our 7 year old golden retriever - seamus - had a lump on his throat that the vet aspirated last week, and our worst nightmare was confirmed yesterday. he has "intermediate" lymphoma. we are sitting down with our vet on monday to go over options, but i honestly don't think we are going to do anything. as some of you know, he has been through a lot in his short life...and after doing some research online, it doesn't sound like the treatments out there will really give him the quality of life that a dog deserves. it almost seems selfish to put him through so much to give us maybe another year.

have any of you guys dealt with canine lymphoma and/or the treatments that go along with it?

i don't think this has really sunk in yet. he is extremely happy and seemingly healthy. fuck.

this happened to one of my dogs

really sad

we let the growth go until it burst open
which didn't happen for probably two years after it was discovered

the dog didn't seem to be mind it at all
and it was a really happy dog when we put her down

that's what i would suggest

love that dog until that growth becomes a huge risk for infection
then send it to puppy heaven

sorry to hear this

sorry to hear this stone.......

i am dreading when this will happen to my dogs (ie putting them down)

I haven't dealt with that, but last month I had to put down my 18 year old dog I've had since the 4th grade because her quality of life had deteriorated so much. It was a very difficult decision but I think it was the best.

Oh no... Seamus is so cute.

I have zero experience in this area but wish you well.

Sorry to hear about this, e. I don't have any advice either, but wish you and your pup the best.

I'm really sorry to hear this. Cats is right though, there is no reason to put the dog to sleep until its quality of life is affected. You'll know when its time. Maybe its because I have a low income, but I'm don't think that its reasonable to take extraordinary measures to increase animal's life span. Certainly not if the side effects of the cure are going to be worse than the disease.

My dog tore her ACL once, and I paid the $800 to replace it, so its not that I'm unwilling to spend money on a pet's health. But I knew that she would have a full recovery (though she wouldn't be tearing around the yard anymore). Lymphoma and cancers though are different beasts, and will likely win out despite how much you spend.

thanks for the kind words y'all.

cats, while your story is definitely encouraging - and the type i like to hear - are you sure it was lymphoma that you were dealing with? i only ask because after everything i've read, this apparantly spreads very rapidly to other organs if left untreated and life expectancy is usually around 2 months after diagnosis.

who knows though...this mass is pretty small and has been there for almost a month now without getting larger. the vet at first didn't think it was anything because she assumed it would be softball sized by now. i guess i'll learn more on monday.

my main concern is making him as comfortable as possible. and as of yesterday, he is off of his "restricted calorie" diet for good.

bravo.

quickest way to a halo.

Enjoy the time you've got, and end it when you must. I don't get torn up when people die, maybe it's the scary fundamentalist christian childhood I had to endure, but when animals go, i get wrecked.

Weird. We think our dog tore his ACL this morning. He was running down some stairs, yelped and has been limping and in pain all day. Given the breed's proclivity for hip problems, we took him in to the vet just now and luckily the hips seem fine, but the knee is not. Gonna treat conservatively for a week, reassess, and then decide if he needs more aggressive treatment.

Sorry to hear about Seamus, estone. I hope he maintains a good quality of life for as long as possible. I'm dreading the day I have to put down one of my dogs.

im pretty sure thats what it was
but in reading more about it i think we lucked out that she lived so long without it spreading
it was kind of isolated on her back leg/hip
and the vet told us it as soon as that broke open it would probably spread throughout

Really sorry to hear this. My lab is 9, and I dread the day when we have to deal with something like this. She's had two grade-2 (cancerous, but for some reason not as bad as grade 3) massed-cell lumps, just under the skin surface, removed in the past 6 months. They don't seem to be that serious alone (other than the risk of recurrence), but it makes me wonder if anything's going on somewhere where I can't feel it.

I guess there's really only so much you can do with an animal's health. I guess we just have to enjoy the time we have with them.

Anyway, sorry for rambling about my dog. I wish you the best, and hopefully you still have a lot of quality time left.

Oh gosh, so sorry to hear about your pup. Glad to hear, though, that he still has a positive disposition Give him some scritches behind the ears for me.

.22 or .30-06?
front or back of skull?

1. What made you think you were funny? That was just shitty.

2. With almost a thousand posts, did you change your screen name and avatar just for that offensive shit?

never intended it to be funny.
death isn't always so fucking dramatic in a rural environment where this sort of thing happens on a daily basis.
it's cooool man.
take a deep breath and a chill pill and likely a laxative.
also, try utilizing the search function, brah.
peace.

It's not my fault that you you're hardened to the death of a family member because you use an outhouse. Life must be tough on the mean gravel paths of BFE, but luckily you've got all the answers and the hip new slang to get you through it while retaining your faux masculinity.

Dear beer-swilling gun-totin' bolo-wearin' honky-tonkin' fat republican,

There's nothing faux about it babe.

Love,
Diesel.

Wait, i thought they had plumbing in Milwaukee.

I still want to buy that Anna Nicole tee off you, even if Satan owns your soul.

Sorry to hear about your dog.

Golden retrievers are great pets.

My Golden lab died last year from a lump in her throat. We let it go until she was having difficulty eating, then put her down. She was pretty old tho, 15.

this guy hs been a douchebag since day 1.

Sorry to hear man..I've had a dog for 1yr today(5yr old beagle), and I love the shit out of her..I couldn't imagine what it would be like..Best of luck.

J, let us know what they say tomorrow. If it's looking bad, I would choose euthanasia. I had a Golden for 15 years (well, my parents did after I left for school) and it ended up with cancer then went deaf.