived for so long after having her tumour removed, your nanna certainly made the right decision not to go with the chemo. Meg certainly loved a long & happy life, I'm sure she's happy at the bridge now.  I would imagine your Nanna is quite upset by it all, but I hope when she comes to terms with it she remembers the good years she had with Meg.  My heart goes out to your nanna & the rest of your family at this difficult time.

As the others have said...the right choice in not giving Meg the chemo was the right one for her.

So sorry to hear that she has passed over.

Run free Meg.

So sorry for your loss.

Lots of love Lois xx

Im so sorry for your loss xx