re: Anyone have suggestions on dealing with canine cancer

Lymphoma:
There are dogs that defy odds and will go into remission for 3 years
There are dogs where it is just an expensive 6 months of prolonging things.
No one knows what your dog will do but the average is 1 year survival.

Still need to confirm and stage the diagnosis b/c pathologists are humans too from time to time.

Your best bet is steroids until you think he isn’t comfortable. Then put him down.

I have one now that's getting close to euthanasia.

We removed a cyst from her face a week ago and she's been lethargic since then. She's 11 years old.

I told the wife the surgery was unnecessary, but she insisted.

I think the anaesthesia accelerated her deterioration.

Our 6 year old has lymphoma too. We chose steroids & 60 days later he is still doing great. Quality of life is better than quantity, at least in our minds. Best of luck to you -

I’m sorry to read that, Tide.

I think the anticipation of the inevitable will be the toughest part of the kids....and wife beyond the actual day he goes down. He’s been an inside dog and my wife works from home...so they have definitely bonded.

if it's a friable tumor you can treat the dog with yunnan baiyao
you can get it at any Asian market

it extended my dogs life for several months after the vet said it was hopeless

my pointer had to be put down from it last year. He was 10yrs old. They diagnosed and we did the steroid thing over chemo. His quality of life was good for about 8 months post diagnosis. The months 9-10 were off and on. Some good days, some bad. Finally had to put him down after about a year. Stopped eating, was having trouble getting around. The mass on his neck had grown to near baseball size. He wasnt comfortable

LSU Vet School, best bet

I’ll start by saying I’m so sorry you have to deal with this. It’s not fair to you or the dog...but unfortunately that’s life. As someone who knows a lot about lymphoma and chemotherapy, I’d tell you first and foremost that the subtype of lymphoma, first Hodgkin’s vs. non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) then if NHL, the subtype (follicular, diffuse large B cell lymphoma, mantle cell, marginal zone etc. ) is incredibly important for prognostic information. Aggressive subtypes with high cell turnover will have a lower survival in general than the more indolent subtypes. There is some nuance to this.

That being said, in humans, the curable lymphomas are actually the aggressive lymphomas and the slower growing ones are incurable but still highly treatable for years. Aggressive lymphomas have cure rares of >50% in general pending important molecular testing information.

Chemotherapy for humans for lymphoma is generally very tolerable. That’s not to say it isn’t difficult. The thing about humans is that they can tell you symptoms. Sometimes intense nausea is worse than vomiting and the only way you may know if your dug is nauseous is if they vomit. Headaches come along with anti nausea meds and pups won’t be able to tell you that. The list goes on and on and that’s my concern.

If it were me, I’d get all of the information regarding subtype and stage of lymphoma to make a decision. I’d lean towards steroids for therapy if needed and avoid chemotherapy. They are appetite stimulating and antiinflammatory and generally make people feel quite good which is why they want them when they have an infection at urgent care. Steroids are part of virtually all chemotherapy combinations used to treat aggressive lymphomas. In humans, sometimes observation is very appropriate for low grade slow growing lymphomas in which case you may be able to forego steroids for some time.

Again sorry for this difficult issue during the holiday season. I hope things get better for you and the family.