Paging those who had animals with cancer...

[IndyColtsFan]

We rescued a Schnauzer a few years ago. When we took her to the vet a few months after adopting her, the vet found a tumor in her mouth and declared that it was cancer and started quoting us thousands of dollars for treatments, etc. The wife and I elected just to keep her comfortable, as we also found out she was quite a bit older than we were originally told and we had spent quite a bit of money on previous dental work for her. There was no guarantee the treatment would work and this poor little dog had been through a lot in her life already.

Anyway, we took her back a couple of months later and the tumor was gone. The vet was shocked and didn't know what to think. Well, to make a long story short, that tumor may have been gone but the cancer wasn't. A few months later, she just stopped eating, had problems walking, and would yelp in sheer agony when you picked her up a certain way. We had to put her down and we had her about a year. It sucked and was terrible, but that little dog had been through a lot in her life (almost certainly abused) and the way I try to look at it is that we gave her a good home with lots of love the final year of her life. After she was gone, we adopted a Schnauzer puppy who will be 5 next month and it helped heal the wounds.

 

[DrPizza]

We had a golden retriever with a cancerous mass on its rear end. Paid for the surgery to have it removed, but even before the surgery, the vet was 90% sure of the type of cancer - a very aggressive cancer that very commonly spreads. He said he'd do his very best to get it all out, but no guarantees. A few months later, the dog was having trouble breathing, couldn't get up, loss of energy. Went from fine to bad shape in just a couple of days. Took him to the vet who agreed, it wasn't worth the money to even check to see if it was cancer - we all knew it was. Had to put the dog down so that it didn't suffer any longer.

OP, very sorry about the loss of your pet. 15 years is a good run.

 

[NetWareHead]

Had to put down my cat due to cancer.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2286161&highlight=

 

[Captante]

Our family dog was diagnosed with cancer about 6 months ago and we had to put him down in November.

Really sad ... still hurts thinking about it BUT it was the right thing to do.

 

[Azraele]

Sorry to hear about your kitty. I had a kitty who got mouth cancer a few years ago. We opted for surgery to remove the bulk of it, and when it started growing back, we used steroids and other meds to keep her comfortable until she let us know it was time. Still miss her.

 

[skyking]

you probably read the thread about Rocky last month, and we had a rottweiler who had a mass on his midline belly that we had removed. It was no big deal.
Several months later he quit eating. If I could persuade him to eat he would later vomit.
He knew, we knew.
An xray revealed little masses all through his organs.
With Rocky, his tumor involved one of his vertebrae and was inoperable, and we could not ever let him hurt again the way he did.
Funny story: Rocky never ate treats that the bank would give him, he hid them in the seatbelts, under things in the car, whatever. The new dogs found one in my truck from our last camping trip with him. They shared it and we shared some good memories.

 

[Sluggo]

Had an awesome dog that had cancer on his liver. He was about 12, I thought it was best to put him down, but the wife insisted that we get surgery for him. I didn't really think that he would ever recover from the surgery, but there was really no option for my wife to give it a shot, regardless of outcome. They took over half his liver out, cost 2 grand or so.

Remarkably the dog recovered fully and quickly, we got another 3 years with him. Worked out really well, I have to give my wife credit for believing in him.

 

[AMD64Blondie]

Dammit..
I hate reading threads like this.

I always cry,because I'm remembering my yellow Lab Sunshine.

We lost her about 8 years ago to bone cancer (she was 6 at the time.)

Our current yellow Lab,Alfie is 8..and I'll cry when we have to put him down (when the time comes..he's healthy right now.)

 

[mizzou]

Taking one of my best and most loyal friends I've ever had to the vet today....She is still in a great mood, but her condition has prevented her from eating almost completely and her mouth is getting worse.

My wife and I are still in denial, but we are going to do what needs to be done. I think this is going to be her last visit.

To have her sit next to me and purr and want to be groomed...it's terrible to think that this could all end in a matter of hours...

wish me luck

 

[dmcowen674]

Taking one of my best and most loyal friends I've ever had to the vet today....She is still in a great mood, but her condition has prevented her from eating almost completely and her mouth is getting worse.

My wife and I are still in denial, but we are going to do what needs to be done. I think this is going to be her last visit.

To have her sit next to me and purr and want to be groomed...it's terrible to think that this could all end in a matter of hours...

wish me luck

So sorry for your loss

 

[Meghan54]

We had to put down our 13 year old Chow, Jessica, a week ago. She was discovered to have a fairly aggressive lung tumor last year. A week ago today she was put down after spending a night coughing up blood. Apparently the tumor kinda "burst", to put it like the vet put it, and she went from what she looked like in the pic below, taken just a week before her death, to a dog that couldn't lay down, walk much at all, breathe normally, etc. (Jessica is the black Chow on the left in the pics.....)

Broke both our hearts.

The rest of the menagarie is sort of lost without her, too. Jessica was the leader of the pack, so to speak.

 

[Kelvrick]

A friend of mine had a dog that got cancer. He paid a few thousand for her to continue on as a three legged dog for another year or two before she met her end. My wife is getting pretty attached to our 6 mo corgi. It is going to be bad if anything happens to that dog.

 

[MartyMcFly3]

Not cancer but my wife and I adopted a puppy who was born with a genetic defect. I actually posted a thread about it on here. Link The pictures don't work so here was one of him.

It's a horrible decision to make, and especially harder when the animal is young. In your case you have to do what is in yours and the cat's best interests. For me it was all about how much our dog was suffering, which was a lot. Put him down pretty quick.

 

[Ruptga]

I would either remove part of the mass get antibiotics, etc. and try to enjoy the time that's left, or euthanize her basically immediately. That decision would depend a LOT on how much discretionary income I had.

Dammit, just saw the OP date and updates.
That sucks for you, but it seems you're taking it well, both emotionally and practically speaking.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Edit;

You loved your cat. It had to happen. They're not hurting anymore.

It was the best thing you could have done.

 

[mizzou]

RIP big girl.... you will be missed. I cherished every moment we had together and you were a big part of the family.

My vet was really helpful with getting her through these tough times. A few shots let her live out a few more weeks, while she was still happy and getting around OK.

The shots stopped her drooling and other issues..but we knew it would be temporary.

The last few days went downhill fast.....it was just her time.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

My wife had a schnauzer before I met her named Spike. She was surprised the first time I came over that he seemed to like me. We dated for 4 years and the dog basically became mine as much as hers. A year after we were married Spike started have a lot of trouble going to the bathroom and it looked like he was prolapsing when he had to do the dirty. Then one day his hind legs stopped working. I held him for a few hours before I went to work, and he started walking again and seemed fine.

Then a few days later he started pooping uncontrollably all throughout the house so we took him to the vet. He had a baseball sized tumor (schnauzers aren't big) around his rectum that was stopping all of his excrement from escaping. We had him put down rather than see him suffer any longer. He was a good dog, and really my first dog.

We starting looking for another schnauzer and got Lucy about a year later.

 

[SithSolo1]

Sorry for your loss.

The same thing happened to our cat. Developed a tumor on the tongue and got to the point he was having trouble eating. Couldn't bare watching him starve to death so we had him put down. I think he was around 14 years old, I had gotten him as a kitten in 5th grade and my other two brothers are even younger. Was pretty hard on the family as a whole but eventually we moved on and got another cat.

 

[JulesMaximus]

RIP big girl.... you will be missed. I cherished every moment we had together and you were a big part of the family.

My vet was really helpful with getting her through these tough times. A few shots let her live out a few more weeks, while she was still happy and getting around OK.

The shots stopped her drooling and other issues..but we knew it would be temporary.

The last few days went downhill fast.....it was just her time.

Awe man, that sucks. I feel for you bro. :'( So sorry to hear that.

I love my cat and dread the day I have to go through this again... it's inevitable though I'm afraid. :'''(

 

[mizzou]

I'm getting her cremated and sent back to me. I need an epic urn to hold her epic cuteness.

 

[TwiceOver]

I'm getting her cremated and sent back to me. I need an epic urn to hold her epic cuteness.

My wife did that with her cat. If you do, never read up on animal cremation.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Sorry for your loss, OP.

 

[mmntech]

The dog I had as a kid died of cancer of the spleen. We didn't know he had anything wrong with him until he ate a dead bird and got sepsis. I guess that was due to having a compromised immune system. Has to put him down. He was 9 when he died. Very sad.