Dog has cancer..now what?

[HuntInWild88]

My 8 1/2 year old draft started developing lumps about 2 years ago. Seemed most were just fatty pockets. Then one showed up on his front left forearm. Grew rather quickly and was hard. Took him in and had a biopsy done and sure enough. Soft tissue cancer. Vet said only way to fully remove the tumor is amputation. He also said he could do a mass removal of the tumor but we would have to do radiation therapy.
For the most part he gets around just fine. He does have like a pinched nerve in his hind legs making them weak. If I run him to hard he refuses to jump back in the truck and you can tell he legs are hurting him.
What would yall do?
Amputate - causing his mobility to suffer but he would live longer.
Mass removed with chemo. $$ not even sure what that would cost and how it would effect him.
Or just let it go until it mastitis and just let him live out his days until it gets to be too much?

 

[KurtR]

My 8 1/2 year old draft started developing lumps about 2 years ago. Seemed most were just fatty pockets. Then one showed up on his front left forearm. Grew rather quickly and was hard. Took him in and had a biopsy done and sure enough. Soft tissue cancer. Vet said only way to fully remove the tumor is amputation. He also said he could do a mass removal of the tumor but we would have to do radiation therapy.
For the most part he gets around just fine. He does have like a pinched nerve in his hind legs making them weak. If I run him to hard he refuses to jump back in the truck and you can tell he legs are hurting him.
What would yall do?
Amputate - causing his mobility to suffer but he would live longer.
Mass removed with chemo. $$ not even sure what that would cost and how it would effect him.
Or just let it go until it mastitis and just let him live out his days until it gets to be too much?

I would get more details on the chemo and a second opinion from a vet who specializes in cancer. Just letting it go is not an option i would consider and suffer through.

 

[MattB]

Very sorry to hear that. My first thought would be a second opinion.

 

[Laramie]

I spent several thousand on a dog many years ago. Watching what he went through with the treatment was rough. I'll never do that again as his quality of life never truly returned.

In your shoes I would ask the vet for dog pain killers. Give him those as needed until the time comes when that doesn't work. Once his quality of life goes, so should he. Sucks to say or think about but I believe that to be the most humane way to deal with it.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

Went through something similar on two dogs.

Go for quality of life and put the dog down before it gets too bad. Any estimate is a wild guess. Had one dog bleed out (leukemia) during a birthday party a couple days into “he has two weeks to live”.

Otherwise you can be out a small fortune for not much more time with your four-legged loved one.

 

[Rob5589]

I'd get a 2nd opinion as well. What I learned when my lab had cancer several years ago is that the prognosis is generally poor with most forms in dogs. Sorry to hear.

 

[ewade07]

I had a similar situation with my dog. She was closing in on 8, noticed she started eating less and less. There was a new puppy in the house so i stupidly chalked it up to maybe stress form that. She started dropping some real weight and wouldnt eat a thing, not even raw hamburger. She was still the happiest dog. I took her in to a vet and they said "oh its probably bacterial, heres some meds". Started giving her the meds and no improvement, so i took her into a different vet and they did an ultra sound and found lumps high up in her stomach cavity. Cancer. The vet gave me multiple options, of which chemo and natureopathic remedies were included. I decided to take her home and do nothing. We went fishing for the last time that weekend and I went in and put her down that Monday.

Chemo is far too expensive and then youre really only buying your dog a small amount of time. Amputation would be a consideration, but what if it comes back? And what would the dogs quality of life be like? Consider all your options. And im sorry to hear your friend has cancer. Putting my dog down was one of the toughest yet easiest decidsions ive had to make, if that makes any sense.

 

[veganhunter]

I recently went through the same thing, really painful stuff so I'm sorry you're in the situation. My vet reminded me that humans will put themselves through absolute hell to fight cancer but for dogs - we should focus on the quality of life.

I was looking at north of $20K for surgery and chemo for my lab, and the doctors said that would give him maybe another 4-6 months. 4-6 months of pure shit tho. I decided to let him live his best dog life while treating him with palliative care until it was obvious he had to be put down.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

We lost three GSP's to that damn disease. We were fortunate our daughter is a vet tech. so she was able to get meds. at a real discount or I'm not sure what we would have done. Even at that, towards the end their quality of life was poor we had them put down. The last one got real bad on a camping trip and we had to make a 200 mile trip with a dog in real pain. Never again when it gets close, I will end it. do yourself and the dog a favor and end their suffering. I miss each and every one of them. I'm sorry you are going through this.

 

[Wrench]

Best of luck... sorry. This is worth considering.

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[bdg848]

I'm sorry to hear that. I would first get a second opinion but if the options are still the same, I would consider the amputation. He will never be 100% of what he used to be but he will adapt and as far as personality goes, be the same old dog you love. There are plenty of dogs out there with three legs who still live a happy and active life. I have seen videos of 3 legged pointers still busting brush and pinning birds down and having fun doing it.

I would check with a doggy oncologist but I would imagine that chemo/radiation would really degrade his overall health, especially as an older dog. My mom had cancer with chemo and although her cancer is gone, her overall mobility is worse and day to day pain is greater than before due to the chemo and this is six years later...she still has really bad days sometimes. Putting an older dog through that may mean he will retire from hunting anyway so you may not come out ahead vs an amputation...but check with the oncologist, I'm only guessing.

I don't know your position but You could also leave it and enjoy your time with him if money doesn't allow a large surgery. It would not be my first choice but if it's the only choice based on external limitations, you may still get a good couple years with him, who knows.

Best of luck.

 

[fap1800]

Sorry to hear that. Like others have mentioned, I'd get a second opinion. If the same options remain, I'd opt for amputation. Plenty of three-legged dogs out there that acclimate just fine. Good luck.

 

[Brooks]

As great as dogs are to a family when they get fatally sick don’t hold on too long just because you can’t stand to see him go! Or you will really regret it if he gets really bad some night or weekend and you have to watch him really suffer.
I hung onto a Lab too long 20 years ago and on a Saturday night he took a turn for the worse and still to this day I regret not having him put down by a vet earlier in the month when I should have.

 

[fap1800]

I have Pat Macafee on in the background right now and he just plugged his wife's non-profit Fur the Brand. Provides assistance and support for families of pets that are fighting cancer.

https://www.furthebrand.com/

 

[Dazzler]

Exact thing with my hound dog, but it was caught late. Treatment was going to be the cost of a vehicle, and that was for a less than 50% chance.

Wife stepped in and set him up proper with some cbd dog stuff and some dog food that the shop recommended (not a pet smart brand). Vet gave some pain meds if needed. He lived for a few months and never slowed down except the last two days. Had trouble getting up but still ate 1 day. Next day couldn’t get up and wouldn’t eat. I knew it was time when that hound refused food.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cnelk]

Quality Years trump Quantity Years every single time.

I lost one of the best dogs almost 30 years ago to the exact same thing.
He was only 5.

 

[Bear_Hunter]

Going though this now. Stage 3 sarcoma. Initial vet suggested amputation but went to a doc who specializes in cancer. Ended up having the tumor surgically removed, then did 2 rounds of electrochemotherapy at the tumor site. Now he's on daily chemo pills. I only pursued that because all tests showed it hadn't spread anywhere else in his body yet. If it had, there would be no point. So my suggestion is get a second opinion from a specialist, and determine if it has spread yet. They will then give you your options to consider.

edit: he's happy as can be right now. Only side effect is a small hairless spot where the electrochemo was performed.

 

[WDE91]

#1 I would get another opinion.
#2 I see amputation as not a bad route to consider.

Best of luck for you and your buddy.

 

[Lowg08]

I raised dogs for years honestly I would not wait on the pain to get bad. You really can only go by signs and still not know how bad they are hurting. Just do the dog a favor and put it down

 

[BigDog00]

We just went through this as well. My 8 year old lab developed a lump in his neck back in September. Had him looked and the vet suspected cancer. His only symptom was that he lost some energy. The lump grew pretty rapidly and migrated to both sides of his neck. We took him back the week before Thanksgiving and the vet noticed a larger mass in his abdomen. We had to make the hard decision to put him down. It's truly heart breaking.

With that said, I had another lab growing up that got hit by a car. She had to have one of her front legs amputated because of it. She was only about 6 months old at the time but lived to around 12 years old. She turned out to be a fantastic hunter even with 3 legs.