Hi,

We received the dreaded call yesterday, our 3 year old dog has ben diagnosed with Lymphoma...

If anybody has any advice or recommendations to chemo therapies, we would be extremely grateful to hear from you.

The lab reports suggest that the Lymphoma (and the stage it's at) will react well to Chemo. So we remain positive.

We're up in the east midlands, near to Northampton but will travel to find the best possible treatment.

Thank you

Hiya,
Sorry to hear that :( :(
Have a look at this thread, It is about not having Chemo, BUT there is info on Chempo on there as well, :)  :-
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/topic_show.pl?pid=879534;hl=#pid879534
There is some good advice on there.
Brionys post gives information of a hospital in Cambridge which isnt a great distance from you I dont think.
Good Luck :)
Lea :) :)

Hello,

Thanks for that, great info in there.

Cambridge isn't too far, so we'll give them a call too.

We are being referred to a specialist in Herts, hopefully should be there nxt week.

We'll do anything for our boy...

Yopu can always rely on this lot!!! and Dexters story is an insperation to anyone :)
Meg was a completely different case to yours, and if she had been younger I wouldnt have hesitated to get her Chemo but she was alot older so completely different.
Alison (Briony) had had dealings with Cambridge and is not one to recommend someone they dont trust entirel;y!!!(Unfortunatly she isnt on here at the moment :( )
Good luck with what ever you go with :) :) And I hope your boy gets many many more years of frollicking in the fields :) :)
Lea :) :)

Thankyou. Its great to hear inspirational stories, certainly gives you hope.

Yep, here's to many more years of fun with him!!

He's young, no signs of illness other than the pesky swollen glands, so we're sure he has a fighting chance.

Thanks again.

Rebecca

Good luck, will be thinking of you all, glad you are positive, it is not all doom and gloom, there have been great results with lymphoma and chemo :O)

Can't offer any advice im afraid, but good luck.
It's not great news but with your vets advice and lots of cuddles and kisses, im sure the outcome can be positive.xxx

I can't offer any advice as I have been very fortunate and not had to face anything like that. Just wanted to say good luck and keeping everything crossed for a good outcome.

Hi,
Our dog has recently been treated for a sarcoma so I know how shocked you must be feeling, you have my sympathy.
We were referred to a wonderful centre in Essex which specialises in cancer treatment for pets.  All the staff are caring both to pets and their humans and I cannot recommend them enough.
They have a website www.vrcc.co.uk which includes a referral form.
I hope everything turns out well for your dog.

I'm sorry to hear your news. I do hope you can access the best treatment for your boy. We're in Northampton, so not far away from you. :-)

Rebecca

I am so sorry to hear your news :(
I gulped hard when i saw the title of the post...

My staffie charlie was diagnosed in april 2003 with Lymphoma... He was given a life expectantcy that day of 2-4 months. I cried cried and cried.
I agreed to give him his last chance at life, Chemo.... In tablet form as it sadly was the cheapest option... Money was a problem... etc However i knew i would beg borrow or steal if need be....

Charlie started his chemo.... we had good days... excellent days and terrific days followed by the odd crap day.
He survived untill i thought life was enough for him... I let him go on 2nd March 2006! (and that was because he looked at me with his sad brown eyes... i knew it was time)
He lived a month off 3 years....
Im sure if you search my name my step by step life during that time is on here somewhere

Charlie was definatley living proof that chemo is worth a try

My thoughts are with you
Donna xx
(Charlie and murphy who are r.i.p xx)

Hello all,

Sorry that I'm not replying to you individually.

Thank you all so much for your kind messages, it helps us stay positive.

Well, today was when we saw the oncologist and our dog has started Chemo. (very quick I know, thought it was just the consultation) They are positive about the outcome.

We just want to give his the best chance out therem he's only 3 so has so much life in him!

There are such amazing stories here and thank you for sharing them.

Will keep you posted...

Thank you all again and sory for not replying individually.

x

Here we are a week later, and all looking really positive.

The swollen glands have gone, and there has been no side effects. It truly is amazing!

It was a really hard decision whether to go with chemo or not, but for us definately the best choice. Our dog is definately feeling better, he's playing with his toys and being his VERY cheeky self!! It's great.

The vets are monitoring him closely with regular blood tests as well as us monitoring, so we'll always do what's best for our boy.

The only visable side effect is a few more trips to the water bowl and what comes afterwards!! We are told that it's because of the preds, which are being decreased, so good news.

x

Brilliant that he seems to be responding so quickly. Hope his progress continues. Many positive stories and you had to give this treatment a go.

Best wishes for your lad's continued and rapid progress :)

Sending healing hugs to him and positive thoughts to you, Teri x

Well, said further up this post that I had never had any experience with this. The dreaded diagnosis was made on Friday. My bitch (coming up 11), my husband rang me while I was out on Friday afternoon to say that he had felt that Shola's glands were up in her neck. I told him to ring the Vets and we had an appointment in the evening. I knew immediately that I felt them that this was not just a throat infection. My Vet confirmed this that evening. She took bloods and they came back with good Liver function, good Kidney function, good blood count and good platelet count.  They were going to refer me to the University for a scan but having thought about it over night and scanned the interent for info I decided to have a biopsy done tomorrow so that we know what grade we are dealing with and at what stage we are. I am so frightened, I adore this dog and have decided that I must go down the chemo route if possible having taken all the info that I could find on it. Please anyone that can give any advice, I am so scared for her. I realise that this will only be short term but I sincerely want the best for her and I feel that if we have caught it soon enough we can give her a fighting chance. All the dogs were rabies jabbed recently for their pet passports and Shola was the only one to fail. The Vet spoke to the vaccine company and she had to have another jab and then blood test. Now my Vet thoroughly examined her glands then as she was trying to find an underlying reason why she hadn't passed. This obviously was the reason. That was 4 weeks ago. Anyone have any thoughts to share please I am really desperate. At what stage were your dogs diagnosed, what grade was it etc, how has their progress been. I must just add, she is very fit for her age. She is eating well and enjoying her normal exercise.

sorry I can't give you any advice re the possible lymphoma, but one of my Gordon's has recently been diagnosed with bone cancer and we're half way through chemo at the moment. 

Archie had his leg amputated the middle of january and has had 2 out of the 3 doses of Chemo.  he's off the the vets again tomorrow for his third blood test before hopefully his 3rd dose next week.  His chemo involves Carboplatin being injected slowly over a few hours at the vets.   the first dose went very well, with no real side effects, second dose again went well, but brought up his  breakfast the next morning.

In himself he's happy and for me that's all that matters.  we felt after much deliberation that as Archie is only 3.5 years, we had to give me a chance to fight this.      

If you have any questions, please PM me.

Jill

Hi Jill
Thanks for replying. I hope you boy does well and I am not so much scared of the chemo (I was until I read up on it) but am very concerned as I realise that Lymphona invades all the organs of the body. I can feel the ones in her neck, groin and behind the knee so I know that it has travelled. I just pray that it is the low grade and that they can give her more time with us. If she could just survive the year, which it has said that lots do, she will be nearer 12 and therefore I will know that I gave her as much time as I could. Can't begin to tell anyone just how frightened I am to hear that it is even worse than I fear. I am not usually like this but she is very precious to me ( all my dogs are, but she is very special)

AlisonGold

I know what you are going through.  there is no right or wrong answer, only you know what is best for your girl.  The best bit of advise I was given was by a very dear friend of mine, was not to make any decisions too quickly.  Take time and think things through, looking at all the options. 

I know the weekend we found out that archie had bone cancer was horrible after the specialist phoned me on the Friday night.  the specialist told me that with an amputation and chemo the best we could expect was 12-14 months, with the amp and no chemo around 4 months! 

I was initially all for calling it a day, because I didnt want him to suffer, not because I was giving up on him, but I was I have always wanted what is best for them., and didnt know if it was fair to put him through it.  I can never thank Justi enough on here (and all the others) for pointing me in the direction of a bone cancer in dogs website.  Through reading about other peoples experiences and talking things over with my friend we came to the conclusion that at least we need to give him a chance, an providing that the cancer had not spread to his lungs we would go ahead and try anything that would give our boy a chance at fighting this horrible disease. 

I look back now and am so glad that we did.  he is a different dog, since his amp and his chemo has started.  I know its still early days but fingers and everything else crossed he'll pull through.

the internet is a great tool for research, use it to make an informed decision, and if there is someone like my friend, who you can talk to, who understands dogs, then talk to them, not to look for answers as only you can decide and only you know your dog, but to help you  see all your options.

Sorry I've rambled on a bit!  give your girl a big hug

Jill

Never had exact same decision but have had a dog who I knew was on borrowed time so can sympathise. The one big plus is that dogs live in the now they don't worry about tomorrow or what might happen. He won't know what's wrong with him so take what small comfort you can from that{{{hugs}}}

In my boy's case it was a heart valve problem and we decided to take each day as it came and went for a short life but a merry one so let him live as normal a life as possible. He lived for 2 and a bit years after diagnosis and only needed medication over the last year or so.

Thinking of you

Alison,
Good luck with your girl, we went through similar with our boy and I know what you are going through. Every day is a blessing with them and you know your girl better than anyone to be able to make decisions for her future. Big hugs to you both...x

Thanks Rachael.
She has had the biopsy done today and should have the results back by the weekend. My husband had a long chat with the Vet when he took her in and learned even more than we had learned from the internet. Just have to keep everything crossed now. Really messes with your head all this information.

will keep everything crossed for you. I hope it goes well. Thinking of you at this hard time xx

wishing you lots of luck, hugs to all of you

so sorry about your news, i said goodbye to my beloved Rottie in november at 6yrs old because i decided that i couldn't put him through chemo just to prolong his life for me, i have seen dogs have chemo and its a throughly miserable time with no hope of cure, unfortunatly for dogs by the time we know they are terminal its too late to do much, i didn't want to see my beautiful dog go downhill and be miserable with it , he had already started to go off his food and was not quite himself so i wanted to remember him beautiful. some may say that i didn't give him a chance but i discused this with my vet and he agreed that what he had would not be cured and i would have only a couple of months anyway so why put him through it ?, you must of course do what you think is best for your dog but be aware that chemo is not a cure for dogs and do you want her last days on earth to be pain filled and miserable ? i watched my friends goldie go through it for 6mnths with leukemia because she couldn't find the courage to love him enough to let him go and it was an awful time for all of us so if you do go down that road just be aware who you are doing it for, my thoughts are with you

We found out our bitch Sky had Lymphoma in May and lost her end of December after going down the Chemo route,we had her treated at the AHT in Newmarket,the were great.
She was insured and I have to say it cost much more than we were quoted,you only have to have a blip in treatment and a few days stay as an inpatient  and you are looking at a lot of money,but I think my own vet could have done more, because I asked for a referal they sort of washed their hands of treatment they could have done so I had to travel every couple of weeks to Newmarket.I also think it depends on the temperment of the dog Sky would quite happily go off for the afternoon with someone and was so good at being checked over,waging her tail at everyone,if it had been my other bitch she would have hated it as she is petrified of the vets.

We had hoped that we could get 12-18 months but it was'nt to be,we were offered three types of treatment Bronze ,Silver and Gold we chose the Gold,but she did not respond to it so had to drop down to the Silver,yes we had a bad week or two as the medication stopped gut movment,but on the whole she was happy with no side affects after Chemo,no sickness and always looking forward to the next meal and  a walk, it was me who kept trying to stop her charging around with the others.

I kept asking for them to let me know if it was not working and became a dab hand at feeling every lymph node in the body,I think the worst thing was the stress,I did become paranoide at feeling the lymph nodes.

At the begining of Dec it became obvious that treatment had stopped working so we decided with the help of the AHT to stop trying any more treatment,people kept saying to me you will know when the time is to say goodbye and I did,she did'nt jump up for her walk gave me a look.

Would I do it again?the stress from it all I have to say made me feel so bad for months,but yes I would I had 8 very special  months with her and I knew when it was time to let her go and not keep on just for me.

Thank you for telling me your experience. I don't want to put her through hell for my benefit, but I have been assured by some people that dogs can take the chemo far better than humans can. I will just have to hope and see how she is. I can't let her go without trying and I pray that I am making the right decision. My Vet is exceptional and I have to trust him. Will know more what we are dealing with when we get the results from the biopsy. She is very sore from having the lymph node taken from the back of her leg yesterday but has eaten three meals since and has been for her walk this morning. I have had a breast lump scare before now and didn't feel this scared. 

Alison,
I am sure you are not going to put her through hell for your benefit, if it wasn't a viable option the vet would not have offered it to you. I believe that you have to give the girl the best chance that you can and if you didn't go down the chemo route I am sure you will always be full of 'what if's'. Trust your vet and yourself, the old adage ' where their is life there is hope'. I would do exactly the same as you xx

Hiya
My staffie charlie was diagnosed with Lymphoma in April 2003.
He was give a life expectancy of just 2-4 months... originally they thought he had a problem with his saliva glands.. but the dreaded news came soon after.
Charlie was give chemo (in tablet form and preds... ) As this was all i could afford but i admit if this wasnt an option, he would have had any treatment needed regardless of cost..
He had good days and bad days.. mainly good, with the odd day when he was just quiet and vomited, a few times.
Charlie was a strong lad who lived every day like a king.. i traeated ever day like his last... He was eventually pts a month off 3 years...

I wish you all the best with your girl...

Donna x
(and my boysxx)

Thank you for your best wishes. I spoke to my Vet last night and he feels she would have the best chance being treated at the Liverpool Vet University. Hopefully he has sent the referral through by now. I have e-mailed them begging for the earliest appointment they can give me (I'm not too proud to beg for her). She is really well (ran after a rabbit the day after her op) but I find myself watching her all the time as she tends to pant fairly frequently, but I know the Prednisilone can do that. I just have to pray that someone looks down on us favourably.
Thanks again.

I agree with Gill , Chemo is not pleasant and can make the dog suffer further, a friend of mines beautiful Retriever was diagnosed with Lymphoma at age of 5 she looked fine though and you wouldnt have known, then she started the chemo and really went down hill and looked so tired and fed up. She died a few wks later.

Its a horrid situation whichever route you take but you have to think whats best for your friend and which is the best route to minimise suffering

so sorry

reading the posts I can only add my experience we did chemo, and had no side effects at all, sadly the group for canince bone cancer has over 1400 members most of them have done chemo, very very very few have had side effects, however there are many different types of chemo, different ones used for different cancers, if it would help you you could join the yahoo group caninecancer as there are alot of people there who are fighting lymphoma with their dogs and you can see what course of treatment they have decided to do and how their dog is doing, they are very friendly and willing to share their experiences.

Just a quick update. Shola has today completed her 3rd week on Chemo. Her diagnostics show no sign of her lymph glands being up and therefore they believe her to be in remission. She has had very few side effects (just nausea, but always able to get her food into her). I think we have been very lucky and as long as she is still this well I will continue and hope that we get a lengthy remission. Thanks to everyone for answering as I do believe that you have to hear all opinions. I didn't go into this blinkered and read as much as I could to be able to make a decision. I also told the hospital that should she become ill on the treatment and I couldn't see a response then I would pull the plug as I couldn't see her in distress and her quality of life is more important to me than my selfishness on not wanting to lose her, hopefully that will be some time off yet.

so pleased to see shola is doing so well and is in remission long may it continue

That's brilliant Alison, I know how much you think think of your girl's (oops plus Luke). Now you have to guess who I am!! I'll give you a clue, are there any chocolates left.

Fantastic news Alison and Shola - I was only thinking of you the other day and wondering how treatment was going.  Fingers crossed she remains in remission for a long time.

Thanks folks. Hi Jenny, and no, there are no chocolates left. Slimming World diet has left the building. Guessed who you were from your first post.

Alison, I am so pleased to hear that shola has done so well and fingers crossed the outlook at the moment is good. I am so chuffed for you as I know what a horrible time it was for you at the start with the do I ,don't I, glad you gave her a chance x

brilliant news!