Hey guys, I know I rarely post here, but I found this thread while searching, and wanted to bump this up, as my 12 year old Beagle, Josie was diagnosed with Lymphoma 1 1/2 months ago. She’s currently in partial remission, and taking Prednisone every other day, Tumeric twice a day, joint supplements twice a day, and oral Cjemo every 3 or so weeks, depending on how her WBC count looks.
Right now she is pretty much symptom free - YAY!! She trots around, “hunts” for rabbits, while I feed the horses, and is currently snoring away in her Temperpedic dog bed. But, of course…I know it won’t last. Simpki, how long did your dog live? She sees her vet every few weeks for bloodwork and a checkup, and to get her Chemo pill, and he agrees that we won’t be doing anything more then what we are currently doing. I’d love to hear any other stories or advice.
It’s uncommon - but we just trated a dog on year 5 of treatment. He comes out of remission once a year, and goes through the whole shabang again but it’s proven to work for him and the owners just can’t “stop” knowing how well he responds! He’s a miracle really. Most dogs receiving the standard lymphoma protocol in my experience go just over a year before coming out of remission. Prednisone and oral chemp around 2-6 months. Of course some don’t do well at all and others are absolute miracles…and go 5+ years.
The entirety of Riana’s life from diagnosis to euthanasia is contained in this thread. I have zero desire to relive this to recall how long that took. It wasn’t long. If you read the thread, you can easily come up with timeline.
My first aussie Boo got lymphoma at age 14. I decided not to do chemo, so he was on pain medication for 2 years. He lived to be 16 before he got too weak and had to be pts. He did develop a few cancerous tumors under his skin but the vet took those off with minor surgery over those 2 years. Boo had a great appetite and the vet said let him eat anything he wanted.
My dog was diagnosed with lymphoma in March and is almost done with the UW Madison protocol. She is in remission (complete I believe.) I have a coworker with a dog that has survived 5 years after diagnosis, no treatment for 2.5 or 3.5 years now.
Well, crap. Just found out my dog’s lymphoma is back. Last chemo was 8/30/16. We see an oncologist on Monday. So she went 4.5 months without chemo, technically in remission about 10 months. I don’t know what I’m going to do. I’ve been so busy and tired anyway, taking her to the vet every week again to redo the UW protocol doesn’t seem feasible. If we go through all that and it recurs 2 months later, it’s probably not worth it.
I can’t imagine living on my farm without a dog, but this has been so expensive that I think I need to own fewer animals that can need medical care. TG she has insurance.
Any stories of hope or jingles for her are appreciated. Anyone know of alternative medicine for lymphoma? I just heard somewhere of a dog surviving lymphoma without chemo using alt. med., but don’t know where I heard that.
Not wanting to make this a persuasion post - but one of our clients has been through the Madison Wisconsin protocol 4 times now. He is living year 6+ with lymphoma. His owners sound just like you, they dont really have the time for it, or the finances…but they cant get over the fact that for HIM, it works. They have a friend drop him off for the day sometimes, and they pick him up after work.
I do think, however, he is an exception and your dog sounds pretty typical of response. Generally, after their first rescue protocol you can expect a remission of approx 1/2 to 3/4 the time of the first remission. However, it really does range depending on the dog.
Usually without chemo, multicentric (assuming that is what your pup has?) has a few week prognosis…
Maybe its possible, if you dont want to do the full UMW protocol, that you could do oral CCNU?
Hopefully you can go in with some good questions for the oncologist and they can give you a the best option to fit your life, and give your dog the best quality of life.
I just lost my kitty yesterday to lymphoma, it sucks. I did chemo, and to be honest it never once made him feel ill, however his cancer was in a particular organ which just started shutting down. It was costly, but looking back Im glad it helped maintain quality of life - as soon as the quality declined, then I knew it was time to say goodbye. Sorry you are having to deal with this, I understand completely the sturggle you are facing.
Yes, she has multicentric. And the oncologist prescribed CCNU. Unbelievably, less than 24 hrs after her first dose, I can’t find the big lymph node in her neck.
I called UW about their Tanovea trial and found out that you have to take the dog to them for the drug. However, it’s approved and should be available this spring, so may be another option for her. Although, they were excluding Westies from the study, and my dog is supposed to be a Westie mix, all 44 lb of her! I suppose genetic testing may be in order if she were to try Tanovea.
Wow is your client dedicated. I’d much prefer to have the luck of my coworker, no treatment for years! Sorry about your kitty:cry:
I’m so sorry for those who are dealing with this, and Simkie - I’m sorry that I was origionally the one to have opened up such painful wounds.
Josie is somehow, still alive. The vets are a bit stumped at how she is not only alive, but still in Remission. She gets 1/4 tablet of Prednesone every other day. and she was getting Lomastine every 3 to 4 weeks, but the last time she got it, she felt pretty miserable for two days, so the vet called to lower her next dose, and not to give it to her for 8 weeks. When she got bad, it was during an ice storm, and I really thought we were going to lose her, but by the next day she perked right up. When we got to the vet, she was wagging her tail, begging for treats. I know her time will come, but we have really cherished these past 6 months with her. https://scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15400465_10211079388396833_3146027581288370359_n.jpg?oh=1fa7b7dd5fc055f6ad2161f823d9ffdf&oe=5917DDCD
I was moved to tears by everyone’s stories, especially sweet Riana. We love them so much, don’t we?
I’m here because my 5 year old pup Scarlett was diagnosed last week with lymphoma. Stage 3 (effecting mutiple lymph nodes on both sides of her body - based on x ray and ultrasound liver and spleen don’t seem to be effected). Prior to treatment, her bloodwork looked really good. We started the CHOP protocol on Tuesday last week. The first IV dose was vincristine. The day of and the day after treatment Scarlett seemed much like her normal self and we went for some car rides, walks, and to the beach. Thursday morning she started the day by vomiting and then went downhill dramatically. Our oncologist described this as worst case scenario. Sucks when you’re so optimistic and you’re in the small percentage of dogs with (severe) side effects. She had watery, bloody diarrhea constantly leaking from her. Nausea, vomiting, no appetite, very lethargic. She was hospitalized for two nights. Her liver values were elevated and white blood cell count already very low. It’s now Monday and she’s turned a corner and ate a little this morning and went outside briefly to sit on her porch. She still vomits whenever the injectable cerenia wears off.
I’ve been giving SQ fluids at home to keep her hydrated since she came home from the hospital on Saturday. She’s also on cerenia, enrofloxacin, metronidazole, and prednisone (the original regimen for the CHOP protocol).
I’m wondering if anyone has any advice or insight. I didn’t hesitate to give her chemo. I wanted her to have the best chance to have another good year (or hopefully more). But after this experience, I don’t know if I can put her through more chemo. Her oncologist said that sometimes they have side effects with one round of chemo and then never again, but he’s not really giving me confidence to move forward and I never want her to feel like this again. On Tuesday of next week, we are going to universiy of Florida small animal clinic to meet with a holistic veterinarian. My main goal is her quality of life. I want her to have one more amazing summer and I want her to feel good. If we can do chemo without side effects, I want to do that. But I’m just not sure I can risk her being this ill (or worse) again. Any input?
Is a different kind of chemo available? My dog only tolerated one kind but she had a different cancer. You might ask if there is another kind to try. Best of luck to you - it’s very hard.
So I presume no chemo this week to let her counts increase and because she’s not feeling well still. Next chemo should be doxorubicin, I don’t know that her reaction to vincristine is at all predictive of a possible reaction to dox. My dog vomited 2-3 days after the oral cyclophoshamide. The next 2 doses of cyclo I gave her Cerenia before she was expected to get sick. The 4th dose I forgot to give the Cerenia and she didn’t get sick. So it could be she was only going to vomit the 1st time and never again.
The Tanovea I wrote about should be available soon, hopefully your dog isn’t a Westie since they were excluded from the trials. I think they can do the doxorubicin as a single drug regimen too if you don’t want to risk vincristine again. Could probably try Lomustine (CCNU) too.
My dog’s 1 year anniversary of diagnosis is approaching.
We were due for the next round of chemo yesterday, but she’s not strong enough for it yet. She is still barely eating, only a few bites of bread here and there (she refuses everything else). When the injectable cerenia wears off, she vomits. Still having watery diarrhea. And she definitely doesn’t feel well. She’s lethargic still and has noticeably lost weight. The round fleshy part of her temples are now caved in. Breaks my heart.
all vets agree vincristine is a no go moving forward. The other chemo IV drugs are an option, but I’m scared to risk making her feel like this again. It’s been a week and she’s still struggling to recover. I don’t know what else to do to make her more comfortable or speed her recovery.
When my dog relapsed, she would eat wet dog food and “people” meat–tuna was the first thing I had on hand to offer, I know she had some of my hamburger one night. I don’t know if you’ve tried everything under the sun and found bread was all she would eat. Jingles to your pup. Since my dog would eat wet food, I tried wetting her dry dog food–very little interest. Tried gravy on the dry food, figuring the dry texture wouldn’t matter if coated in gravy–nope.
It was puzzling since her neck lymph nodes weren’t as big as they were at her diagnosis, and she was eating then. Though vomiting was the reason I took her to the vet when she was diagnosed.
I’m so sorry Simkie I truly feel your pain, and my heart goes out to you in this difficult time. I lost my beloved RR a few years back to Lymphoma, he was 8. The symptom that made me take him to the vet was lack of appetite, and you know in a Ridgie that’s just wrong., At the time of diagnosis, he was stage 4 in his liver and spleen. We chose not to do chemo and kept him comfortable with prednisone and a supplement for his nausea, he lived for another two months before we made the decision to have him PTS. We’re also in New England and were thinking about another, so I asked many of the people I knew who had RR’s and the stories just came pouring out aout dogs that had died at a young age to Lymphoma, so it does seem to be a prevalent thing in the breed. It’s so sad because they’re simply wonderful dogs.
Simkie,
Seriously can we please stop being the same person?
One of my dogs was just diagnosed with lymphoma so of course I’m googling the crap outta the internet and up popped your thread…
Josie lived almost 6 more months after this post, and for the most part, they were symptom free. Then one day she got stuck under my parents deck. I think she just hurt. We got her out, and that night we made her comfortable. The next morning she was struggling to walk. We took in to the vet, and they squeezed us in. The vet techs all gave her treats, and she happily gobbled them up as always. The vet pulled blood, but it was inconclusive. We were due to leave on vacation the next day, and I had scheduled her to be boarded at the vets. The vet said that with pain meds, she may snap out of it, and be ok in a few days, or she may have injured her back somehow.
I struggled with my decision. Had I not been leaving the next day, I might have given her pain meds, and waited to see how she did, but my fear was leaving, and vet having to put her down without me. So, I told him to go ahead.
A blanket was brought out for her to lay on, and more treats were given, and plenty of belly rubs and scratches. The vet sedated her, and as I held her, she drifted off to sleep. Soon, she was snoring in my arms. I had to swallow down the feelings of regret, as they threatened to choke me. When the vet came back with the euthanasia medicine, she never felt a thing. I got her cremated, and while that wasn’t a cheap thing, it helped my 15 year old get closer for a dog he has had for almost his entire life.
We still miss her. But snuggled beside me is my sweet Yorkie mix, Lucy who we got a few months after this post.
I found her on Craigslist, where she was in raging hear, skinny, terrified, and eating Beniful and bacon grease. She hasn’t replaced Josie, but Lucy has helped heal sone of the many broken pieces of our hearts that shattered when Josie left us.
While I sometimes wonder if we couldn’t have had a little more time with our girl, I’m thankful that I don’t have to ever wonder if we waited too late.
((Hugs))) to.thise going through this, or who have already walked this journey.
