# thyroid tumor



## jim kirkendall (Jan 31, 2009)

I have a good doberman but have a question about my wife's westie. He is 13 yrs ol, has a malignant throid tumor, and the vet wants to operate and remove.I don't want to put him thru this but my wife is hopefull.I would appreciate opinions and info from people that might have experienced this. thanks.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

i would suggest you look at the overall condition of the dog and how likely it would be to get thru the surgery
////eight, temperament, immune system vigor, etc

then consider the recovery time when the dog won't be happy either

then research how long dogs with this level problem can live a fairly normal life ... check statistics and play averages rather than hope for the miracle

check finances

when the dog stops living a happy life and starts wasting away it is selfish to require it to keep living

when it's time to let it go, give it the party of its life and do it at HOME rather than packed off and laid down on a stainless slab under the glaring lights somewhere it DOESN'T want to be

then start remembering all the good times and how free it now is

VERY tuff call that none can make for you, but needs to be made with the dog's well being in mind imo

truly sorry to hear about it


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

yes, i HAVE experienced this by the way 
last time was about 5 years ago with a golden that got hemangiosarcoma
slept next to her every night for the last month outside in her favorite spot

i came home one night and she tried to get up to come to me, took a couple steps but just fell down, still wagging her tail
brought the vet over the next day

i have a big boulder in front of my house...got the grinder out and carved out a hole where i could put her urn and sealed it up with a nice "M", so i see her every day  ...new people often ask what that letter means that is cemented to the rock ....


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## Maureen A Osborn (Feb 12, 2010)

Is the dog currently in pain or is it affecting his health currently? Is it rapidly growing? I had an American Bulldog, who,at almost 12 years old was diagnosed with an apocrine adenocarcinoma in between her toes on her hind leg. It obviously bothered her, but wasn't dying from the pain. My vet wanted to amputate the whole rear leg because it was a very invasive cancer. I told him no, just amputate the 2 toes that are causing her pain(it was an open sore). I wan't about to do chemo or radiation on her either, so I researched all sorts of natural remedies to hopefully prevent the lesion form coming back or spreading, so one of the things I put her on was turmuric, which causes tumors to die from cutting off the blood supply, along with other stuff to boost immunity, etc. She lived over a year after that, she recoved very well from loosing 2 toes. I had to put her to sleep from congestive heart failure a year and a half ago. This is a great site : http://www.caninecancer.com/
Good luck.


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## rick smith (Dec 31, 2010)

my 02
i looked over the canine cancer site and i would rate it as "ok but not great",,,
some instructional/educational facts with a lot of alternative / holistic treatments that have not been proven except thru anecdotal testimony with a lot of common sense stuff mixed in; i'd still check it out but wouldn't say it's one of the best sites i've read thru. many others with more to learn from

it also stresses the philosophy of "you'll know when the time is right to let go"
- i do not have as much faith and belief in that because we don't yet know how to ACCURATELY measure pain in dogs with chronic pain from debilitating problems, especially cancer. too many variables at work and too much variation between breeds, and people often forget that dogs, like many other animals, have evolved for thousands of years to NOT show pain and MASK it for very good reasons - nothing like that for humans, so it might be apples and oranges in many cases
.....but you will hear lots of people who firmly believe otherwise. maybe because it makes us feel like we are doing the right thing and gives us peace of mind

quality of life is also hard to measure .... when you get so attached to a dog it sometimes clouds your thinking .... 
- hard to say what to look for in your vets advice, but i think they should focus on the facts as they are and try and avoid emotion without appearing cold hearted and insensitive ... i've seen some that do and some that don't ... too much either way would be bad imo
- fwiw, in Japan many vets will NOT euthanize, and there is a cultural bias that "Americans" euthanize too soon. don't know how it is with other countries

bottom line ...still the worst decision you ever have to make about your dog


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## Maureen A Osborn (Feb 12, 2010)

Even harder yet is having a breed that was breed to ignore pain, such as an AB,dogo,or pitbull. When my vet wanted my AB sedated at home on Acepromazine after the amputation of her toes, she fought it with everything she had, I only ended up giving her one dose cause she hated it so much. She wasn't in pain when we decided it was her time to go, she couldn't walk across with room and go outside with out being SOB and coughing from the CHF. That was no quality of life for a dog such as her. Her she is at 12 years old in this video(no CHF yet, she go it later in the year), was taken in Jan 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTb5ccMXq-k


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## Bob Scott (Mar 30, 2006)

Rick covered it nicely!
Out of selfishness, in the past I've kept a dog going beyond what was a happy life and I will never do that again.


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## Sara Waters (Oct 23, 2010)

Really it depends on the cancer, Have you had it assessed? 

My mothers 14 yo cattle dog has just been diagnosed with a soft tissue sarcoma near her left elbow. It appears to be very slow growing and encapsulated. She is having it removed and the dog will be on oral cancer medication. 

The dog is in otherwise great shape and considering quite a few of our cattle dogs have lived to 17 my mum decided on this option. The oncologist said although nothing is for sure with cancer the diagnosis was early, the prognosis was good and the surgery should not be too bad.


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## jim kirkendall (Jan 31, 2009)

Thanks for all the response.we are 2 weeks out on the surgery.stitches are out,dog acts like nothing ever happened and is doing fine.I was skeptical but my wife insisted on the surgery.she and her old friend won.


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## vicki dickey (Jul 5, 2011)

I have had expereince here as well. My Australian SHepherd was diagnosed with a rare thyroid cancer at the vet school in COlumbia MO. They wanted to use her as a guinea pig to help treat other dogs in the future. She would have had to be isolated with the treatment and could onlypromised 6 more months. I declined politely and took her home. She died about 2 months later or rather I had her put down when I felt the time was right. She was 11 years old. I would think twice about operating on a 13 year old dog for cancer especially thyroid cancer. Can yuo be sure it hasnt spread elsewhere liver,lungs, bones etc? How much time would you buiy and think about the operation and recovery from it for an older dog.Its never easy to make a decision such as this and my heart goes out to your wife and you.


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