Golden Retriever Cancer
 

Three days ago, my 9 year old golden (he'll turn 10 next Sunday) was diagnosed with cancer in his knee. I took him in for an ultrasound today, and the vet said that there is cancer in one of his other organs (can't remember which one right now) and they'd need to do more testing to determine if it is a separate cancer or if it's the cancer from his knee spreading to other parts of his body. I scheduled the additional testing for Thursday, so hopefully that will clear it up, and hopefully it is treatable.

Has anyone here been through this before? It was a total shock to me; I know it's common in his breed, but he never showed any of the symptoms.

We lost our 5.5 year old Golden girl in January of this year. She got mast cell cancer at age 1.5 and did surgery, chemo and lots of pills to "beat" that. Last year, we felt a lump on her neck and it was Lymphoma. Lymphoma, you can't beat but we decided to do the "Madison protocol" of chemo to keep her going. In the midst of that, she got another mast cell tumor in a different spot and we had to take her off chemo to have surgery on that. She got back on chemo until we could no longer keep the lymphoma in remission. Through the whole ordeal, she was a happy dog (until her last week). We would do it again, even though the Lymphoma and 2nd mast cell bill was $20K. Poor little girl took 66 trips to the vet in her short life.

She was our second Golden. We love the breed, but after researching how common cancer is in Goldens, we now own a goofy Aussie. PM me if you want to talk. Sorry for your bad news.

Rob

It has been close to 3 yrs ago our Rottweiler Samson(13yrs old) went from being happy with no signs of anything being wrong to not being able to walk in 3 days. He had bone cancer in his right shoulder.

When we took him to the vet he said our beloved dog was full of cancer and gave him some pills that really helped for about a week. After they quit working we got what we where told was the strongest medicine we could get and that returned him back to somewhat normal for another 2 weeks.

I then made the decision to not let him suffer anymore and made the appointment to have him put to sleep the next day. That night I cooked him a big T-bone on the grill and slept on the floor with him.

It is amazing how much we love our pets. I wish you, your family, and your dog the best of luck.

Sorry to hear that.

Didn't have that with a golden, but different sorts with a Border Collie and a Mutt. One sorta treatable the other not. New England Veterinary Oncology Group was really good with the treatable one. Got him one more really good year before things got too bad.

Steve B

Hang in there guys!

I don't know what I would do if anything happened to my little dog.
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I find that dogs are incredibly social animals and adding a companion can be wonderful therapy for all involved.


Adding a puppy can ease things for the present and any more difficult times.
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Have had three golden's
 

Lost my first one at 9 to cancer the second lived to 17, i know very old for a golden, the third is only two and a ball of energy still, in fact too much energy.

A friend of mine lost her Golden at about 4 years to cancer. It started off in her ear and then metastasized. But she was happy right up to the end.

My Ridgeback died at 15 1/2, which is really old - we took her in several times for cancer tumor removal, and two years ago the vet said that she was too old to go through that any more. So we quite getting the surgeries and one of the mast cells finally metastasized and we had to put her down when it combined with other complications. Still, a long happy life.

I believe Boxers have the highest occurrence of cancer of any breed - not sure where Labs rank, but it hard to deal with in any case.

Scott - luckily, we live in a generation with lots of information available. One of my favorite shows, when I can catch an episode, is Animal Planet's Dogs101 - and there are lots of breeds represented on YouTube where I found the Golden Lab episode which does mention not only the breed's occurrence of cancer, but also hip problems common to larger breeds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M75Z0VrtpMo

I consider these videos a wonderful resource...hope it helps and I hope you and your friend make it through these difficult times.

Best of luck,
Raymond
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Photos guys!
I love to see dog pics!
Makes me wanna get a pic up of my dog 'Toby' He is a Spanador.
Whats that, well its a mix of a Cocker Spanador and a Black lab.
Usually shorter in stout. Some either can have the Cocker face/ears which mine has.
Think he turns 3 in Feb. They are hearty dogs and smart too.

I have hundreds, but here are a few good ones.

Here's my best friend - 24 pounds of unconditional love:

Buddy Culpepper

Attachment 204583

Scott - Hope things work out well for your Golden.

I had to put down my two English Mastiffs due to bone cancer. Both were gut wrenching experiences which I still vividly remember. Figured I go dog-less for a while until I suddenly got a call from my vet. He said he had a Mastiff puppy returned to the breeder from the previous owner and he wanted to know if I’d take him. Owners gave him up because he was too big, aggressive and full of energy (6 months, 125 lbs). ‘Wrigley’ has now been with me for over seven years and a couple of years ago I added a black lab ‘Ernie’. As it so happens, when I go out of town, Wrigley spends his time at the vet’s personal home with two female Golden Retrievers.
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/y...psxsm2lkfx.jpg

Bill, Wrigley has the same name tag as my black and tan coonhound, Bailey. We adopted Bailey at 14 months and we are his fourth owners. He's a handsome guy, but he's a coonhound puppy. I'm trying to convince my girlfriend that Bailey needs a companion.

I had a female bulldog who was 10 and a half (really old for bulldogs) develop cancer pretty much all over. went from being extremely lively to not walking within a week. we had her put to sleep because we knew she was in pain.
a real sad day :(

Thank you to everyone who replied, both here and with PM's. This has been a roller coaster, and the outpouring of support really means a lot to me.

I have good news on the dog front: the original ultrasound, which showed the cancer spreading to his other organs, appears to have been mistaken, and it is still confined to his right leg. (The vet aspirated his spleen and the tests came back negative, and in his intestines she couldn't find anything 'suspicious enough to stick a needle in'). I'm going to call the vet to schedule his surgery later this week. He will have a long recovery ahead of him, but he can do it.

As requested, here is a picture of him. This was taken at Christmas last year.
http://i592.photobucket.com/albums/t...psnklglzup.jpg

That is awesome Scott, good luck with the surgery.

What a GOOOOD DOG !!!

all the best for days ahead,
Raymond