Does anyone have any experience of this in dogs with cancer? As some of you know, Talli has a tumour on one of his anal glands. The vet thinks it's almost certainly cancerous although we haven't gone any further investigating it as he has prostate cancer anyway which is untreatable in itself. I  know that the anal gland tumour can release a substance which causes the blood calcium levels to rise abnormally high which then affects the kidneys. One of the symptoms is lack of appetite. Talli's appetite has been a bit iffy for about the last week. It seems to improve somewhat as the day goes on and he is still eating a decent amount, but he is sometimes turning his nose up at things that previously would have been gone in a flash. He is normal for him otherwise, activity level about the same etc. I will speak to the vet Monday. I do wonder whether it would be worth having a blood test to check the calcium levels, or whether we are just fast approaching the end of the road (I am aware that lack of appetite in a dog with cancer is not a good sign and that it may just be him generally declining). He is "well" otherwise. I just wondered whether anyone else has experienced hypercalcemia in their dog (if that IS what this is) and whether it was treatable/controllable..? Obviously we would ideally treat the cause, but this is not possible in Talli's case :-(

Thanks x

Hypercalcaemia in humans with cancer can cause confusion similar to Altzheimers but is reversed with IV medication and flushing the system with 3 litres of IV fluids, they lose their appetite more due to being confused and wary of eating or drinking rather than the raised calcium being the sole cause.

I hope your vet has the answers for you soon.

Thanks for the reply Rhodach. He seems normal in every other way. It's just his appetite that's off.

I wasn't sure if there might just be medication he could take to control the calcium level. Anything involving him having to go in would not be an option given his prognosis, and presumably in his case the calcium level would just rise again.

My bitch Celeste had hypercalemia ( she had adeomacarcinoma ) but I can't say as it affected her much if at all, the vet only discovered it during a routine blood test, she had an excellent appetite right up to the day she passed away very suddenly, but then the cancer specialist commented she'd never come across a dog to be so well with such an aggressive cancer.
Sorry I'm not more help, it was 7 years ago and the old memory ain't what it used to be.

Thanks for the reply Celli.

Talli has had dire rear last night and this morning. I started giving him two new supplements a couple of weeks ago - fish oil capsules to help him poo (these have made him loose in the past but the vet said it was better for him to be a bit this way as they can suffer constipation with the tumour), and Devil's Claw liquid supplement for his arthritis, so I'm now wondering whether one or both of these is not agreeing with him, or perhaps he has just picked something up (although he hasn't been sick at all). He is still quite perky and has been chasing squirrels round the garden this morning but I will have him on rest/starvation today and see where we are tomorrow. I don't know that it would be anything to do with any of his current health problems so hoping it is just a blip. Will stop the fish oil and Devils Claw for now obviously.

Starting to think I should tape my mouth up!

After saying he hadn't been sick, he has just been out and brought 2 big mouthfuls up before heading off up the garden after a pigeon!

My friends dog always had the runs with Devils Claw.

Would he be better snacking than having proper meals ? I know from experience with people, that small and often is better than trying to eat a proper meal.

Yes, I do wonder if the DC hasn't been helping matters. It is quite a high dose for his weight. My mum has never been able to take fish oils as they make her terribly nauseous so I wonder whether they have been making him feel a bit peculiar as well.

He generally has two main meals but I do hold some food back from each and he has that at various points throughout the day. I could reduce the size of his main meals further though. He has a mixture of kibble, tinned food, various raw meats/tripe/organs, cottage cheese, tinned fish and so on, so plenty of variation. I was thinking of switching his kibble from Arden Grange Performance to AG Prestige as it's more nutrient/calorie dense gram for gram. I know there is some debate over grains/cancer but he tends to get the runs on the high protein grain free foods, and really I've just been giving him what he likes and what suits him (within reason obviously!).

Just thought I would update this.

Talli has made a bit of a come back! I don't think the sickness and diarrhea were anything to do with his current problems afterall, although I was getting rather worried as he didn't even seem to able to stomach plain water when the vomiting started on the Sunday morning. I starved him for 24 hours and nothing else abnormal from either end since then. He has been "upgraded" to the AG Prestige food in the last couple of days and seems to be enjoying this.

Spoke to the vet and think I have just decided to leave be. He said to measure water intake in terms of assessing kidney function as a first port of call (still not sure why we can't just take a blood test). This is rather difficult as he has a paddling pool in the garden which he loves playing in and he often stops in there for a beverage, and there is also a stream he drinks from on one of our walks. If ever I walk with one of my dog walking friends we both take water for the dogs, and they share the bowl etc. I would have to stop him doing these things to accurately measure water intake which I don't want to do. I don't think there is much we can do if he is in some degree of kidney failure anyway - he doesn't have years ahead of him so I'm not about to start dramatically changing his diet etc as it is about quality of life rather than quantity for him.

Just don't understand why we can't look at the calcium level as if it is high and therefore damaging the kidneys can this not be controlled to slow any further damage. He is terribly nervous at the vets though so perhaps it is best to just let him have however long he has left. He has already exceeded expectations so every day is a bonus for us.