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.
My dogs surgeon said that the average lifespan for a dog with lung cancer (carcinoma-primary tumor) is about one year after his lung lube is removed. Is this set in stone? I can not bare the thought of every day after his surgery thinking about how close it is getting to the end. Should I opt not to have the surgery and try other methods of fighting the cancer?
I used many of the methods that you suggested in your book–luteolin, parsley, and I did some research on the K-9 immunity and found the clinical studies validated the claims. (I am an RN). Unfortunately, the day that Dr. Tanner told me would came caught up to him yesterday–the tumor had burst and he was bleeding out. His red cell count was down to 14, he was no longer eating, he couldn’t take more than a few steps without having to lay down, and we decided that it was time to send him to The Bridge. Dr. Tanner said that it would be only a matter of days for him, and he really wasn’t “Moose” anymore. So I made that most difficult and terrible of decisions that we all have to make for our beloved canine companions, and I very tearfully, agonizingly, sent him to heaven.
Rest in Peace, my Big White Fluffy Moose. Say “HI” to Tecumseh and Kiena, and save a place for Mommy–for heaven and earth and all of eternity with be utterly worthless without your angelic presences.
Thank you, Dr. D., for providing me with the tools to give my Moose-buddy an extra 15 months of quality life here in the corporeal realm.
Thinking of you Theresa-
all my best,
D
Moose!!
It will be almost a year since my Moose-Buddy was diagonosed with a tumor on his liver that was so big that the vet said that they would have to remove the liver along with the tumor. They sewed him back up and I took him home. They gave him a month to six weeks to live. He also had a tumor in his sinuses, which the vets cauterized. They thought that this one would come back, but it has not so far (thank God), and Mr. Moose is still White and Fluffy and very happy. He has not been able to regain the weight he lost last year, but he has not lost any more, either. I had him on the K-9 immunity and a whole slew of things recommemded in Dr. Dressler’s book. I am just so very happy that he is still with me and still happy. He turned 13 in January He even tried to chase a rabbit the other night! He might very well have caught him, if it weren’t for his ever-so-slow Mommy. Thanks for letting me share
Dear Teresa,
thank you for this wonderful news. I am so very pleased to hear that your Moose has beaten the odds by such a huge margin!! WOW 🙂
What steps have you taken? The readers would love to know.
Best,
Dr D
One more thing, Toby is taking Previcox, and is walking just fine with it. He is so far a happy camper- still eating, walking, etc. I changed his diet to your cancer diet and started on Omega 3’s and some supplements. I will be making appt with Holistic Vet this week.
Thanks,
Christina
Hi Dr. D-
I bought your book and read it all very quickly. Thank you for writing it and doing all the research! 🙂
My Aussie Shep/ Black Lab mix (Toby) was diagnosed with Histiocytic Sarcoma (by biopsy of the tissue)on Feb 24th, after limping on his left front leg for a few weeks. As you suggested in your book, I got a second opinion by a professor/ vet at UC Davis. He suggested that I do an additional “CD18 staining” of the tissue as there are two types of cancer that form in the elbow joints- Histiocytic Sarcoma and Synovial Cell Sarcoma. We should have the results of that back today or tomorrow.
On 3/5, we did additional tests to see if the cancer had spread- they did ultrasound and unrinalisis. They also tried to aspirate the lymph node, but it was really small and not easily reached, so they could not aspirate. They were pleased to see that metastasis is not present in the tests, ans seems to be localized.
They think the best thing to do is to amputate and follow with chemo. I know that this type of cancer is aggressive and micrometastasis is probable. Do you know of studies or research that shows average life expectancy for HS based on the following options (and do you know average costs):
1. Amputation/ Chemo
2. Radiation/ Chemo
3 Chemo alone
4. Alternative/ Hollistic approach alone
Just trying to make the best decision for my sweet little Toby. I would say I’m in Category B, as described in your book- but my husband is more in Category C.
Thanks for any advice you can give.
Christina
Hi Again
Just took my dog out for a urination and I let him go on a paper towel so I can see if there is blood, no visible blood this time, but I figured I would mention that a small rough sand like grain came out of him. I understand that stones can be as small as a grain of sand so I figured it was worth mentioning
Thanks
Hi Dr Dressler
I just need another opinion.
My Dog is 6 years old ( Rottie/Lab Mix ) Since August of 09′ he has had periodic blood in the urine. In the begining we treated him with Baytrill for an infection ( 2 rounds ) He had an xray, vet saw no stones but he said if some are like gravel or radiolucent he would not see them. He was bleeding frank blood in the begining ( for about 1 day ) and then he would urinate what looked like port wine. He cleared up pretty good through Nov, Dec, Jan and Feb just intermittent bouts of small amount of blood at the end of the urine stream and he has been on presciption food ( royal canin urinary SO ). He got another infection 2 weeks ago, Vet gave him clavamox and it cleared up a lot but he still has a tinge of blood here and there at the end of a stream. He is very healthy otherwise, runs, plays, eats like a horse, great spirits in other words, if it were not for the bloody urine, there is not a hint of illness. Since august when he gets these bouts there are also tiny dots of blood in the urine, I guess too small to call them clots. I also ordered for him some hollistic pills for when he is done with the clavamox. My vet suggests an ultra sound when this round of clavamox is done, i am nervous to get him one. As I fear the words ” he has Bladder Cancer ”
My question is, since he has been having these problems going on 8 months now, if it were bladder cancer, that has not been treated, wouldn’t he be ill or showing other signs by now. My Vet seems to think so. Any opionions is greatly appreciated. What would one see if this was the case symptomatic wise?
Dear Dr. Dressler:
I’m in the same boat as the reader Jared from May 11th, 2009. My choc lab was also diagnosed with primary lung cancer with a large tumor pushing her heart to one side of her chest and many other metastases in both lungs. My vet isn’t experienced in chemo for small animals so she sent me to another clinic here in town. Kona is now on Vinorelbine and has started her first treatment. My vet doesn’t have much experienc with this med and is referring to a local university vet clinic for advice. I would like to know what I can expect from this treatment as he claims to not know but we’ll re-xray her in two weeks and see if there’s any improvement. I now have to force feed her special RX dog food since she won’t eat even the tastiest meats i cook for her. She isn’t throwing up food but does thrown up water daily. Can I expect the tumor to shrink? Her quality of life right now isn’t very good. She continues to lose weight, is very tired all the time and sleeps 95% of the day. She also seems depressed. When I’m home she just follows me around the house and plops down to sleep. What is the expectation with this treatment realistically?
Dear Cami,
the data is all over the place. Here’s a reference for you:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119822218/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0
Bottom line is that first a diagnosis needs to be made and secondly the tumor should be removed surgically for maximum survival time. It also depends on how much spread of the (presumed) tumor there is. As you can see, in terms of tumor shrinkage, the majority of dogs did not respond to vinorelbine by itself very much.
I hope this helps.
You may want to consider getting the info on quality of life and other important factors that will be coming up for you in the Guide. A good portion of the book deals with some of the more slippery ideas and how to make decisions that work for both you and your Lab.
Best,
Dr D
Hi,
We have a 15 year old cocker Spaniel Mix, Hanna, who has been retaining fluid in her abdomen. We had 3lbs (of fluid) drained atthe vet last week and had all kinds of tests run…came back that her organs were fine, she was slightly anemic and the fluid contained no blood only high level of protiens, x-ray did not show any significant mass…She has been on salix (diuretic) and the last two days has lost her appitite…The Vet now perscribed predisone to see if we could get her to start eating…Any suggestions?? She has been taking short walks and is still very interested in the family and what everyone is doing…Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!
Dear Mary,
It is critical to get a diagnosis. An ultrasound is needed as the next step.
Dog life quality assessment is important you should read up on this…covered in detail in the book which is an important resource…also
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/life-quality-in-dog-cancer-dr-dresslers-joys-of-life-scale/
Best,
Dr D
Dr. Dressler,
My 11 year-old shepherd mix Jakey had recurring hemangiosarcoma on his back left leg. My vet and a nearby vet school recommended amputation to extend his life by “hopefully” 6 months. That was 3 years ago next month! I’m so thankful for the past 3 years! But this past Sunday he was diagnosed with lung cancer, probably mets from the hemangio. He can’t stand up for long, but does seem excited to get up and go outside, will eat this special game meat food I found and seems to enjoy being around people, so I’m not ready to end his life yet. He is on regularly scheduled pain meds and does not appear to be in any distress.
My dilemna is that I don’t want to leave him alone for long and I work 12 hour night shifts. My pet sitter has agreed to stay with him overnight, but do you think making these changes would be more disruptive to him than to just leave our schedule the way it has always been? I don’t mind paying for the overnight visits at all, but I don’t want to freak Jake out. Do you think it would be comforting for him to have someone with him all the time? He knows the pet sitters, they’ve been with us for years, so they aren’t strangers, but they don’t usually spend the night. My vet said he might live another 2 weeks or maybe another 2 months…if he was actively dying I would just stay home with him, but we’re in this in-between state right now and I don’t know what would be best for him.
Any advice you have would be appreciated.
Dear Laura,
check out the life quality assessment portion of the Dog Cancer Survival Guide. There is also a blog post that can help:
https://www.dogcancerblog.com/blog/life-quality-in-dog-cancer-dr-dresslers-joys-of-life-scale/
You need to consider your dog’s life quality for his time here. You are the best judge, but get the information you need first.
Best
Dr D