My dog has cancer

[eli's mama]

I just got a call from my vet (well not just, but late yesterday) that our cytology came back positive for cancer in my german shepherd. I'm devastated, but I've been through this before. The thing is she's kind of on the old side (11). My lab had a tumor when he was much younger than that and it was removed and he has been cancer free ever since, he's also 11. This one is different, it's larger, it's in a funky spot and we don't know how long it's been there. There is concern that it's spread to her lungs, if it has, we can't operate. I guess I'm here for prayers. My DH is not really talking about it much, the surgery is expensive and we don't have a lot of money to begin with. Also, what do I tell my kids? I've told them she's sick and we need to be extra nice to her, but what if she dies? I am crying just thinking about it, i don't know how to tell my kids without turning into an emotional wreck. We don't have a date for the surgery yet, I am waiting to hear from the vet's office for that. Anyway, any prayers are appreciated.

[angie7]

[ParisApril]

My dog Zoe (she will be 12 years in Sept.) has had cancer for over 6 years now. The type she has needs to be totally removed because if you don't get all of it, once disturbed it will spread like wildfire throughout the body. It is on her front leg and the vet said to be safe you would have to remove the whole leg. I researched the life quality of large breed dogs that have had a front leg removed and it was not good. We would have had to carry her up and down the stairs for the rest of her life. No running, a hard time even walking. She is a labrador retriever. She lives to fetch and run and swim. And she was fine the only thing wrong with her was a lump on her leg.

6 years later she's still doing okay. The lump on her leg is as big as a golf ball now but she doesn't bite at it or scratch it. She is old now so she sleeps a lot. She can't go on long walks anymore. She still likes to play in the river (fetching rocks) but I don't like her to because she has joint problems and she limps for a week after walking around in the uneven rocky river. Right now she has fleas

I was really upset when I found out my dog had cancer. I cried a lot. I just figured she was going to die fast. But she didn't, she's hanging in there.

I hope your dog will be alright too.

[PlayaMama]

there's an awesome yahoo group that i joined when i found out my dog had cancer. they have some really knowledgeable folks about all different types of cancer. i'm not a member anymore but i think it's caninecancer or you could search for those words.

my dog had oral malignant melanoma which is supposed to be one of the worst, she had two mouth surgeries to remove lumps and it finally spread to her lymph node on that side of her neck.

however, the cancer did not kill her and she was positive for it for about one and a half years. i finally put her to sleep when she was 12.