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I apologize in advance...this is probably in the wrong forum, but I wanted to get as much exposure as possible and this forum had the most activity. Moderators - feel free to move this if you think it's necessary.
Our wonderful boxer has cancer and we're really struggling with some tough decisions. Sugar Bear is a little over 9 years old, and everyone who knows her swears she is the coolest dog they've ever seen. I'm not joking nor exaggerating. I could sit here and type for hours about her. She doesn't even suspect that she's not human...
Anyway, a while back a red lump appeared on one of her lips or "jowls" I guess you call it. We watched it for a while and it continued to grow. Took her to the vet when it was about the size of a marble and didn't look like it was going away on it's own. It was a tumor...so the vet did surgery, removed it, and sent it for testing. It was indeed cancerous, although it didn't seem to be of the most aggressive and lethal variety. We were told with a little luck they got it all and she'd be fine. That was about 3 months ago.
A couple of weeks ago we noticed another one in almost the same spot. The vet forwarded us on to an Oncology Specialist Vet, who ran a bunch of tests. Bloodwork, urinalysis and chest X-rays were fine, and so was the ultrasound...so it apparently hasn't spread throughout her body yet. But then we got the results back from the fluid extracted from her lymph node. Bad news - cancer cells.
So now they're recommending surgery to remove the 2nd tumor from her lip, and both lymph nodes. Followed up by chemotherapy treatment. This is obviously a much more serious surgery than the first one, and the chemo is not a minor thing, either. This is all fairly expensive, too...about $4,000. (We've already spent over $1000 on the first surgery and all of the diagnostics by the Oncology Specialist.)
But there's no guarantee. of course. They say if we go through with everything "you might add a year to her life". Then again, the tumors could reappear anytime, and then it's all for nothing, really. And from what I've read, the average life span for boxers is 10-12 years, so she's nearing the end anyway (and it tears me up to even type that).
What makes it so bad is that she seems healthy as a horse. My wife takes her on a walk every day. She still bounds up the stairs 4 steps at a time. You'd never know anything was wrong with her. Heck, other than her face hair being gray, you'd never guess she was that old either. She's as happy and spunky as ever...
So. What in the world to do. It's a dilemna that's just killing us. We're told that if we do nothing she'll probably go downhill pretty fast, and we'll have to put her down in no time. Or we can put her through all of the surgery and chemo and "hope" it gives us a little more time...but it might not. My wife and I are just devastated. We haven't even told our 13 year old son yet...he's an only child and they grew up together.
I was just wondering if anybody else out there had been through this. Any advice, comments, opinions, etc, would be appreciated. It seems like a no-win situation.
Our wonderful boxer has cancer and we're really struggling with some tough decisions. Sugar Bear is a little over 9 years old, and everyone who knows her swears she is the coolest dog they've ever seen. I'm not joking nor exaggerating. I could sit here and type for hours about her. She doesn't even suspect that she's not human...
Anyway, a while back a red lump appeared on one of her lips or "jowls" I guess you call it. We watched it for a while and it continued to grow. Took her to the vet when it was about the size of a marble and didn't look like it was going away on it's own. It was a tumor...so the vet did surgery, removed it, and sent it for testing. It was indeed cancerous, although it didn't seem to be of the most aggressive and lethal variety. We were told with a little luck they got it all and she'd be fine. That was about 3 months ago.
A couple of weeks ago we noticed another one in almost the same spot. The vet forwarded us on to an Oncology Specialist Vet, who ran a bunch of tests. Bloodwork, urinalysis and chest X-rays were fine, and so was the ultrasound...so it apparently hasn't spread throughout her body yet. But then we got the results back from the fluid extracted from her lymph node. Bad news - cancer cells.
So now they're recommending surgery to remove the 2nd tumor from her lip, and both lymph nodes. Followed up by chemotherapy treatment. This is obviously a much more serious surgery than the first one, and the chemo is not a minor thing, either. This is all fairly expensive, too...about $4,000. (We've already spent over $1000 on the first surgery and all of the diagnostics by the Oncology Specialist.)
But there's no guarantee. of course. They say if we go through with everything "you might add a year to her life". Then again, the tumors could reappear anytime, and then it's all for nothing, really. And from what I've read, the average life span for boxers is 10-12 years, so she's nearing the end anyway (and it tears me up to even type that).
What makes it so bad is that she seems healthy as a horse. My wife takes her on a walk every day. She still bounds up the stairs 4 steps at a time. You'd never know anything was wrong with her. Heck, other than her face hair being gray, you'd never guess she was that old either. She's as happy and spunky as ever...
So. What in the world to do. It's a dilemna that's just killing us. We're told that if we do nothing she'll probably go downhill pretty fast, and we'll have to put her down in no time. Or we can put her through all of the surgery and chemo and "hope" it gives us a little more time...but it might not. My wife and I are just devastated. We haven't even told our 13 year old son yet...he's an only child and they grew up together.
I was just wondering if anybody else out there had been through this. Any advice, comments, opinions, etc, would be appreciated. It seems like a no-win situation.