For those of you who’ve had a dog diagnosed with Canine Lymphoma that had metastasized (spread) ,how long did your dog survive post diagnosis?
Six or seven weeks, I think.
ETA: this was with a chemo program. I don’t remember the details, just that it was the middle cost option of the three they gave me. The expensive one I didn’t choose was the Wisconsin protocol. The one I did choose still cost me about $3k, IIRC. He had about 4 weeks in remission where he was happy and active, and then went downhill fast.
A year or more I think? But they weren’t good months. Looking back, I clearly did it for me, not for him.
I’m sorry to hear about this diagnosis.
Our 5 1/2 year-old black Lab, Patience, lived for about 15 months after her diagnosis of large B-cell lymphoma. She had a round of standard (multidrug) chemo that lasted close to 6 months, was in remission for around 6 months after that, then went on prednisone and lived another 3 months (she died earlier in November).
The prognosis for canine lymphoma depends in part on cell type (T-cell lymphomas are reportedly harder to treat) and stage at diagnosis. Our girl had a fairly high stage disease at diagnosis (affected lymph nodes in different regions), but responded very well to the chemo (nodes returned to normal size). She seemed to tolerate the treatment well - mostly had good energy and appetite. There was some mild fur thinning. Her health was good until her appetite fell off with the return of lymph node enlargement. Then she did pretty well on the prednisone until close to the end.
I’m glad we got the extra time to spend with her and she enjoyed life during that time.
The chemotherapy and associated care is not cheap, but if you can afford it and the dog is responding well then I feel it’s worthwhile. The vet oncologist told us some dogs can live for up to several years through several rounds of chemo but that best-case scenario is unusual.
My 8 yr old Beagle lived 4 weeks after being diagnosed. Treatment was not an option due to prior and ongoing steroid treatment for issues unrelated to cancer.