My friends dog has been in the last few days diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and he's rapidly gone down hill and is now in the vets, it's come on so quick.
They were given 3 options and have chosen chemo to try and give him a chance and have been told that if it works they will know within 24-48hrs.

My friends aren't optimistic and just wondered if anyone has any positive news stories I can pass onto them where chemo has given extra decent life to a dog.
They have said if this doesn't work they have only one option as don't want him to suffer.

It's killing me as I've spent so much time with this dog and he's essentially been raised with my boy, both were born within days of each other, so he's only 5 1/2...

Sadly I haven't had a positive response (well I did but unfortunately for only a short period of time). However, there is a lymphoma (very aggressive cancer) group  based in America where some of their pets are surviving 5 years plus (and a lot of them are older when chemo started) At least after 24 - 48 hours they will have an idea at what they are facing so hopefully it may have a good outcome. Will keep them in my thoughts.

Do you have any info on this group in the US as it is Lymphoma that the dog has. Don't know if the breed makes any difference, he is a GSD...

Very sad,poor boy,fingers crossed for all concerned,

Sheila

Not my dog so I am a bit hazy on the details but a friends dog underwent chemo, must be about 5 or 6 years ago at least.

He is still very much alive and well to this day and still competes at agility.

From what I can gather chemo tends to be a lot less debilitating to dogs than it is to humans.

All hope is not lost so fingers crossed that he makes a recovery.

I find it hard to believe that the results of Chemo would be known so quickly?

I hope it does work for them

Winnie had the worst form of mast cell tumour which required major surgical removal of the lump and surrounding area followed by chemo. Apart from being hungry and thirsty from the steroids which were part of the treatment, she tolerated the chemo very well and is still with me now (this was 2 and a half years ago) and celebrated her 9th birthday yesterday :) . Her prognosis without the chemo was weeks, possibly months, but with the chemo 2-5 years. She was only 6 1/2 and I felt she deserved a chance.

I guess a lot depends on the type of cancer as Winnie never really appeared "ill".

((((hugs)))) to your friends and their dog. x

http://www.caninecanceruk.org/Page%203.html have a read on here not sure there is anything that is helpful but worth a look.

So sorry Sue . What little I do know is that chemo in dogs is usually tolerated much better than in humans but from discussions we have with teh oncologists who treated my Josie I would have been surprised to know of reults so quickly. In Josies case we choose radio therapy and operations ( 2)
radio therapy was very successful

Not my dogs so I don't know the specifics of the cancers, but my friend's 3yr old wei had a bone tumour on his skull. It was removed along wih part of his jaw as far as possible and followed by chemo. He tolerated all his chemo without a hiccup and it was estimated that it would give him another 6 months. 1.5yrs later he is going strong with no further problems.

The same lady's bitch developed a mast cell tumour last summer. Such bad luck. She has also had chemo and also tolerated it so well.

Good luck to your friend

I suppose it depends what type of cancer and how quick it was found. A mutual friend of ours found a lump pretty fast, the leg was amputated (osteo) and then had several chemo sessions, 8 months on is still cancer free so miracles do happen!

It took a lot of time, effort and money to get this far though and some owners might not be able to make the me commitment.

LymphomaHeartDogs-owner@yahoogroups.com

My Shola's lumps started softening the same night that she had the first chemo administered. By the next session was was declared in remission. Sadly she lost the remission at 8 weeks and we were never able to get another remission. However, this Lymphoma group has many members whose dogs have had long remissions and in some cases there have been dogs declared after 5 years as being cured of Lymphoma. The one thing that i believe though is that in America they seem to hit the Lymphoma a bit harder than we do here (JMO). I know exactly what your friends are going through and I think they are doing the right thing going down the route of chemo. If I was placed in the same position again ( and I really hope that I am not!) I would still do the chemo route, after all Shola MAY have been one of the lucky ones and I wasn't going to let her miss out on that chance. Good luck to your friends I know how hard this is on them.

Thanks. I think what the vets are saying is that the dog wouldn't be getting worse and you'd notice some form of improvement:
The update I have had is that he is still with us and he's not got any worse, he had his first treatment last night..

The vets are very good as I go there too and being insured they will do everything they can and the owners don't care on money.
They were given option of seeing specialist in London but he's too ill to move right now and a short journey is painful for him!

No experience of cancer in dogs, but just to wish your friend & dog all the very best.

I don't get that he is so ill? We didn't notice any difference in Shola other that the swollen glands. I am hoping that you will update us with good results from the first session. Even if it works there are no guarantees that the remission will hold and it will be a very tough road for the owners, they are going to need really good friends around them and I for one will be thinking about them.
I am not trying to be negative by the way it is just that any illness that is this bad is a real rollercoaster ride and although the dog can often do really well it is just so hard to watch and sometimes take the knocks can run along side the illness. Hoping for good results.

> I find it hard to believe that the results of Chemo would be known so quickly?

My sister recently lost her 6 & half year old boxer to lymphoma. The chemo she was given would have shrunk the lymphglands within 48 hrs if it was going to have any good effect on her (sadly it didn't help :( ).
This was a different course of chemo than was origionally planned for longer term use, I don't know what it exactly was, but it was specifically used due to the fast results and high frequency of success.

Sorry I don't have a positive story OP. I wish your friend all the luck in the world. We are all still incredibly shocked at the loss of my sisters dog. She was full of life and had no ailments showing, just enlarged lymphgalnds then within 3 weeks she was dead :( :(  It's hard getting your head around it. I hope your friends dog is one of the lucky ones that gets good results.

> he's too ill to move right now

Lymphoma can make them unable to keep food down and they can seem to feel very miserable. We had an 8 year old with it, some time ago now. The biopsy gave a very poor prognosis and we decided to have him PTS. If the prognosis had been better, we might have given the chemo a go. Fingers crossed for your friends dog.

Any updates?

He wasn't doing so well but today he's brighter and has actually eaten and if he continues on the road to recovery he will be going home :-)

fingers crossed for some improvement

That sounds like better news

Any news?

He's home and much better. He is having chemo weekly and that will go down to fortnightly and then monthly. He's also on daily tablets too. For some reason they seem to think he's in remission, however I can't see that if he's still on chemo?

I know, sounds wrong doesn't it! However, sadly the chemo is at present keeping it at bay so a course is needed. I suppose it is a bit like having to have a course of AB's in case the infection returns. The remission means that the lumops have all subsided but cancer is about a rogue cell multiplying so chemo is most important. I am keeping all fingers and toes crossed.