How do i cope with Canine Breast Cancer?

Question

My beloved 7+yrs old Ame Cocker Spaniel was diagnosed with breast cancer yesterday. She is due for an operation this Thursday to remove a lump which is slightly smaller than a golf ball and if not at risk to also be spayed in the process.

I am in the process of changing her homemade diet of brown rice,meat,vegs and fruits after reading up canine cancer information online.

Her blood test and X-Ray shows that her kidneys, liver and everything else is in good shape except a little low red blood cell count which she's on iron tablets for

I need some advice on how to cope or with diets and such if anyone has had or have dogs with cancer. I feel really lost and extremely sad as she is very much a part of our family and we would like to give her the best quality of life that we possibly could

Thank you all for the support and advice, she's due for the operation in less than 24 hours and i'm really nervous.

She does not show any signs of sickness neither is she weak in fact she gave me her favourite toy to play with this morning as i was leaving..and we played for a little while. I think i might leave the toy with her so she'll have something familiar to wake up to after the surgery.

I hope to be back here with good news of her recovery

Answer 1

The diet you have her on sounds good except for the fruit. You might want to add some additional red meat or liver tablets until her low RBC normalizes. I would not be doing a lot of diet changes right now because you want your dog to be eating regularly while she is ill. I'd ask her vet about any potential diet changes. Humans try lots of crazy diets thinking this will help cure cancer. It won't. Hopefully the surgery will give your dog a cure and you can enjoy her as part of your family for many years.

Here is one diet for dogs with cancer that I found.

1lb ground beef (fat drained)
1/3 cup cooked rice
1/3 cup liver
4.5 Tablespoon Vegetable oil (my choice: Safflower/Olive oil mixture)
9 grams fish oil (I just handed Salmon Oil capsules to the dog as a treat: my understanding is the more the merrier)
1/3 teaspoon salt substitute
6.2 grams calcium
1 multivitamin (Theragram M is often recommended)

I strongly disagree with this choice of a multiple vitamin unless the dog weighed 100lbs or more. The human dose of Theragram M is way too strong for a small dog. Get an appropriate canine multivitamin and follow the dosing instructions by weight carefully. Here is the canine vitamin that I gave my dogs.

http://www.bronsonvitamins.com/app/search/detail.htm?&item_id=301

Answer 2

I am answering this as an animal lover and someone who has been through breast cancer!

I would avoid making too many changes to her diet until she is over her surgery. The familliar can be a comfort during recovery.

Speying her at the same time is an excellent idea as many breast cancers (possibly all canine breast cancers) are afected by hormones, so this reduces the risk of recurrance.

If you end up with a worst case scenario, where surgery isn't enough to stop the cancer, please consider euthanasia as the kindest last thing you can do for this beloved friend. It is difficult going though chemo and radiation treatments when you know what is happenning, it would be traumatic doing it when you don't understand and at 7 years of age, she would be unlikely to have a lot of good quality time left after further treatments.

That being said, I wish her all the best for a successful surgery and suggest that you take care in not getting carried away with dietary changes. A well balanced diet is the best defence against illness including cancer and unless ou are considering switchjing to a good quality comercial dog food then it sounds like she is getting a good balance as it is.

Answer 3

Sorry to hear about your dog. I would talk to your vet. Believe it or not a good balanced dog food is the best food, even for humans.
If one could only eat one food for the rest of your life it would be dry dog food. It was in a medical journal a few years back. Always spay your female dogs before 6 mos it cuts BC by 95%.
Also, dogs do very well on chemo. unlike cats. There is a very good Animal Cancer center in Colorado.

Answer 4

How the hell does a dog get cancer?