How does lymphoma in dogs cause organ failure and lead to their death?

Hi there! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is a common question I encounter as I only see cancer patients and lymphoma is very common in my practice. Prednisone is good for lymphoma though as you are noticing, lymphoma will eventually progress, as noted by peripheral lymph node enlargement. Normally, lymphoma will not cause clinical signs for some time until it enters more of the end stage. Lymphoma is not typically a painful disease and it is more of a debilitating disease. For this reason, what you will notice at the end is clinical signs such as lethargy, decreased appetite and Brandi just not being interested in the normal things that she enjoys. The median survival time of dogs with multicentric lymphoma just on prednisone is about 2 to 2 and 1/2 months. Usually I tell my clients that the time to consider humane euthanasia is when they are not doing 3 out of their 5 favorite things. Good luck with your girl!

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'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, I am very sorry to hear about your dog Brewki's passing. Unfortunately, I do not have enough information to give you a good answer. I would have to know what type of white blood cells were elevated and how low the red blood cell count was to be of much help. Without all of the medical records it is extremely hard to give council. If you would like, you can chose to do a private consult with one of our vets. That way you can chat back and forth and if you have copies of the bloodwork you can upload those results. I agree with the previous veterinarian though, the Clavamox and Doxycycline administration together likely had nothing to do with his passing. Those two antibiotics are often given concurrently without incidence. When an animal passes away unexpectedly, the only real chance you have to know what may have caused the death is to have a necropsy (autopsy) done on the body but even with that, often times we don't get a definitive answer. Hope this helps somewhat. Best wishes.

I'm sorry to hear about Hurley's passing - she sounds like a wonderful dog. From what you describe, I would agree that lymphoma or a similar type of cancer is the most likely diagnosis. There are no toxins that would cause dramatic lymph node enlargement like what you're describing here, so the substance she ate on the beach was likely not related. And unfortunately yes, dogs with aggressive types of cancer can get very sick and go downhill very quickly from the time they first start to show obvious symptoms. So I would agree with your veterinarian that this is almost certainly what happened in your girl's case. It sounds like euthanasia was the right decision for her, although I know that definitely don't make it any easier. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

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.

There are many lymph nodes in the chest as well and any enlarged ones can cause these signs; unfortunately lungs may be infiltrated by the tumoral cells as well. An immediate check up is needed as x rays can confirm this clinical suspicion and decide whether further treatment can be an option.