My dog has cancer. Will chemotherapy kill him within a year?

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Lymphoma is in fact a cancer. This is typically treated with chemotherapy. There are many chemotherapy options that can be considered such as a multi agent protocol called CHOP. There are other chemotherapeutic medications that can be considered depending on what your veterinarian has available. In general, chemotherapy is well-tolerated in dogs when done appropriately. If not able to proceed with chemotherapy, there are other options like prednisone therapy alone which in itself can help dogs with lymphoma though for a very short amount of time. The prognosis with chemotherapy varies and depends on the type of lymphoma he has (B-cell vs. T-cell) and the treatment chosen. The prognosis varies between 6 to 12 months with chemotherapy and about 2 months on just prednisone. Please feel free to request a consultation with me if you have more specific questions. Good luck!

Hi there. I'm afraid I don't understand all the abbreviations in your question, so it's hard for me to make sense of what you're asking. In general, I can tell you that osteosarcoma (the most common type of bone tumor in dogs) is a very aggressive type of cancer, and most dogs do not live more than a few weeks to months after diagnosis without amputation and chemotherapy. So if your dog lived for 1.5 years after the initial diagnosis, he may have simply been very fortunate, or he may have had some other type of bone tumor, or some other problem entirely - since I didn't get to examine him and the time and have not seen his x-rays, I have no way of knowing. If your dog has now passed away and you would like to get a more definitive answer as to what was wrong, I would recommend having an autopsy done - called a necropsy in animals. Your veterinarian should be able to advise you on how to arrange this, if you wish.

Cutaneous lymphoma unfortunately has a poor prognosis. Certain types of chemotherapy can help, and are really the only option for this cancer, with the main goal is to keep his quality of life as good as possible. I recommend discussing what options are available to you, even potentially getting a referral to a veterinary oncologist who can help you decide what treatment protocol would work best for Indy.

I'm so sorry to hear this. Whether or not to do chemotherapy/radiation is a personal choice. It is completely up to you. If you have the financial means to do so and the dog is in good health otherwise then I see no reason no to do so. If the dog is very ill and/or you do not have the finances then you may elect not to pursue this treatment. Again, it is a personal choice. I suggest you consult a veterinary oncologist to get more information on the specific type of cancer he has and what the prognosis is. Even with chemotherapy and radiation sometimes the survival rate is still very low. Answers to those questions are best done by an oncologist. I hope this helps. Best wishes.

I'm so sorry to hear that! It's possible that she may have had a severe allergic reaction to the medication - it's very rare for a dog to die so suddenly after a dose of any chemotherapy drug, so it's hard to say if there was anything else that may have caused it. I would recommend talking with the veterinarian who was treating her about your concerns, as he/she would be in a better position to say what may have happened.

Hello, I'm sorry to hear about Foxy's squamous cell carcinoma. The decision to pursue radiation and chemo is a very personal one, and it's difficult to offer specific input without any knowledge about how aggressive Foxy's tumor is, and specifically where it's located. I'm gathering from your reference to cherry eye that the tumor is growing at the margin of the eye. The goal with radiation and chemotherapy in dogs is often a bit different than with people. In people, the goal is to be as aggressive as it takes to try to cure the cancer - and in the meantime, people can consent to feeling pretty crummy throughout treatment, because they understand the final goal. In animals, since they cannot consent nor understand the long-term benefit of chemo, our goal is more often to slow down and shrink the cancer, with the hope of buying more time with our pets - but it is much less commonly curative. Generally the oncologist with a dog will try to find the dose of chemo that will slow/shrink the tumor, while allowing the dog to continue to feel pretty good. So, there really is no right or wrong answer. For what it's worth, I think if financial aspect of the treatment is feasible, then there are few downsides to pursuing treatment. However, if there are financial limitations, it is important to keep in mind that usually these treatments do not cure the cancer, but simply slow it down for awhile. Again, this input is all without having specific knowledge about Foxy or her tumor - so I do encourage you to have this conversation with your vet, or request referral to an oncologist. Even if you choose not to pursue chemo/radiation, the initial consultation fee may be worth doing in order to have all of your questions answered and discuss all the pros/cons of different courses of treatment. Hope this helps.

I hate to hear that about Lennon. It’s so tough when they have multiple health concerns. I do agree that you should find out if he has lymphoma or not. This will at least allow you to make informed decisions and to understand an appropriate prognosis and timeline as to what you should expect. There are several ways to diagnose lymphoma and one common and very easy way to do it is with a aspiration of the lumps. This procedure is virtually painless and does not require sedation or stitches. It can generally diagnose lymphoma but is not 100%. Once you know if there is lymphoma present or not, you must decide if putting Lennon through chemotherapy makes sense for you and for him. There is no wrong or right answer to this question. The main thing is you will not let Lennon suffer and realize that without chemotherapy, he will succomb to his illness a lot faster. I hope this helps to point yiunin the right direction and that you found it helpful. Please feel free to post any additional questions.