# Cancer



## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

I got some bad news last night that my 7 year old black lab has cancer in his lymphnodes. I noticed some weird lumps and that is why I brought him in.

The vet is going to run some more tests next week but things do not look all that good. The vet said I could bring him to the U of M and get chemotherapy for him for $5,000 to $10,000, with no guarantees that it would stop the cancer or that he would live a normal life after the treatment. Without the treatment the vet gives him around a year to live.

I am very close to my lab, as I got him my sophmore year in high school. It pains me deeply to have received this news. I act normal around everyone I know as I haven't told anyone yet, but inside I am in shambles.

I recently graduated college and do not have $5,000-$10,000 laying around. This lab was a "family" pet, although everyone knows he is mine. My parents would have the money for the treatment, but my Dad really isn't into dogs and wouldn't want to spend the money, but my Mom loves my lab to death. She would pay but would probably get in trouble from my Dad.

I don't want to have to make this decision in the first place.

Trust me, there is nothing I wouldn't do to save my lab if I was established and had a paying, everyday job. I just don't right now, and don't think my parents will pay for the treatment.

I guess if any of you can provide some insight into whether chemotherapy works, or anything else I can do, please let me know. I would love to get some advice.

Thank You,
Chad


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## kevin.k (Dec 31, 2005)

Sorry to hear that chad, i love dogs to death, but i wouldnt put that kind of money into one.


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

PM BOBM He may have some advise. I woulden't spend the cash on the dog. I have a Setter that has Cancer. She had little time to live. I think that was about 3 years ago.

He had some recipe that I used to get rid of the growths. Works wonders. I would say that is a more practiacl remedy then 10k.

I hope the best for you. It is a really hard thing. I care more about my dogs then any girlfriend I have had!


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## Old Hunter (Mar 8, 2002)

maple lake duck slayer- I am sorry to hear about your dogs cancer. I have been in your position. I remember well growing up with a dog all through my teenage years and having to put him under. It is hard to do and you will most likely have to do it many times in the course of your life. It never gets easy but it is very hard when you have grown up with your best friend. Best wishes OH


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## Lucky Lab (Apr 28, 2006)

A thought might be to take him and have semen collected. I went through the same issues collected early before the cancer hit bad. Frozen semen will last forever I have used two amounts or three straws each and have been succesfull both times.I went through Iowa State vet Program it cost me about 450.00 at the time. Now I am hunting and raising pups From Bucks Lucky Tarhead born 5/91 sent to his favorite slough 2/00. Good Luck


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Chad,
So sorry to hear about your Lab. It's very difficult when we lose a hunting companion and best friend.

My friend recently lost her 6 year old Chessy to cancer of the stomach and liver. She too says that the disease can be treated in a traditional manner, but the chances of success are slim. She tried a holistic, diet, type treatment with appetite boosters, but had no luck. She, to this day, is crushed by the loss.

I hope for your sake that a new puppy is on the horizon. Though it's doubtful that you'll ever get over the loss of your trusted friend. To watch them suffer is also painful.

Again, all my best and good luck,
Dan


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## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

Thanks for the support everyone. I had another appointment with the vet today and they gave him an injection to bring down the swelling in his lymph nodes.

He is currently on chemo pills to try and bring the cancer into remission. I did some reading online and I learned a lot, although a lot of what I read wasn't good news.

There are 5 stages of lymphoma and I believe my lab is in stage 3, which means basically all of his lymph nodes are infected- neck, behind the arm pits, legs, etc. If it is in his spleen and other organs, it will be stage 4 or 5. Future tests by the vet should determine if his organs are infected.

If they are, the outlook is not good. If it is that far, his time left with me will be even shorter. The average dog will live 4-6 weeks without treatment, with the chemo pills he may make it a little over a year if the cancer is contained to his lymph nodes.

I have a friend who is a vet tech and I have a meeting with her tonight to discuss this farther and to see what can be expected through this. I want to know what the chances are that radiation will help and if he can make a full recovery. If that doesn't look like a good option, I want to know how to tell when he gets uncomfortable or feels pain later down the road so he doesn't have to suffer.

Not really looking forward to the next year. I at least hope he will be well enough to go out hunting next Fall a few last times. I guess the next few weeks will tell.


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## BROWNDOG (Nov 2, 2004)

Sorry to hear this, hope everything works out.

You probably already found this but here is what BOBM had wrote about tumors.

Heres what I do for tumors in dogs, I have good luck

Buy the following Vitamins and supplements

E 400 iu 
B complex 
C 1000mg 
A 10,000 iu 
Zinc 50 mg 
Co Q10 150 mg 
Fish oil 1000mg 
selenium 200 mcg 
Quercetin 800 mg combined with Bromelain 200mg 
Proanthocyanidin 100mg 
calcium250mg and magnesium 155 mg combined

Purchase them at your local GNC or what ever good health food store is in your area

Buy as many of these in capsule form as possible so you can just open the capsules, then buy a case of canned dog food ( I buy mine at Sams club)

Place one can of food in your wifes blender and empty the contents of the capsules in it then get two spoons and crush the pills that are not capsules and dump them in also ( if you rock the spoons softly it works best when crushing pills to powder rather than just applying a lot of pressure which tends to make them pop out of between the spoons).

Next take a small sissors and open the vit A,E, and fish oil liquid capsules and pour the ingredients in. I feed the dog the capsule skins manually, but that not necessary they just beg for them because of the oil I guess.

Liquify the mixture and feed it once a day to your dog. You should see a big improvement in about two weeks. ( for tumors I do this twice daily for the first 10 days)

This is a wide spectrum antioxidant mix that I have successfully used to cure three dogs of cancerous tumors ( they went away in just about a week to ten days). All three dogs lived years after the treatment one is still hunting with me and is laying at my feet as I type this. Current veterinary medicine offers little help for cancerous tumors in dogs.

The bottom line is the body cures itself and this concoction provides it with the fuel needed to do so. I'm not making any guarantees but it has worked on two of my dogs and one of my friends all of which the vets told us would die soon and lived many healthy years after.

By the way I take this same mix daily, and have for years Sans the can of dog food! . I haven't been sick or had a cold in the last 10 years not once, which is a feat in a houshold with 5 kids in school. IF you take this daily and when you feel a cold coming one immediately up the Vitamin a dosage to 50,000 iu for 2 consecutive days ( do not continue this high Vit A dose any longer than than 2 days, go back to 10,000 iu daily after the two days of high dosage) you will never have a cold or the symptoms will be so minimal as to be no problem.

It seem complicated but the hardest part is convincing your wife to let you use the blender to mix dog food , I just rinse it out with hot water and pour the water over my other dogs food, then put it in the dish washer. She got over it.....


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## maanjus11 (Nov 17, 2006)

I've lost one lab and about to lose another. It's really tough, especially because you get so close to them during all the hunting seasons. All I can say is good luck and if things don't work out, you next dog will greatly alleviate the pain.

I wouldn't recommend putting that kind of money into a dog. If you are considering it, consider again about the dog you could get for a couple grand! I know that is pretty inconsiderate...but after all it is a dog.

Best of luck to you and sorry about your predicament.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

Sorry to hear the news...that really sucks


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## dfisher (Oct 12, 2007)

Chad, 
From what my friend in Oregon has had a few Chessies that the cancer hit. She tells me that the chances of recovery are very slim with radiation. That's why she decided to try the holistic diet. Of course, that didn't work either.

But hey, you never know about the stuff. Your dog's cancer may be different than what her dog(s) have contracted.

Whatever you decide, good luck and all my best.
Dan


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## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

If I were you I would PM BOBM tell him the whole story, and see what his thoughts on the issue are. I think I stated that before, but I am serious that man saved my dog. He has so many different little tricks. Im sure he would be willing to talk on the phone. he has more knowledge then any vet I have been to. It seems like they see $$$$$$ BOB on the otherhand see's a guy that wants his dog better anymeans possible.

Give it a shot.

Best of luck.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

hunt4P&Y said:


> If I were you I would PM BOBM tell him the whole story, and see what his thoughts on the issue are. I think I stated that before, but I am serious that man saved my dog. He has so many different little tricks. Im sure he would be willing to talk on the phone. he has more knowledge then any vet I have been to. It seems like they see $$$$$$ BOB on the otherhand see's a guy that wants his dog better anymeans possible.
> 
> Give it a shot.
> 
> Best of luck.


Nice compliment but there is no way I know as much as a vet.

However the recipe that I use that Browndog posted above has worked with three dogs I personally know( two of mine and one of a friends) that were given 6 to eight weeks to live they all lived full long lives.

*the bottom line is that the body heals itself and the vitamin course outlined above is not expensive, and I believe gave the dogs the stuff they needed to help their body fight the cancer.*

Chemo is a waste of money IMO and will just prolong the dogs suffering.

I have a shorthairs sitting watching me type this that was given 6 weeks four years ago. The vet was amazed at her recovery.

You have nothing to lose to try it but a little effort and about $120.00 and you can take the vitamins yourself if the dog dies so they are not a waste of money.

try it for a few weeks it will start to show results in just few weeks if its going to work.

Vets do what they are trained to do, administer drugs, ect. Both they and human doctors are not very well versed in other courses of action. And this is not acritcism of vets I have great repect for them and use them for most stuff but have got zero results with cancer from vets.

Various antioxident and anti tumor results are known to occur with vitamins and various other supplements and dogs are remarkably resilient.

This recipe was given to me by a cardiac specialist doctor, I added acouple things with his blessing and so far its worked.

Apparently P&Y had good results with his setter also.


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

I am sorry to hear about your dog's illness. It's tough I know. 

Whatever you decide to do, just make sure that the dog does not suffer. Try and make there last days as comfortable as possible and spoil the heck out of um. When the time is right, let them go in diginity and peace.


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## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

Not looking good guys. Especially with this hot weather he is seeming to have a more difficult time breathing which is making him less upbeat.

The weird thing is that I took him out swimming Wed. night and he seemed completely fine. We were out for an hour and I repeatedly threw his dummy out into the lake 30-40 yards and every time he would go retrieve it, come back tail wagging, drop it, and sit down and wait for me to throw it again.

Its just weird that he seemed completely fine while retrieving, then poor around the house. I guess maybe his drive to retrieve is just that strong.

On Wed the vet said he didn't seem to be doing so well and probably had less than a month to live. This is a horrible decision to make, but now he seems to be suffering at least some of the time. I hate to make this decision but I think I will have to put him down in a week or two.

I had really hoped to take him duck hunting one more season, or at least one more time. I just don't think that will happen.


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## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

Rest in Peace Shadow. He was put to sleep at 2:00 this afternoon after an hour long swimming/retreiving session. It took everything he had to retreive for me, but he did it. He wanted to satisfy me one last time.

With me by his side, he slowly slipped away and I was left with his collar.

A very sad day for me, as tears fill my eyes while I type this. He was a great dog that will never be forgotten as one of my best friends.

Happy trails Shadow, I will miss you greatly.

Your hunting partner and friend, Chad.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Sorry to hear that about your dog. Life is hard sometimes and condolences are just that. Take care and just remember the good times you had with Shadow.


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2008)

It's never easy. My heart goes out to you pal, like the rest of us that have been there, you will always hold those memories of the good times close. So sorry to hear the news.


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## ac700wildcat (Oct 30, 2006)

Sorry to hear you lost your hunting buddy. Its one of the hardest decisions that a person has to make in their life. I'm glad you did get a chance to take him out swimming/retrieving one last time.


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## redlabel (Mar 7, 2002)

Sorry for your loss, I've posted this before but it's always a good read at times like this.

THE BEST PLACE TO BURY A DOG

We are thinking now of a setter,
whose coat was flame in the sunshine and who,
so far as we are aware,
never entertained a mean or unworthy thought.
This setter is buried beneath a cherry tree,
under four feet of garden loam,
and at its proper season the cherry tree
strews petals on the green lawn of his grave. 
Beneath a cherry tree, or an apple,
or any flowering shrub of the garden,
is an excellent place to bury a dog.
Beneath such trees, such shrubs,
he slept in the drowsy summer,
or gnawed at a flavored bone,
or lifted his head to challenge
some strange intruder.
There are good places, in life or in death.
Yet it is a small matter,
and it touches sentiment
more than anything else.
For if the dog be well remembered,
if sometime he leaps through
your dreams actual as in life, 
eyes kindling, questing,
asking, laughing, begging,
it matters not at all where that
dog sleeps and at last .
on a hill where the wind is unrebuked,
and the trees are roaring,
or beside a stream he knew in puppyhood,
or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture land,
where most exhilarating cattle graze.
It is all one to the dog, and all one to you,
and nothing is gained, and nothing is lost-
if memory lives.
But there is one best place to bury a dog.
One place that is best of all.

There is one best place
to bury a dog.

If you bury him in this spot, he will 
come to you when you call -
come to you over the grim, dim frontier
of death, and down the well-remembered 
path, and to your side again.

And though you call a dozen living 
dogs to heel, they shall not growl at 
him, nor resent his coming,
for he belongs there.

People may scoff at you, who see
no lightest blade of grass bent by his
footfall, who hear no whimper, people 
who may never really have had a dog.
Smile at them, for you shall know 
something that is hidden from them, 
and which is well worth the knowing.

_*"The one best place to bury a good 
dog is in the heart of his master."*_

By Ben Hur Lampman
from the Portland Oregonian Sept. 11, 1925
AKA "If A Dog Be Well Remembered"
AKA "Where To Bury A Dog"


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

My condolences.


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## DuckBuster (Mar 18, 2003)

Sorry to hear about your dog. Putting them down is not an easy decision to make. Just remember that he isn't suffering anymore and how happy Shadow was that you were with him in his last moments.

I went through the exact same thing this past spring with my lab, and I can tell you that the first few months are not easy. I am slowly starting to look forward to getting a new dog this fall. Good luck.


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## Maverick (Mar 4, 2002)

~maple lake duck slayer~ My condolences to you! They are truely man's best friend!


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

My condolences to you and your Mom.

Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. 
When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge. There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable.

All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigor. Those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. 
They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent. His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster.

You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in joyous reunion, never to be parted again. The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart.

Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....


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## bluebird (Feb 28, 2008)

Im sorry man.


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## Trapper99 (May 18, 2008)

I'm sorry for your loss, bub. I know how you feel. Its never a easy decisions. But, your best friend is not only embeded in your heart, but you are embeded in the dogs heart. Shadow lived a good life and you let him leave as peaceful as you possibly could.


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