Cancer Treatment Options Forum - April 9th, 2010 - 5 Comments
My 11 years old yellow lab has cancer, they think it is cancer of thyroid. SHould I remoe it and do chemo?
They think it is thyroid Cancer which is attached to blood vessesls. She has other fatty tumors on her. She has one huge one right under her left shoulder which has effected her gate. She probably has one cancerous tumor on the back of her neck. Can someone tell me what I should do?
I don’t know if I should do surgery and chemo afterward. Or keep her comfortable.
I’m not sure of the normal lifespan for a Lab but 11 sounds pretty much up there! It sounds like the cancer is widespread in which case the trauma of surgery and chemo (which I think would be too much for her) might well be for nothing.
Just give her all the love and care she needs and don’t make the mistake we did by hesitating to have her put to sleep at the right time – our cat developed a tumour after a routine vaccination and was in extreme pain on his last day as we let him go too long.
Hugs to your Lab xo
She is old. That’s a good old age for a lab. I’d just keep her comfortable. Surgery may be too hard on her for her age. Keep her comfortable as long as you can.
I speak from experience. My lab was just about the same story as yours. It broke my heart. But I’m glad we did what we did.
Give her apricot seeds
http://www.apricotsfromgod.info/
Poor dog. Though it is very difficult to euthanize your pet, it is probably what is best. Your dog sounds very very sick and isn’t likely to get better even with surgery and chemo. If she has difficulty walking, getting around, has a fever, doesn’t eat, seems to be in a lot of pain, etc. , it’s time to ‘let her go’. It’s sad. But when you have to let go of one, there will always be a new one who will consider herself lucky to belong to you. Even though a new dog can’t "take the place" of your current dog, she will make her own place in your heart.
Are you sure they would even to chemo. As a human Thyroid Cancer patient, Chemo isn’t the treatment taht is given. We are given a pill to take that is called Radioactive Iodine. It’s quite simple. They’re aren’t really any side affects from the pill. Thyroid cancer (at least in adults) is HIGHLY treatable and is characteristically slow growing. If I were you I would at least do the surgery to get the tumors out. Good Luck.