There is a wide variety of cancer types and there are also a lot of causes that could be responsible. Genetics play their own role in this area. Diagnosing dog lymphoma is possible with the help of a biopsy done on the organs or lymph nodes. In some cases, they will also have to do a needle aspiration on the lymph node. If you want to look for other types of cancer, you can use the analysis of blood, ultrasounds, biopsy of the bone marrow and x-rays to reveal their location. If you want to know the prognosis and the treatment, you first need to know at which stage is the disease.
In the beginning, only a small number of cells are affected in lymphoma cases and detecting the cause is not possible. At this point, you should just treat it. You should focus on a good quality life with long survival target when you do that. If the disease is detected from the beginning, there is a good chance that he will recover and the cancer will not show up again. About half of the dogs that have lymphoma can get into remission. If the dog isn’t treated, he will live around two months from the moment he is diagnosed.
Treating your dog should be done with the help of a veterinarian oncologist, so that the treatment is as effective as possible. This treatment consists of vincristine, cyclophosphamide, L-asparaginase, prednisone and doxorubicin. In some cases, they will also use lomustine, chlorambucil, mitroxantrone and cytosine arabinoside during the treatment. In most cases, dogs will not suffer from complications during the chemotherapy treatment. However, in around 7% of the cases, the dogs will have to be hospitalized because of the side effects. But, as I said, in most cases they don’t suffer during chemotherapy. Ask your vet for more information on this. Read the rest of this entry »