My dog has lymphoma. How to provide comfort without treatment?

I am so sorry to hear of Brooke’s diagnosis. Other than some good old TLC (tender loving care), I would hold off on giving any medications until you are told to do so by the oncologist, because a lot of medications may interfere with your treatment options moving forward. 20 days is an awfully long time to wait; you may want to call and ask if you can be on a list to call if they have a cancellation, or call around and see if you can get in somewhere else sooner. You can also ask your family veterinarian if they have an oncologist they can call to try to help you expedite the process. Again I’m so sorry to hear of Brooke’s diagnosis, but lymphoma does tend to respond quite well to chemotherapy, and usually the treatment is well tolerated. I wish you and Brooke the best of luck. Fight the good fight, Brooke!!

Hi there. I am sorry that Cain is having this issue. When clients cannot afford to do the long course of chemotherapy the next best option is to do high doses of oral steroids (prednisone) which is extremely inexpensive. A dog his size would it would probably only cost you $20 or less a month to do this. Did your vet not offer you this option? The prednisone will not cure the lymphoma but it will certainly slow the course of disease. It will reduce the swelling of the lymph nodes for sure. This may only help for a few months but it is better than no treatment. If you are not going to do any treatment at all the best option is humane euthanasia so that Cain does not suffer. Really, I think you and Cain will be very happy with steroid therapy. Please call your vet back and ask about this option. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

I'm so sorry you and Fendi are going through this. Please consider a referral to a veterinary oncologist for a consultation to see what options are available for Fendi's treatment. There are chemotherapy protocols for canine lymphoma treatment/management that may be good options for Fendi, but they need to be started asap. Fendi may be acting normal now, but if left untreated, lymphoma in dogs can be fatal in a matter of weeks. The good news is that in dogs where lymphoma is treated with chemotherapy protocols and goes into remission, the dogs usually feel good, and often seem to be back to “normal” while in remission. The oncologist and your regular veterinarian can work with you to find the best plan for you and Fendi based on Fendi’s overall health and response to treatment. Please see the following links for more information and to learn more about staging: https://caninelymphoma.com/ https://caninelymphoma.com/canine-lymphoma-stages/ https://vet.purdue.edu/pcop/canine-lymphoma-research.php

I'm sorry Katie has lymphoma. Lymphoma generally is not painful. The clinical signs usually are weakness and lethargy, poor appetite, exercise intolerance and sometimes difficulty eating and breathing if the lymph nodes in the neck get very large and put pressure on the throat area. This cancer is fairly responsive to chemotherapy and the dogs often go into remission for several months depending on the drug protocol. When the cancer returns though usually the dogs decline quickly and need to be euthanized when their quality of life is poor. I hope she can maintain a good quality of life for a while longer. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Katie.

Hello, thank you for using Pet Coach. I am so sorry for you loss. I know it is difficult to lose part of your family under any circumstances. I am not quite sure why you are wondering about doxycycline though. As you know, it is an antibiotic and is not indicated in treating lymphoma. Prednisone is the only treatment if chemotherapy cannot be instituted. Prednisone is not a curative medication, it only works to slow the growth of the cancer. Doxycycline does not do anything to treat cancer. If you can provide more information as to why you are referring to the doxycycline we can maybe help you better. Again, I am sorry for your loss. Best wishes.

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!

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.