<p>This thread makes me so sad. I’m sitting with my cockerpoo molded to my leg with her head resting on my feet right now. She’s twelve. I already know, if the time ever comes that I have to put her to sleep, I will have a vet come to the house. My dog is terrified of the vet’s office and I can’t bear to think of her last car trip being to that office.</p>
<p>Again, OP, whatever you decide to do for your dog is FOR YOUR DOG. It isn’t up to others or for others to judge your decision. You have your dog’s best interest at heart. Follow your instincts and get as much informed information as you can about your pup’s condition.</p>
<p>{{{{{{{{{{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} to all the dog lovers (and guinea pig lovers) on this thread. All of your beloved pets are so lucky to have you as their devoted caregivers. </p>
<p>We discovered a stage 2 melanoma tumor in our chocolate lab 2 years ago. She had abdominal surgery to remove it and the surgery was incredibly traumatic for her. After she came home, she just laid on her bed moaning, it was awful. We gave her pain meds and I drip fed her water through a straw all night because she couldn’t even move to drink herself. She was really miserable and scared and I felt so bad for her.</p>
<p>The worst thing about having sick pets is you can’t explain to them what’s going on, and why what they’re going through is going to help them even if they feel awful. They just look at you with confused, pained eyes and it is so hard. We made a decision after that experience to just not go looking for more tumors. She has a few lumps and bumps on her (some of which are probably normal for a lab, some which may not be), but we’re not going back into surgery. </p>
<p>I consider every day we have her to be a gift, and I hope that surgery got everything, but if it didn’t I will not put her through that again. It’s not fair to her, I can’t bear to have her go through that again. </p>
<p>I wish you peace and love as you make these decisions about chemo. Your dog is very lucky to have you <3</p>
<p>At a certain point, you have to take a step back and think about the dog’s quality of life. Last year, my parents decided to put my fog of 12 years down, and while it wasn’t easy, I know that it was better than the existence he was living. It’s not an easy decision, I wish you the best of luck.</p>
<p>Oh, Yalemom, we were where you are.<br>
This is hard to write. We lost her in October, to a fast-moving cancer that had no early signs. Literally, from one day to the next, went into crisis mode. We went into this telling the vets we’d do whatever was needed. At first, the outlook was good enough. Then the ups and downs. After surgery, she snapped back. She was happy to take long walks, seemed to be recovering. About 10 days later, she stopped eating/drinking, wanting to move. We asked the vets to be frank with us- </p>
<p>They don’t always have all the answers, but medical folks do talk of ways you can tell a human or pet is in the end stages of life. We made it clear we needed to know.</p>
<p>If the vets had said 50/50, we would have kept going. When they were frank, it became clear what was right for our dear dog. </p>
<p>So sorry for everyone that has gone thru this. I had to put my sweet lab down about a year ago and it was so hard. She had a long, happy life but in a few short months she had a number of health issues including laryngeal paralysis and a tooth abcess. She was having trouble getting up and down and x-rays showed severe arthritis in her back and hips. The final straw was a ‘mass’ on her kidney. Her eyes told me it was time to let her go. I miss her everyday but I know I did the right thing. </p>
<p>When my cat got cancer, I asked the vet the question I always ask when there’s a decision to make: “If this were your cat, would you go with chemo?” He said no, so we didn’t.</p>
<p>However, he told me something that helped me a lot. He said, “Once he recovers from the surgery, we won’t be suffering. He’ll be slowed down, but he’ll still have quality of life for a while. It’ll be obvious when he does start to suffer, and that’s the time to put him to sleep.” And that’s exactly what happened. It was only a few weeks, but we showered him with love, and I really do believe he was happy and comfortable. When the day came, we’d already made the decision to let him go. </p>
<p>For us, this was best. We had that extra time to love him and say goodbye, and he had no lingering suffering. And we had no doubts or second-guessing.</p>
<p>Cortana, we have both waited a while and have gotten a dog fairly quick. Both were the right decisions at the time. I have come to the decision that there will always be a dog in my life. I do not plan to get too old to have one. I think dogs keep me active. In my mind, I feel like the dog I just lost, knew it had to move on as a new puppy desperately needed my home. Silly, I know but it has helped me deal with the loss of a beloved friend.</p>
<p>We got our new puppy one week before our sick dog died. We knew her death was coming, and we knew if we didn’t do it that way, it would take a year or more before we got the next one. It helped us immeasurably.</p>
<p>Our pets bring us so much joy. Their death brings us so much sadness.</p>
<p>My co-worker’s dog had cancer a couple of years ago. They deliberated long and hard but finally decided to put him down. The chemo was going to be very expensive and the vet didn’t think the long term prognosis was good. The dog was around ten years old.<br>
Their other older dog got sick not too long afterwards…not cancer but something that got progressively worst…something that had to do with his breathing. They ended up putting that dog down last spring.</p>
<p>Co-worker just told me this week that they plan to adopt two new puppies this coming summer.</p>
<p>25 years ago our 5yo German Shepherd/Lab mix was diagnosed w Lymphoma. Similar to your description, in just a few days she went from a bouncy 40# dog to one who could barely pick up her head and her neck was swollen 2x normal size. The vet gave us the options to do nothing and she would be dea within 2 weeks or start chemo. He said the odds were: 20% the first dose (pericardium) could kill her, 50% no impact, 30% it would take. We went ahead with it. 2 days later we brought home the same dog we had a week before. She reacted very well to the chemo and the doctor only charged us the cost of the meds, as he was doing research on dog lymphomas. </p>
<p>She had a weekly session at the vet. Luckily I worked nearby, so I would drop her off at 8am and pick her up on my lunch hour. She trotted in every week like she was going to the spa! After a year he cut her back to bi-weekly. At the 2 year mark, she suddenly was unable to walk and the vet said it was time. </p>
<p>I would do it again in a heartbeat with another dog. Only thing I would do differently is buy insurance on another dog, however this vet was not out to make a profit on us.</p>
<p>The only side effect we noticed is she developed a leaky bladder, so we tried to keep a towel under her when she slept. It was a minor inconvenience, as she was a great, smart dog. (we took her to obedience school when she was 6mo and they suggested she was good enough for obedience trials competition!)</p>
<p>Happy to report our dog is feeling better today. He is eating and drinking and playing close to normal, so I feel much better. I am going to call the oncologist to see if we should still do chemo this Friday as scheduled, or give the dog a break for a week.</p>
<p>I went back and re-read some of the literature I had accumulated from when this began two months ago, and it all says that 1-2 days of loss of appetite and lethargy is completely normal after a chemo treatment. I actually think that his side effects have been mild, until this weekend.</p>
<p>momsquad - I know what you mean - but we did not do that additional testing. The initial battery of diagnostic tests was so expensive to begin with, and that additional test did not seem like it would change our decision to try chemo.</p>
<p>I do have to say that if our dog was older - say 9-10 years old or more - I probably would have opted to just do prednisone pills and not do chemo. But, he is only 6 and I think he deserves a chance at a longer life.</p>
<p>So, feeling better about the chemo today. Once he perked up, I perked up as well!</p>
<p>When our first dog, a GSD, died, I would have gotten another immediately. I grew up with dogs, and find it hard to be without a dog. But my H did not want to do so. Eventually, I went ahead with getting a golden puppy, having decided to switch breeds. H was opposed and declined to be listed as an owner on the contract. Of course, he became totally devoted to the dog. :rolleyes: We adopted our second golden while the first one was alive and fine. She came from breed rescue, which at the time was run by our first golden’s breeders. (They have since relocated to another state.) I have been wanting to get another puppy, but hesitated to do so while we had our girl, because she is rather neurotic and I didn’t want her passing on her fears and so forth to a puppy. H recently stated that he will never buy another puppy as long as dogs are being put down in so-called shelters. While I really like having a well-bred puppy from responsible breeders–something for which I have very high standards–that is carefully raised and trained by me, I can’t really argue with that principle.</p>
<p>I am home alone with the dog as my sole companion a lot of the time, and I can’t imagine being without a dog. Finding a rescue at a local shelter would not be hard, but I don’t want a pit bull or pit mix, and that is what almost all of them are. In recent years, some rescue groups have been importing dogs from the kill shelters common in the South, and those dogs tend to be sporting breeds, which I prefer. I don’t know what will happen at this point. I love goldens, but I just can’t take this cancer thing again.</p>
<p>rockvillemom, glad your boy is feeling better. Re taking a break from chemo: my feeling is that if you are going to do it at all you should do it aggressively in order to give him the best chance of responding. But that’s just my opinion.</p>
<p>Hugs to everyone. We said goodbye to our golden last week. It was a difficult decision. My H has taken it the hardest. He said that he just doesn’t know if he could get another dog that the pain of losing them is too much.
We almost always have two dogs. We find it is easiest to train a puppy if we have an older dog to help. When our lab died 4 yrs ago we were not going to get another dog but 1 week after she passed we were at an event and ran into a woman we knew who had just had a litter of lab puppies. The puppies were just a few days old when we first saw them. H took it as a sign. I don’t know what we will do this time. For now we have my D’s dog living with us so our young lab is not lonely. I think we would do something once my D takes her dog back.
Regarding expensive treatment- We have been very lucky that our dogs have been relatively healthy till the very end. I don’t know what we would do. I think one thing we would consider is age of the dog.
We also have a horse in the family. We know one family who has spent upwards of 30000 on surgery for the horse. My D’s trainer had each of the riders at her barn sit down and decide on what they would treat and not treat when the horse is healthy. That at the time of an emergency it is not the time to make such a decision. It is easy to go on emotion. My D did some research and found that after a certain age most horses don’t fully recover from colic surgery. She made the decision that if her horse needed colic surgery she would put him down.</p>
<p>For us the pain of losing is hard, but knowing we are saving another dog makes any worry about loss easier to take. Dogs get old. They get sick. We love them. To us, rescuing another dog shows how much our old dog meant to us. Mourning the loss forever to us seems a waste. And we only do rescue. In our town it’s rare someone goes to a breeder or ppt mill to get a dog. People take pride in not knowing exactly what their dog is and where they rescued them from.</p>
<p>Yes - our dog is a rescue too. He actually went into rescue twice! Which astonishes me - sweetest dog - no behavioral issues. The second family gave him up after just a few months due to divorce, no idea what happened in his first home.</p>
<p>We did chemo with our pointer for two out of the recommended 10 sessions. He just took it very hard and we decided it was not fair to put him through it. However, happily, he went into remission and relived for three more years.</p>