How Long Does My Dog Have?
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Updated: January 10th, 2019
It is very important to do what we can to avoid ongoing depression when trying to cope with cancer in our dogs. Ongoing depression is exhausting, steals our reserves, and clouds judgment.
It decreases your dog’s chances of good life quality during a life with cancer. Yes, your ongoing depression.
Please do not misunderstand me. There are many legitimate reasons for guardians of dogs with cancer to be depressed.
Here are some of these reasons:
Take a look at median survival times with conventional care (chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery):
- Hemangiosarcoma of the spleen: median survival time after spleen removal without chemo is about 2 months, and with chemo is up to 6 months.
- Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the bladder: median survival time on piroxicam alone is about 6 months.
- Melanoma of the toes: following removal of the affected toe, this cancer will take the life of half the patients within a year, assuming there is no evidence for spread at the time of surgery.
- Lymphosarcoma: patients receiving the Wisconsin chemo protocol have a median survival of roughly 6-10 months.
(For more specific data on median survival times with different cancers and protocols, see The Dog Cancer Survival Guide.)
So there is every reason to have sadness. But….continued sadness is not helpful to you or to your dog. After experiencing the grief, it is time for an expectation analysis. Time to organize yourself and move forward.
Suppose your dog was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma, and seems to be having good overall life quality 6 months later. Guess what? This is very good news! Median life expectancy with chemo being 6-10 months, about half the dogs with lympho have passed away in as little as 6 months after being diagnosed.
And that is with chemotherapy!
If you have a dog with lympho and your dog is doing well 6 months after diagnosis, you are already beating the curve, since median survival is as low as 6 months in some cases with the chemo.
Get a copy of the Dog Cancer Survival Guide for more helpful information and tools
What if your dog has lympho and is on pred only? Median survival for those dogs is roughly 2 or 3 months. So you are ahead of the game if your dog has good life quality 2 months after diagnosis.
If you were to look at some of the other statistics above, you can see that if you had a dog who underwent spleen removal 8 weeks ago, is not on chemo, and is still maintaining, you are beating the odds. This is very, very good news. This is successful treatment!
An integration of these statistics in one’s mind allows for a realistic picture of where we stand with conventional cancer care.
We really must take into account how short these survival times are in our expectations! We need to redefine success in malignant cancer management.
An understanding of these figures also tells us how we are doing with the addition of our “outside the box” treatments discussed here and in The Guide.
Once we get past the grim reality of these numbers, we can alter our expectations and begin appreciation with gratitude.
The practice of gratitude for each of these days, realizing the odds, is they key to avoiding continued sadness.
Best to all of you,
Dr D
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Our 9 ye old boxer had a sore on his testicle,
we kept it cleaners and used ointment to clear it up.after 3 weeks without clearing up now his testicles and glands by hi penis Are swollen . Can this be an infection or cancerous.
I called your office on dec 28 you never retuned my call my eskimo is feeling better every day and now is starting to poop regular again I only needed advice to help shrink the prostate he is using Piroxicam and conium and it seems to be working any other advice, I will probably use neoplasene again to rid the cancer is this possible?
Does a dog suffer to breathe in the end if they are allowed to die naturally from a non-regenative anemia?
My 11.5 yr old collie had an emergency splenectomy Nov 2 for and was diagnosed with hemangiosarcoma. I would like to know if you’d be willing to give me a phone consultation with me regarding the best treatment for him. I of course will pay for the consult. I can fax you all info so far. 2 abdominal ultrasounds and 2 chest xrays show there are no gross mets to either organ. The spleen though had ruptured at the time of surgery.. He tested negative for the MDR mutation. He’s been doing very well post op except for some cardiac arrhythmias which seem to be slowly resolving. He just visited a cardiologist who gave him the OK for adriamycin. All three oncology vets have recommended daily long term Yunnan Baiyao about which I have great hesitancy. My dog has seen three oncologists and he was given three different recommendations. Please call me @ 248-701-4039. I live in the Detroit area and would be happy to prepay for this consultation with my credit card. I would appreciate your response ASAP since they want to start ADRIAMYCIN therapy next Tuesday. I’m not sure how to proceed
Thank you,
Audrey Bruell, MD
3 weeks ago my adorable 11 year old Jack Russell was breathing noisily. The Vet said it was fluid and prescribed Frusemide, he went back 3 days later for ultrasound , they said, and he was, much better, the scan showed no tumours but the vet said he did have a heart problem causing the fluid, he also prescribed Prednisole and antibiotics. He went back for further ultrasound this week and we have now been told there is a large mass by his heart squashing his organs, his tummy has also been swollen and we were told this was gas. He now has Cardalis to take once a day, aswell as the prednisole and frusemide. He seems so much better, the tummy swelling is definitely improving. He is eating and drinking, he is a little more tired than he used to be though. What should we expect? Whats likely to happen to our little boy? I dont know what to believe anymore. Any help will be so appreciated. Thank you
Dear Vanessa,
sorry to hear this news. The important thing is to get an actual diagnosis.
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/fine-needle-aspirates-to-diagnose-dog-cancer/
A fluid analysis of can help as well. Only then will you be able to tell the best conventional care options. Next, if your JRT has cancer, start with the Guide fast. This will get you started prior to that:
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/an-overview-of-what-else-can-i-do/
Best,
Dr D
Hello Dr. Dressler.
My male shih-tzu, Jordan, will be 14 years old in February 2013. This past March, we found a large mass cell tumor on his chest. The vet did surgery to remove the tumor, and was successful in removing the entire tumor. At his follow-up, his blood work came back showing no remaining signs of cancer.
However, a few days ago, he suddenly became very ill. He was urinating without realizing it, and throwing up alot. After two days of refusing to eat and seeing no improvement, we took him to the vet.
The vet did x-rays and bloodwork, and said that there was a large mass on one lobe of his liver. The bloodwork revealed toxic levels of the enzymes produced by the liver (sorry, I don’t remember the specific names). He said that he was unsure if it was cancer, and that if we really wanted to, he could do surgery. Either exploratory, or to just remove the mass/that lobe of his liver. But he’s almost 14. Is he too old to undergo surgery? Is the surgery just too major? If we do opt to do surgery, how much longer would he be expected to live? If surgery ends up not being an option, do we put him down? Or do we let nature take it’s course (while making him as comfortable as possible, of course)? So worried. He is family to me.
Thank you for your time.
My four year old Maltese mix (we rescued her from a shelter almost two years ago) was just diagnosed with lymphoma. It is in all of her lymph nodes and possibly has spread to her spleen but we aren’t sure about the spleen because we haven’t gotten past the initial diagnosis of her having it in all of her lymph nodes. We have been given options of chemo and told that it might buy her a year, or we can keep her on prednisone and keep her comfortable and that she may last anywhere from 4 weeks to 6 months. Of course no one can determine the time she has left here on earth. We are wondering since she is so young, should we put her thru the chemo and hopefully buy her more time? Or will that harm her and make her miserable just to add a few months. We don’t want her to suffer anymore than she already has been. Or do we continue on the prednisone path and pray she stays with us for as long as we can get? We are really torn as to what to do and what is best for her. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Zadies mom and dad
Linda,
I just read your post about your boxer. I know the pain you feel right now. You are not alone. I give my English Bulldog two (2) – 25mg benadryl tablets when he starts to breathe real heavy. It seems to calm him down and put him at ease. I also give him Rimadyl for any inflammation and tramadol every 12 hours for any pain. My last post here was on September 20th. Munson is still alive, although I know the days are very numbered now. You are right when you say dogs are our world. They ARE family too. I’ve been enjoying the last few weeks with mine. I’ve taken him for many rides in our car and on our golf cart. My wife bought a jersey for him to wear. The jersey also hides the fact that you can really see his backbone and ribs now due to weight loss. At this stage of his cancer, I don’t have a particular diet for him. We just let him enjoy the foods we do. I even scramble him eggs for breakfast!! Take it day by day and try to take some comfort in the fact that at least you know that you have some time left and you can show your boxer how much you love her. Sometimes death is so sudden that we don’t get a chance to say goodbye. You and I are getting that chance. Take Care……
Im sure you are very busy still wondering on my white boxer that was just diagnosed from an xray with a tumor. Also as Robbie above mentioned with her age (even though she acts 5) surgery isnt realy an option. I gave her one dose of the 200 mg tagamet and 25 mg benadryl but her breathing seemed to get heavy. I wasnt sure if she was just having a reaction to the benadryl. I think I will try one of each at different times to rule out any allergic reaction. Im hoping this will shrink her tumor and give us more time with her. She was just playing and running down the beach like crazy the other day until she coughed up a litttle blood. Thats when I brought her right to the vets and they said she prob has a month or less. Ive been doing research on the interent for 7 hours tonight and the past few. I lost my parents at 60 please dont let me loose my dog too. She is my world. I feel for everyone on this site. As Robbie said above we are not alone. Prayers and hope for all. Linda in Ma.
My 11 year old collie was diagnosed with TCC. It began with the typical straining and blood in urine. We did an ultrasound, they found a growth on the apex which they felt they could get clean margins so we did surgery. The rest of her ultrasound was normal – no signs of metastasizing and her x-rays clear. The surgeon said her lymph nodes looked normal. The biopsy came back as a high grade TCC. There was early microscopic serosal invasion and there were some cancer cells seen microscopically in the margins. I saw 2 oncologists; they basically recommend the same thing: vinblastine for 6 weeks (every week) and then vinblastine every other week for 6 weeks. We are waiting for her MDR1 results before starting chemo (should I go in that direction). They also spoke to me about the metronomic therapy (which makes more sense to me).. but they feel with her very aggressive form of cancer (it is VERY aggressive) they suggest vinblastine. In the meantime I have changed her diet (thank you Dr Dressler) and added in a ton of supplements including I’m yunity (based on the U of Penn recent research with hemangiosarcoma) maitike, fucoidan, selenium, vit c, modified citrus pectin, ip-6, etc etc. I always home cooked meals so they have had a healthy diet but I have stepped it up. I add in broccoli sprouts to one meal every day. I use triple filtered water. I am trying everything in my power to increase her survival time. She is on perixocam and misoprostol and I am trying to decide how to proceed – with vinblastine or metronomic (leukeran). I have also done allot of research on low dose vinblastine. Research shows that it actually kills the treg cells (at 10-33% dose in humans) and activates the killer cells for an increased immune response. I also have read research where removing the tumor reduces the treg population within 24-48 hours. Basically, I guess my question is – is there any way to attenuate treg cells and increase killer cells naturally with food or supplements? I assume some of the supplements I am using will do that with their immune response and I know some help restrict the blood flow to cancer cells.. but I am struggling to find answers and make smart choices. If the treg population is spinning out of control how well will any of this work?
I also checked with LifeVax in the DC area. They have a dendritic cell immunotherapy which sounds awesome and is appropriately priced. The only problem is they need a sample of the tumor to prepare the antigen and I don’t think the surgeon maintained any.. but I have an inquiry in. SO, basically they can’t help unless the tumor grows back (which I hope it doesn’t) and at her age I don’t really want to put her thru surgery again. Right now we are 18 days post surgery and she is doing GREAT!!!!
Bottom line is there any way to stimulate the dendritic cells and attenuate the TREG cells and increase the IL-2 response with food or supplements?
Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!