I have lost two dogs to lymphoma. One we let enjoy his last couple of months. The weekend before he rapidly declined and we let him go was perfect. He went to the dog park, was very happy.
With the other dog we did treatment, not full chemo, but meds to slow the disease. She got about 5 months before she let me know it was time. I will NEVER go that route again.
She knew we were poisoning her. She went from eating everything to digging through anything we gave her looking for the poison. She vomited, she had diarrhea, she was miserable. And I caused it.
I would rather have the 2 good months than any misery they suffer for me to have more time.
You’re doing the right thing. If she is suffering it’s just cruel to keep them alive just for yourself. I said no more animals after I had to put down the world’s greatest cat.
That was four rescue cats ago. And why? To give them that happy, loving, good life. and they rescue us in a way too.
I am sure you’re next dog will love you just as much.
I am truly sorry for your heartbreak now.
Great photo.
We did some holistic treatments. I have no idea if they gave us more time together or not. We had about 10 weeks between diagnosis and saying goodbye. Prognosis was 2 weeks, but I know those are a guess, based on one exam.
Prayers up! What is her name? I dont believe in chemo, period.
We have a doggie with cancer for past few years. ( not lymphoma ..well could be now, but we are not looking)..she’s 16..lab/aussie...we were told she had 1-2 yrs to live 3 yrs ago. We tried the chemo pills ONCE...she refused them so we opted out.Check out Darwins raw food. We give her that f I r one meal...they deliver...it’s frozen w I th great packaging. We feed her raw cukes, Jicama and and a no grain canned food, too.
Also ours has been on some Chinese meds...we have a holistic vet. Let me know if you have other questions.
Sam, much as we want to, we cannot keep our beloved friends for long.
One thing dogs do is die, and it hurts a lot. We love them as long as we can, but they live their lives so much faster than us. We do not want them to know pain, because we love them, so when it comes time for them to go home, we send them, and we shoulder the pain instead.
When one of our friends goes home, that is our opportunity to adopt a new friend and provide them a home and love. And there are so many who need. So many.
Dogs teach us how to say goodbye when goodbye is the last thing we want to say, and they also teach us that love is the only thing that matters in this world, because it’s the only thing you can take with you when you die.
When the time comes, send her on with your love, mourn her, then find a new friend to help you heal.
And always remember that the furry friends we lost in this world are waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge.
That is the first place that I am going when I die.
If you put a 10 year old dog thru chemo its for you not the dog. If you love your dog let it go now while its not in too much distress or take a couple of weeks to say goodbye and then humanely let the dog pass. That’s what we did with our dog who we loved and still wish him back everyday.
Sam,
Please Google Liposomal Vitamin C or Injectable Vitamin C and it’s effectiveness in treating lymphoma.
Several studies seem to show some amazing results with and without chemo.
Apparently the injections are easier for a dog to tolerate because too much of the liposomal can cause diarrhea in some dogs.
Also an injection is said to have fairly quick results, like 2 - 3 days in some cases. Some vets administer the shots and recommend them.
Best Wishes
so sorry to hear.....
love him while he is here....get another one soon after
I am so sorry. My 16 yo golden had it too. I opted for chemo because I couldn’t bear losing her. Didn’t come to my senses until they told me they would need to stick a needle in her heart to make sure she was strong enough for the next round.
The chemo was horrible. She was projectile vomiting night after night. It did get her into a remission that lasted about a month after treatment stopped. Many prayers to you. It never feels like you did the best thing.
Condolences Sam.
I’m so sorry to hear about your buddy. Once my Dad was hospice, I made sure he had anything he wanted to eat. He had no medical dietary restrictions, so if he wanted to eat a pound of black jelly beans or a triple meat triple cheese whopper for dinner, he got it. It is OK to treat your dog that way as well.
However, as far as the raw diet goes and the suggestion that commercial dog foods are “bad” -— the very reason our pets are living long enough now to get cancer in their old age is at least in part the quality of nutrition provided by the commercial diets that have been available to them. NO, I am not a dog food company.
I will ask the Lord to give you wisdom, and healing to your friend. What is the collie’s name?
5.56mm
Prayers.
As soon as you can get another pup, it heals the hurt.
Our cat has the same thing. She was given 3 months to live if we didn’t get chemo, 6-12 months with it. We went without, although we did choose to go with the anti-inflammatory the vet recommended. I also dug through my herbs books for anything that might help, and came up with a mix that seems to be slowing the cancer down some.
She’s on month 6 of her 3-month life expectancy. Her belly has gotten lumpy, but she seems happy and pain-free.
Very sorry.
Spoil her with treats? and make her final weeks with you rich.
Regards,
Dog lover
I’m so sorry to hear about your lovely companion-I’ve never lost a dog-or cat to cancer, but I really think I’d stick with the holistic methods-chemo is poison-both for humans and animals-treatments are really Russian roulette to see if you get a remission before the chemo drugs kill you-my dearest friend-and contractor I worked for died last summer from the side effects of chemotherapy-he was cancer free-but still dead...
It is your money, but I would not subject one of my precious pets to that misery.
I lost my beloved Siberian Husky late last winter at the age of 17-she wasn’t sick-just slowing down gradually-her heart finally gave out and she died peacefully in her sleep one night, happy to the very end. My 19 year old Maine Coon cat died the same way-in his sleep last month-he wasn’t sick, either, thank God. They are buried next to each other under a big oak by the deck.
Prayers for your doggie-I do believe they have souls...
You have a beautiful dog there, and I’m sorry to hear that.
I can speak from some experience. We had a dog that was diagnosed with lymphoma. We switched his food to a grain free dog food. We did K9 Cancer Trio which included K9 Immunity, K9 Transfer Factor, and Fish Oil. which some people have success with based on testimonials:
http://www.k9medicinals.com/pet-products/dog-immunity-supplements/dog-cancer-support-trio/
They also have an all in one here:
http://www.k9medicinals.com/pet-products/dog-immunity-supplements/k9-immunity-plus/
He refused to take it at a certain point.
We also did chemo. You will be better off than we were if you head to an oncologist. We did the chemo through our vet, and I think it would have been done better with an oncologist. We had some other problems with that vet who misdiagnosed two of our animals.
The bottom line is that he did the first set of chemo and the lymph nodes went down. To me, they never quite felt all the way down, but the vet was pleased. Anyway, fast forward just weeks later (we were counting on a year or so before a relapse), I felt the lymph nodes again. He again started chemo. It always seemed that he would get sick a few days after chemo with diarrhea and vomiting. We had medicine for those things which may have helped a little, but he was sick at least a couple days a week.
The second round of chemo never brought the lymph nodes down. We tried some holistic things. Some people online said they had success with cottage cheese and flaxseed:
http://www.healingcancernaturally.com/pet-cancer-cure-testimonials.html
Our dog refused to eat it even though we tried to flavor it with other things like some pureed meat baby food or gravy.
Ultimately, the lymph nodes kept growing. His stomach began to swell badly. We kept him as long as we could, but at the end, despite still having an appetite (which we attribute to the prednisone), he was very weak. He just got bumped slightly and fell over. He couldn’t jump up on the bed or the couch. The night before we had him put to sleep, he struggled to breathe a good part of the night. He was able to breathe a little better in the morning, but it was a pattern that he had trouble breathing at night more and more. We didn’t want him to suffer any more, so we had him put to sleep.
I don’t have regrets that we tried the chemo. I do have regrets we didn’t go to an oncologist. I wish we could have gotten some of the natural stuff in him more. Ultimately, trying everything (just about - I’ll get to that) made me feel that we did everything that we could. Some people put their dogs to sleep before they start suffering or before it gets bad, but putting the dog to sleep is something taken very seriously, and it wasn’t until we felt he was too sick to go on that we felt it appropriate.
Here is the other option. You are seeing an oncologist. I don’t know where you live, but there is something called a K9 bone marrow transplant that can be done. It’s incredibly expensive, but some people have the funds or want to spend the funds to try it. Very expensive, but your cure odds are so much higher than the 1-2% given with standard chemo. I’ll link here in case you are interested:
http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2015/02/11/dog-bone-marrow-transplant.aspx
I wish you the best of luck. It’s not an easy journey. You have to decide what’s right for your dog and for your family.
She is gorgeous. I am so sorry.
Kibbles are very unhealthy. Whichever way you decide re treatment, it is a great thing you are feeding her more natural healthy food.
Veterinarians are definitely in the guilt business. You know that a lot of us simply don’t have $10-20k to spend on our pet’s oncology. So we aren’t tempted to spend the money. Because we don’t have it. If you are able, it is your choice, but don’t let the vet force (by means of guilt) destroy your precious pooch’s immune system in the hopes of gaining more sick alive time. Research and get info from others, like you are doing.
I pray for a full healing for your girl. I’m sorry she is sick.