My beloved 3 year old schnoodle has been diagnosed with a cancerous mass
in her intestine. She is at a very fine veterinary specialist hospital
pending receipt of the final pathology report by Tuesday. Since she
won't eat or drink she is having nutrients and fluids supplied by IVs.
The report will show if it's operable or if it has spread and will
require chemo and I will have to make that decision as soon as the
results are in. My thoughts at this time are that if it is operable to
go with it, but am not at all sure I want to put her through the
suffering of chemo. I would like to hear your thoughts about this.
My heart is breaking.

wrote:
My beloved 3 year old schnoodle has been diagnosed with a cancerous mass
in her intestine. She is at a very fine veterinary specialist hospital
pending receipt of the final pathology report by Tuesday. Since she
won't eat or drink she is having nutrients and fluids supplied by IVs.
The report will show if it's operable or if it has spread and will
require chemo and I will have to make that decision as soon as the
results are in. My thoughts at this time are that if it is operable to
go with it, but am not at all sure I want to put her through the
suffering of chemo. I would like to hear your thoughts about this.
My heart is breaking.

Hi, Nancy -

So sorry to hear about your dog. It's not an easy decision to make.

Our GSD, Dylan, was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma in her
mouth when she was 7, and she required both chemo and radiation
treatment. Our veterinary oncologist explained that the levels
that they give to dogs were lower than humans, relative to body
weight, and that dogs usually tolerated the procedures pretty
well. We decided to go ahead with it, first radiation and then
chemo, with the thought always at the forefront that if the
treatments began making her sick, we'd discontinue them.

As it turned out, she tolerated them very well; no weakness, no
hair loss, no vomiting, good appetite, a little less energy. She
had a met - a single tumor - about a year later; it was removed
and then she was treated with a second round of chemo, also well
tolerated.

She was with us for nearly four years after the diagnosis, still
active and spunky, though slowed down by arthritis. She probably
died of a brain aneurysm, unrelated to the cancer.

We were lucky to have an excellent vet; he was willing to explain
and discuss all of the options and side effects in as much detail
as we wanted. So my advice to you would be to have this
discussion with the vet who is treating your dog; get as much
information about the likelihood of success of the treatments,
the likely side effects, data from relevant clinical trials,
different treatment options, how you can expect the dog to feel
during and after the treatments.

There's another aspect that has to be considered, and that is the
cost. Cancer treatments are expensive. You need to get
estimates of the costs up front, and consider your ability to
pay. There's no way to sugarcoat this, it's an awful decision to
have to make if the costs are beyond your means. One reason for
discussing them in detail with the vet is that there are
different options, some more expensive than others; you may be
able to afford one but not another, and you need to factor in the
success rates of each one in making your decision. Our vet was
very open about this and did not try to push the more expensive
treatments; he recommended going with the less costly ones,
because there wasn't that much difference in the effectiveness,
in his experience, and that would leave the "big guns" available
if the others didn't work.

I hope this helps - I understand how difficult it is for you.

FurPaw

--
It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they
need and the Army has to hold a bake sale to buy a tank.

To reply, unleash the dog.