My Golden Girl got a Cancer Diagnosis today.

[DRH1175]

We found an enlarged Lymph node this week in my almost 10 yr old, Hunting Girl. The Cancer is Malingnant Large Cell Lymphoma. Our Vet said we caught it very early and the Prognosis is good. Said dogs usually respond to treatment real well. He thinks she should be able to live for several more years. As Large Cell is much more treatable than Small cell. He is sending us to the U of M Oncology for further testing. Our dogs have been our lives, my Wife and I havn't had any kids yet in our 10 Yr Marriage. I will do anything to prolong the length and Quality of life for her. Down side is if she needs Chemo it could cost us $1000 to $3000 when all said and done. When it comes to our Goldens Money is no object. With that being said any other FMers had a simular Diagnosis to your best Bud? What did you do, how did it turn out and would you do it again?

[satchamo]

DRH

I too have had and lost several goldens to cancer, 2 to non-small cell lymphoma. Do some research on the web and read everywhere and anywhere you can including the holistic side of vet medicine. It will amaze you what you will see. We considered chemo but after weighing the cost and the hell the dog goes thru along with the fact that most every source we found suggested the life extention was less than 1 year, we decided to let them live out their time in peace. If you choose that option you will know when its time. It still doesn't make it any easier but we felt good about the decision when it was over.

One thing we have learned thru all of this is that a common thread thru the increases in canine cancer rates seems to be all this processed garbage food that evryone feeds. Dogs are carnivores and their systems are not designed for eating grain. Stop feeding any food that contains grain. Any grain, especially corn and their byproducts. Read the labels and start feeding a quality food and hopefully your next dog will be like our current golden. Big, strong, great coat (hardly sheds at all) and has never had a vet visit for hot spots or ear infections or any of the other [PoorWordUsage] we use to deal with. He's 7 years old and acts like a 3 yr old.

Good luck with whatever direction you choose, they really are a part of the family and it can be so hard dealing with this stuff.

[waxworm09]

Our lab passed away on Feb. 1, she had a tumor on her heart and we also tried everything, except chemo. They tried to remove it through surgery but werent able to, and said chemo would wear her down more than she already was, and there was a 20 percent success rate for her type of cancer, so we decided we would keep her on her meds until she was gone. It was a rough 3 months, one day she was active and happy, the next she wouldnt move for almost an entire day. In the end do what you think is right, during the 3 month period we spent about 5000 on surgery and vet visits and medications. It only got us an extra 3 months, but knowing we tried everything(except chemo) to save her made it totally worth it.

[CigarGuy]

Satchamo,

What do you currently feed your dog? I was thinking of switching.

[satchamo]

We currently feed Taste of the Wild. It comes in a few different combinations of flavors and some of the more reputable independent sites rate it pretty high but there are quite a few others. This brand is available at my local feed mill and it not too expensive. I started this journey away from grain a few years back when "Jake" was having a lot of hot spots and the vet wanted to put him on steiroids and thyriod pills. After changing vets to a rural large animal vet (They are not as quick to medicate like city vets) turns out he was allurgic to corn. Stopped feeding corn and the skin cleared up almost overnight. Bad news is there is some sort of corn or cornmeal or other byproduct in almost all of the processed [PoorWordUsage] out there including milkbones.

I have a buddy that raises akitas, not sure if thats how you spell it, but he feeds nothing but ground beef and brown rice. His dogs are healthy as a horse and about the same size.

[CigarGuy]

Was feeding T.O.W. and my dog was still scratching and had hot spots. On my second bag of Natural Balance, potato/duck. It seems to be a little better but still scratching and some hot spots. Our old lab had allergies, had to give her injections for them. We tried all different types of food with her, from dry kibble to Sojos and the BARF diet. I going to give hard kibble to the fall and see if the allergies are seasonal, if not, were going to switch to one of the all natural diets.

[DRH1175]

Thanks, We lost our last golden 3 yrs ago to a aggressive Cancer of the spleen we caught it late once it had spread. There was nothing that we could do for him. This time We found it very early. She has 1 swollen node but it is only marble size. The Vet did a biopsy and sent it in. The report said it is in the early stage and our vet said he feels it is very treatable. We are hoping for the best. Yesterday we did a panel of xrays to find any tumors and bloodwork. So far so good. The xrays show nothing on her organs so the Vet is very optimistic. We will hear back on the blood work hopefully tomorrow. We are going to do everything we can to help her fight this cancer without Sacraficing her quaility of life. We will see what the UofM recomends. Whatever they recomend we will also Be doing everything we can holistically. I found a great supplement called K9Immunity We will give that a try as well. It is un real how attached you can become to these wonderful Animals. Thanks for your support and recomendations.

[satchamo]

C-guy,

One of the first things the large animal vet asked me years ago when we were dealing with a pretty bad hot spot problem with our first golden was if he was being exposed to any mold. Just another thought. DRH, good luck with your girl, hope it works out.

[DRH1175]

Funny part is I have been a dog food finatic only feeding top of the line holistic super premium food. Never fed her anything with high grains. Foods with no corn, wheat or Glutens. I buy all my food at a pet food store not that grocery store or menards [PoorWordUsage]. I always have been a beliver in good food = good long life. What the heck happened here? I now have her on half grain free food and half raw Venison. I am adding fish oil also. This morning we heard back from the vet. They did a complete blood panel and a bunch of xrays. Blood came back normal, xrays are totally clear. the only symtom she has is the lump which the vet said is a lymph node right my alkher lower nipples. It is about the size of like a Almond. I am xing my fingers the Pathology report they got from the needle aspiration is wrong. Or we caught it early enough they can cure it or put it in remission for a few years. Talking with my breeder she said most of their dogs have made it to the mid teens i am just blown away that she has cancer at under 10.

[caseymcq]

DRH -

Hoping for the best for your girl.

[Todd Caswell]

I'm sorry you have to go through this, one of the downfalls of being a pet owner, I personally would never put a dog through chemo, definatly not an older dog. I have known two that have and it was a very hard to watch, dogs don't understand the sick feeling after a chemo treatment like people do. In both cases it only made a difference of a few monthes and the dog really wasn't a "dog" during that time, and in both cases the owners wished they hadn't done it, money wasn't an issue with either of them but they both realised they were doing it for them selves and not the dog..

[DRH1175]

Thanks for all thoughts. It has been a rough few days thinking about this all. I lost a older adopted golden 3 years ago and thought when it was time for this one it would be a little easier. Dang was wrong, the though of loosing her is killing me inside. I guess at least this time I have a liitle time to prepare. It is such a hard decision on what to do and what not to put her through. The vet keeps telling me her cancer is very treatable. Whatever happens I sure hope it isn't too rough on her. We are doing this hoping for the best so she can live her full life. She will be 10 next week, but still runs circles around our 4 1/2 year old golden. In the end it will be her decision. When she tells me it is time it will be hard but I will listen.

[00rowe]

We just lost our chocolate lab on June 2nd, he was 7, had no signs of anything wrong until I noticed a few lumps on his neck in late April, vet thought we caught it pretty early as he still ate well and looked healthy. We were hoping for more time with him, but he went fast. Prednisone was the only "treatment" we were going to try. Hope all goes as good as possible, it's was the hardest thing I've gone through in my 30 years, they are definitely part of family.

Mike