Dog lymphoma – symptoms, prognosis

What is the lymphoma in the dog and what symptoms do they give? What is the treatment and is it possible to completely cure my dog? What is the cost of the treatment of a dog with lymphoma? Is it possible to heal a steroid dog? What is chemotherapy for a lymphoma dog?

Cancer is the scourge of modern times and spreads between dogs and cats. Read what the lymphoma characterizes, how it is treated and what the prognosis is.

What is lymphoma?

Lymphoma is one of the most common malignant tumors in dogs. Up to 20% of all cancer dogs suffer from this form of cancer. The disease mainly affects the lymph nodes, but therefore attacks the internal organs, such as spleen or liver. A rarer type of lymphoma is epiteropic or skin lymphoma.

The most common form of lymphoma is multifocal (which affects several sites simultaneously), more mediastinal and gastrointestinal forms may occur, in some cases kidney, skin, nerve and eye forms.

Lymphoma causes in dogs

The exact causes of cancer are not known. Risk factors include genetic predisposition (races such as Rottweiler, German shepherd, Bernese mountain dogs, golden boxers and golden retrievers are particularly sensitive), treatment with immunoprezza, lymphocriptovirus, exposure to ionizing radiation and the age of the dog (the disease affects).

What are the symptoms of lymphoma?

Unfortunately, lymphoma symptoms are not specific. The most commonly mentioned include apathy, fever, swallowing problems, increased abdominal outline, lack of appetite, vomiting and/or diarrhea, increase in thirst. Symptoms can worsen with the evolution of the disease, which, unfortunately, in its malignant form, can progress very quickly.

How is lymphoma diagnosed in dogs?

The evil lymphoma can devastate the body of a dog in a few weeks, so it is important to make a precise diagnosis as soon as possible after observing the first symptoms. The diagnosis of lymphoma mainly includes: the emogram, the ultrasound examination of the internal organs, the cytological examination in the lymph nodes or in the internal bodies.

Lymphoma – treatment and prognosis

Lymphoma treatment should be adapted to every single dog, the type of lymphoma, the degree of malignancy and the capacity of the caregiver. The most common forms of treatment include treatment with steroids and chemotherapy. The first form is actually a palliative treatment that extends the life of the pet with an average of 53 days (the remission of the disease is possible, but it is only 17%), while the second way can significantly prolong the life of the dog, the treatment that extends in 80-95% of cases in a comfortable condition of 36 months.

Lymphoma treatment in dogs in practice

Each case of lymphoma is a separate story: the symptoms can be different, the evolution can be different and, finally, the result of the treatment can be different. To better illustrate this disease, we can share the story of Zola, a boxer who is currently fighting with this disease.

Zola is 7 years old, has never been sick of anything, in fact, is burdened only by a genetic predisposition. What were the symptoms? In fact, difficult to see. The dog had nausea for about 3 weeks and vomiting every 4-5 days – this was the only symptom that caused a veterinary visit and a routine hemogram. Morphology showed a not very well liver, so the next test was a hepatic ultrasound. During this examination, it was found that the spleen and internal lymph nodes were significantly enlarged. Only 3 days passed between the first visit and the ultrasound and the dog suddenly began to feel very bad: he became lethargic, lost his appetite and began to lose weight. After another 3 days, a cytological test was performed by the lymph nodes of Zola, although this was only to confirm the suspicion. Within a week, he lost 5 kg and refused to eat anything absolutely. If it were not the rapid diagnosis and treatment, the disease would probably have destroyed the dog’s body in 2-3 weeks, leading to death.

Fortunately, chemotherapy was implemented only 10 days after the first visit to the vet.

What does the administration of chemotherapy has in practice in practice?

Chemotherapy seems threatening, but in practice it seems quite benign. The treatment takes place in a veterinary clinic. You must come to an agreed date with your dog, to whom the morphology is checked for the first time to determine the condition and qualify for chemotherapy. If the results are good, the dog is connected to an infusion. During which, at a certain point, the doctor arrives and adds a dose of medicine. Everything lasts on average up to two hours.

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What is the chemotherapy regime for the treatment of lymphoma in dogs?

Furthermore, the oncologist can use several treatment regimes each can be changed along the road, depending on the form of the pet and the evolution of the treatment. In the case of Zola, the program was four doses of chemotherapy per week, followed by another dose every three weeks. It concerns theory. In practice, after the first dose, the dog’s white dogs decreased radically and had to receive an antibiotic and the next infusion of chemotherapy was postponed a few days. After that, everything went according to the floors and is now after the sixth dose and has another 11 cycles every three weeks before Zola. In addition, chemotherapy is supported by steroids.

The good news is that, since the beginning of the treatment, the dog feels very well: there are no signs of illness, neither in behavior nor in the laboratory results. It is true that oncological treatment can bring concerns such as evil, vomiting, diarrhea or lack of appetite, but they can only occur intermittently and, usually, dogs tolerate the treatment and benefits very well exceed any inconvenience.

How much does the treatment of a dog’s cancer cost?

And here comes the worst point of this therapy: it is quite expensive. Assuming everything goes according to the plane, a cycle of chemotherapy costs about 300 pounds. Unfortunately, these are not all costs. To these are added the cost of steroid drugs (several tens of Ron per month), antibiotics, if the animation feels worse, of further diagnostic tests, if alarming symptoms appear and the cost of visits little progress, when there is an acute reaction to chemotherapy.

The final summary of the treatment can reach 8,000-10,000 pounds.

Photos sources: Canva.com

Natalia Bąk