Canine lymphoma in Cork

Themarts

Has anybody had any problems with Canine Lymphoma in Cork? I purchased my English Springer Spaniel in West Cork in December 2010, he is just 21 months old and has since developed Lymphoma. we contacted the breeder questioning them about this but they said they hadn't had any other dog with similar problems or heard of any. I'm stuck in a rut as we did everything the right way, the Vet reckons that it must be hereditary?

tazwaz

Themarts wrote: »

Has anybody had any problems with Canine Lymphoma in Cork? I purchased my English Springer Spaniel in West Cork in December 2010, he is just 21 months old and has since developed Lymphoma. we contacted the breeder questioning them about this but they said they hadn't had any other dog with similar problems or heard of any. I'm stuck in a rut as we did everything the right way, the Vet reckons that it must be hereditary?

Hi, I'm so sorry to hear this. I didn't get my springer from cork but unfortunately I did have a 5 yr old springer diagnosed with lymphoma. My vet never said it could be hereditary and I do know the rest of the litter are healthy dogs so I think my guy was just unlucky.
If u want any advice about the illness and ur dog please feel free to pm me. On the advice of guys on this forum we tried to beat it with chemo but unfortunately long term it didn't work for us but it did buy us time.

Themarts

Was your dog sick on treatment? I'm
Not sure what is the best thing to do for him, the vet told us that because he is do young the cancer will b more aggressive and if that's the case I'm not sure is chemo the right choice to make. Do you thibking keeping him on his steriods and spoiling him rotten would b best? It's so hard to know he is really my little angel x x

anniehoo

Themarts wrote: »

I'm not sure is chemo the right choice to make.

I gave you some advice yesterday and i agree totally, its such a confusing and heartwrenching decision to make. I listened to my vet and did a "why to" and "why not" list about treatment:

Why to: She had a B cell lymphoma so i knew it was slower growing & likely to respond better to chemo; she was still youngish and this was the first time she was sick in her life so i owed it to her to try at least a few weeks of treatment; huge discount financially; chemo potentially would give her a longer lifespan than maintenance therapy; chemo shouldnt affect her negatively and i would stop it when it did; had excellent veterinary support throughout

Why not: not fair to put her through such an intensive treatment regime when there was no guarantee of side effects or longer life span; huge committment required from me as protocol spanned 18 weeks once a week; guilt if i was doing the right thing constantly;

The positives far outweighed the negatives in my decision making to start treatment as you can see. She lasted 31months from diagnosis to the end and i had the best time with her, literally cherishing every moment i had with her as i never knew would she be ok from month to month. With treatment they say expect 9mths possibly a year longer added lifespan, she got soooo much more than i could've hoped.

It's not a decision to make lightly, but try and rationalise it as best you can i.e. take your own feelings out of it for the moment (very hard i know) and see what you decide.