My dog has lung cancer. What are the treatment options and next steps?

Hello and welcome to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Lung cancer can be either primary (one tumor that starts in the lungs), or can be metastatic (cancer somewhere else that has spread to the lungs, leaving lots of small little tumors). Metastatic disease that has spread to the lungs carries a poor prognosis, meaning they don't live very long. Primary lung cancer is also not very good, but has the potential of maybe being responsive to surgery or chemotherapy. In general, lung cancer means they don't have too much time. The amount of time is unknown, and depends on your dog's body, the type of cancer, and how strong your dog is at this point and how much of the lung is affected. I would however expect the disease to progress, and would be thinking in terms of weeks, not months or years. They tend to start to have trouble breathing and then go downhill quickly after that. I am sorry about your little one, I hope your dog feels ok.

Hello, I am so sorry to hear this about Niza. Typically, cancer is in its final stages when it has metastasized throughout the lungs. This means that preparations for palliative or end of life care need to be made. Medically, the focus shifts to keeping Niza as happy and comfortable as possible. This may involve pain managing medications or cough suppressants. My own dog has had cancer for a while, and I am experiencing some of the same heartbreak and anticipation grief in my own home. I would recommend consulting with your vet that gave Niza this diagnosis to come up with the best possible plan for her. I hope this helps. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. You will be in my thoughts.

Unfortunately once cancer has spread to the lungs, there is no treatment that can prolong his survival rate. Your vet is right in the sense that spending thousands of dollars doing radiation therapy and surgery (risky now because Ceasar has lung lesions) is not the best course of treatment. Palliative care (making him comfortable) is the best treatment for him at this stage of his cancer. I am so sorry your pet has cancer and I wish you all the best in the days to come. Take care.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Lung tumors are uncommon in the dog. The most common tumors are adenocarcinoma and histiocytic sarcoma though other tumor types are possible. This can be determined in most cases by performing a FNA (fine needle aspirate) of the mass. The treatment for it will depend on the exact type and also the extent of disease. If this is solitary and has not spread then surgery would be the treatment of choice which may be followed by chemotherapy. The prognosis will depend on many factors like the type of tumor, size, spread of the tumor and treatment selection though cures are rare for any of these tumors. Good luck and best wishes for Cassie!

I'm sorry to hear about Duchess. If the lung cancer involved a single tumor (this is rare), surgical removal of the affected lung lobe is possible but is a very invasive surgery that requires a board certified veterinary surgeon. Due to the level of invasiveness and small chance for the surgery being curative, I do not usually recommend pursuing this. If the lung cancer involves numerous small metastatic tumors in the lungs (which is more common), there are frankly no good treatment options. Chemotherapy can sometimes slow the spread and growth of those tumors, but by the time the cancer has spread to the lungs, chemotherapy rarely provides a significant change in the prognosis. For these reasons, I usually do not push too hard for referral in cases of lung cancer, but instead focus on supportive care and trying to maintain quality of life for as long as we can keep the pet comfortable. I hope this helps. All the best to you and Duchess.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your dog! You're right that metastatic pulmonary neoplasia is a medical term for lung cancer - but, the word "metastatic" means that it spread from elsewhere in the body, rather than originating in the lungs. This is unfortunately quite common, as many different types of cancer tend to spread to the lungs, so without more information there is no way to know where the cancer may have originated. But, it's unlikely that it had anything to do with secondhand smoke exposure, since this would be expected to cause a primary lung tumor - this is a different problem from metastatic lung cancer. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

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!