14yr old dog with cancer

notechno

My dog, who's 15 later this yr, has been diagnosed with cancer in her mammary gland. The vet doesn't recommend chemo due to her age. But he is recommending that we put her through an op to remove the visible lump, take a sample for biopsy and take a couple of x-rays to see if it has spread to her chest. He's also put her on antibiotics. The initial cost of this will be somewhere in the region of £700, and rather more if the cancer has spread and she goes on steroids.

I know nobody can offer veterinary advice, but does anyone have any experience of this? Is anything I do likely to help Jess in any way, or should I be 'cruel to be kind' ?

zaksmum

notechno wrote: »

My dog, who's 15 later this yr, has been diagnosed with cancer in her mammary gland. The vet doesn't recommend chemo due to her age. But he is recommending that we put her through an op to remove the visible lump, take a sample for biopsy and take a couple of x-rays to see if it has spread to her chest. He's also put her on antibiotics. The initial cost of this will be somewhere in the region of £700, and rather more if the cancer has spread and she goes on steroids.

I know nobody can offer veterinary advice, but does anyone have any experience of this? Is anything I do likely to help Jess in any way, or should I be 'cruel to be kind' ?

I have to say, sadly, that I personally wouldn't put a dog who's almost 15 through this. I'd feel that, if she still has quality of life, leave her to enjoy what time she may have left. Monitor her very carefully for signs of pain or distress, and obviously if this occurs you'd have to do the kindest thing for her.

I'm so sorry.

tanith

So sorry for you that's no easy decision but I agree with zaksmum , I had a cat of 21 who had a cancer in her eye , we decided not to have any treatment and under the vets advice she spent her last few weeks being spoiled rotten, lots of her favourite food , cuddled and pampered , as soon as any signs that she was distressed ,off her food we very sadly let the vet put her to sleep peacefully.

givememoney

We had a dog who the vet said `probably` had cancer, she was 11 at the time. It was going to cost loads to get all the tests done so I looked on my friend the internet to see if there was anything I could do complimentary.

We gave her flaxseed oil and cottage cheese mixture each day and she began to improve. Google for recipe.

I of course, cannot definately say she even had cancer or that this cured her, she was though very unwell. What I would say is, it is worth a try and it wouldn't do any harm if didn't do any good.

She lived on for another 2 years.

Wellyboots6

Hi notechno,

We had a 9 yr old German Shepherd who had mammary cancer. By the time we knew about it she had a lump showing externally. The vet said that they could remove the lump, but would need to do a chest x-ray first to see if it had spread to her lungs. If it had then they would not do the op to remove the lump as she would not have long left anyway and they would not want to put her through the trauma. They felt it was highly likely it had spread however due to the lump being external and growing quickly.

We decided not to go for the x-rays as it would have been stressful for her, and so gave her a lot of pampering until the end.

My mums dog had a lump on her leg that they took her to the vets about (a different vets). The vet thought it was bone cancer and so told my parents they would need to amputate the leg. They had costed out the amputation and everything! Due to what happened with my dog, mum suggested they do a chest x-ray first to see if it was worth doing. The vet hadn't even suggested this. They did the chest x-ray and the cancer had spread quite severely, so whilst she was under sedation for the x-ray my parents made the decision to let her go.

Sorry these are so depressing stories, but my point is that sometimes it can be worth getting a second opinion if you are not happy with what the vet says. But also consider how much you are putting your dog through if they are already feeling unwell.

I know how hard the decision is, but you will have a gut feeling of what the best thing to do is. Go with that.

Hugs

SKIPPY

So sorry to hear your news. I had a dog a few years ago with mammory tumours. One became rather large and the vet recommended removing them. We agreed, she lived a further few months and was very poorly towards the end. Personally I would never put an older dog through that again, although the tumour looked awful to look at it never appeared to bother her at all.

vax2002

Pack every day and make a day in to a month, treats, walks, love and when the time comes, do the right thing.
Had a lovely red king Charles until she was 14, it hurts I know
They never leave you, just close your eyes and they are there, sorry filling up writing, bye....

ellies_angel

We had to make the painful decision to say goodbye to our Ridgeback Nala in February. She had cancer of the stomach. She was 1 week away from her 13th birthday. They said that they could do a tube with camera into her stomach to have a look etc which would require to have her sedated, but neither of us was prepared to put her through that. She quite quicky lost weight till she was skin and bone (although still leaping around like a puppy and eating normally) but the say her head dropped and she looked tired we took her to the vet. Hardest thing I have ever had to do and it broke our hearts but it was done with love and she was so dignified at the end, she sat there quite happily while my husband held her. I stroked her face and looked right into her eyes. She was gone before he had even finished.
We still have Ellie, (border terrier) and when her time comes, I know it will break my heart, but making that decision won't be as difficult because Nala went to peacefully.
Money doesn't come into it. I spent nearly £1000 on special food for her while she was ill (which the pet insurance didn't cover) I just couldn't put her through them proding and poking at her when really she was a good age and for what, another couple of months, then you have to ask yourself who are you actually doing it for, your dog or you.
My heart goes out to you x

ellies_angel

We had to make the painful decision to say goodbye to our Ridgeback Nala in February. She had cancer of the stomach. She was 1 week away from her 13th birthday. They said that they could do a tube with camera into her stomach to have a look etc which would require to have her sedated, but neither of us was prepared to put her through that. She quite quicky lost weight till she was skin and bone (although still leaping around like a puppy and eating normally) but the say her head dropped and she looked tired we took her to the vet. Hardest thing I have ever had to do and it broke our hearts but it was done with love and she was so dignified at the end, she sat there quite happily while my husband held her. I stroked her face and looked right into her eyes. She was gone before he had even finished.
We still have Ellie, (border terrier) and when her time comes, I know it will break my heart, but making that decision won't be as difficult because Nala went to peacefully.
Money doesn't come into it. I spent nearly £1000 on special food for her while she was ill (which the pet insurance didn't cover) I just couldn't put her through them proding and poking at her when really she was a good age and for what, another couple of months, then you have to ask yourself who are you actually doing it for, your dog or you.
My heart goes out to you x

rising_from_the_ashes

Oh notechno so sorry to hear this.

To me, the money side of it should be set aside while you decide what's best for her and, in this regard, I'm afraid I'm with the others and my personal choice would be to leave things alone.

I just wouldn't feel comfortable putting a dog that age through the surgery - DMs dog had surgery to remove a cancerous lump last year at the age of 6 and it took her a good 4 - 6 months to get over it. She's already said if it comes back she won't be putting her through another surgery as it did really knock her for 6 and take her ages to recover from - and that's a relatively young dog.

If she was my dog, I'd ensure she's comfortable and cherish every day you have her xx

ka7e

I would not want to put an older dog through such invasive surgery unless biopsy and X-rays had already shown there was likely to be a good outcome ie that it was benign or had not already spread.

Has the lump already been biopsied? I had a 6 year-old Lab with a mammary lump and that was the first stage for a diagnosis. Unfortunately it turned out to be a very aggressive cancer so we had to have her PTS very shortly afterwards.