Chlorambucil

[keepthelegend]

My 15 yr old Jack Russell has been diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. It is very advanced. Started on Prednisone and that is going fine. We are supposed to start Chlorambucil today. Has anyone had a dog on Chlorambucil? Any side effects?

He has been given a 4 month survival estimate and I want to make them great and not miss out on one good day. So I guess my question is did Chlorambucil take away quality of life and, if not, did you feel it increased survival when the WBC and lymphocyte count were
already extremely high.

Thank you!

[Feathered_Feet]

Not a dog, but a cat on chlorambucil for several years for GI lymphoma. She always got cerenia (anti-emetic) with it (I think we dosed the cerenia the night before, or with… I can’t remember), and although there was nausea at first, she did not seem too bothered by it and it decreased over time. She did really well and lived for many years longer than they estimated (closer to 5 years, after estimated 18 months). At first they had recommended dosing every other day, but we cut back to 3 times a week and that was much more tolerable. The first few weeks might be a little unpleasant re: nausea, just FYI. I would not hesitate to put another pet on it today if needed, but I would probably err away from over dosing for quality of life issues (as you mention). The pred will probably do a lot of heavy lifting to making your pet feel better.

Btw, if you haven’t already, look at getting it compounded if you want to save some money. We used Diamondback Drugs, now part of Wedgewood Pharmacy.

Good luck with your pup <3

[ThreeWishes]

No advise beyond I’m sorry about the diagnosis! And that I hope you get many more days to love your dear pup.

[4horses]

My cat did fine on it, but it stopped working and the cancer came back. No side effects.

[keepthelegend]

We started yesterday and he seems to have more energy and appetite! I can’t imagine it’s from the chemo, but it definitely seems to have no side effects so far. Thank you!

[keepthelegend]

That didn’t last long. Today has been terrible with nausea and tremors. Luckily my vet is open on Sunday and I took him for a Cerenia injection, but I am very sad it doesn’t seem like we can continue at this most effective dose, if at all.

[keepthelegend]

Maybe I should not bump this up, but I thought I would update just in case anyone else ever does a search! He ended up doing fine on the Chlorambucil - the early bad days were disease related I soon learned. He lived 4 months to the day, just like his diagnosis, but it was as good a summer as possible. I didn’t want to worry that I had discouraged anyone.

[Feathered_Feet]

Thanks for updating. For what it’s worth, my cat’s side effects with chlorambucil seemed to wane with time (which I think is typical). So for anyone else wondering, it (usually) gets better.