re: Dog has cancer

I had a 6 year old dog diagnosed with cancer. It was either put him down right there or give him a surgery that would give him estimated 6-9 months to live with quality of life. I was pretty devastated and opted to do the surgery as it was my first dog and I just wanted more time. Needless to say, he went downhill quickly and we had to put him down about 2 weeks after the surgery.

In hindsight I would have just put him down at the diagnosis, but I dont regret anything I did. Losing a pet sucks. I feel for you.

We lost our 9 yr old last year to cancer. She got sick for a couple days and wouldn't eat. Took her to the vet and found large tumor and she was seriously anemic to the point of death. Had to put her down. She went from great pet to gone in 3 days. I feel for you brother !

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LSU vet school Oncology department is amazing. My baby had lymphoma. He went through chemo for two years. It prolonged his life for an additional two years. Without the treatment, he would have only lasted another couple of months. Supposedly, it is not painful for our fur friends. Now, I do not know if I would do it again, but at the time, it was my only choice. It is very expensive. I pray that you find comfort in your decision. I am sorry. Its an almost no win situation. I do, however, recommend LSU Oncology. They are amazing

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Thanks for this. Pugs only live 10-15 years. She will turn 13 in Feb. She's had a good life and has a heart issue that complicates surgery. She had surgery at 10 and spent 2 days in ICU at Sherwood. Not sure I want to go through that again. TBH, not sure she would survive the surgery-- much less Chemo.

I believe I will just give her car rides and endless treats until the end. Thanks.

First off sorry to hear and hope all goes well for you and your pup

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trying to sell me all sorts of other care while she was under to have the tumor removed. - Teeth cleaning,

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This is not a good idea, when you clean a dogs teeth you flush bacteria into their bloodstream. I know they need their teeth cleaned and the risk of doing another separate procedure could be high but my vet refused to remove a tumor and clean teeth at the same time due to the heightened risk of infection.

Animals are stoic and continue to amaze me. One had a paw that she simply lifted off the ground and was running around on three legs. We took her to the vet, he saw a problem, medicated and put in a drain. That paw healed, to the point that she then ran on four legs. As she aged, I had to trim her claws, and I could tell that that paw was still sore for her, something I hadn't noticed in the intervening ten years.

I hate that our pets get cancer and I even more hate greedy vets .

Hello latx,

Disclaimer: this is not official veterinary advice, just suggestions

has your vet done a chest radiograph and if so what did it show? if they did not, they really should. my second step would be to do a lymph node aspirate and histopathology and cytology of the nodes closes to the tumor.

distal (far part) limb melonoma can be quite aggressive. if it had spread to other areas already i would recommend just having a good time with your beloved pup and call it when it needs to be called.

if it has not spread to other areas then i would recommend limb amputation. You said they recommend paw, personally i would not do that and remove the entire limb. I know that seems pretty radically but animals get along just fine quickly with loss of limb. it ensures you get everything that may have tumor cells.

As far as long term survival, if it is completely removed the animal will be essential that same as before. her/his life expectancy wouldnt change. ive seen pugs that are 20 years old.

What ever decision you make, just remember its not a wrong decision, just the decision you decided. Do what you think is best for your pup.

edit: If you do decide to go forward with perusing treatment, id suggest getting a referral to a specialist in your area or LSU. Keep in mind, LSU wont be cheap. I find it unsettling your current DVM is suggesting teeth cleaning and other BS in face of a more dramatic health issue.

its a hell of a disease. i dream of the day that we develop the technology to effectively treat it.

Very sorry to hear this. Sending you and your sweet dog prayers.

I have had animals all my life and, when the end of their life nears, I regret not putting them down sooner 100% of the time. I always keep them around too long out of pure selfishness. Since your pup seems to have lived a long and happy life, I’d recommend to euthanize him sooner rather than later to avoid him suffering. Regardless of what people tell you, I don’t believe that you can readily tell when a dog is suffering until it is too late.

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I have had animals all my life and, when the end of their life nears, I regret not putting them down sooner 100% of the time. I always keep them around too long out of pure selfishness. Since your pup seems to have lived a long and happy life, I’d recommend to euthanize him sooner rather than later to avoid him suffering. Regardless of what people tell you, I don’t believe that you can readily tell when a dog is suffering until it is too late.

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+1. You can tell in hindsight, not always in the moment. Dogs are such stoic creatures, they don't let you know they're suffering unless they're in serious pain.