Alicia

Hi, we are the owners of a beautiful and loving 7 year old Golden Retriever by the name of Ranger. A few weeks ago he was diagnosed with Lymphoma. Needless to say, we are devastated! We were told that he probably had anywhere between 8-12 weeks left. Chemo was an option, but after visiting with the Oncologist we opted not to do Chemo, due to that our children should not be around him for the first few days after each treatment. Instead we choose to put him on Prednisone and start him on a cancer diet and supplements. He is still very active and his appetite is great. He is panting a lot. The vet reduced the amount of prednisone to 20 mg per day and he is much more comfortable now. I'm giving him quite a bit of supplements, but it's so frustrating, because I'm not sure if any of it is working. I am following the "Full Spectrum Cancer Care" diet. Has anyone heard of it?? Any advise would be appreciated.

TJandDante

My beloved friend Dante had Lymphoma. You are going the same route we chose. We did prednisone, cancer diet (raw meats,veggies, a bit of lentils,cottage cheese,yogurt, small amt garlic)and the supplements. We gave him Canine Immune System Support, artemisinin, and agaricus bio. He loved the food,always cleaned his plate, and he lived twice as long as the vet predicted, and felt well up until the day before we had to put him down.

Goldens are the most likely to get Lymphoma, our vet was stumped that our SharPei mix got it.

Good luck and NEVER give up hope. Just surround your pet with love and positive vibes,and treat him as normal as possible, love all the time you have him and treasure those times.

TJ

Benpaws

Dear Friend,
First of all I am very sorry to hear the diagnosis given to Ranger. Cancer is a terrible disease and you are in disbelief when you first hear that your beloved dog and companion has it.

I don't know anything about that diet you have Ranger on, but feeding organic vegetables and even fruits, especially those high in antioxidants are preferable, such as broccoli (steamed gently) and other dark green vegetables. Also blueberries are wonderful.I posted a fairly long post on Fruits and Vegetables for you do in the FOOD AND NUTRITION section which you might find helpful.

Our Precious Benny had Mast Cell Tumour Cancer and we fed him a diet of special muffins called CANINE LIFE ( CANCER FORMULA) which he loved and cleaned his plate every night. He was also on cottage cheese and cold-pressed flaxseed oil once a day and lots of supplements which included Wild Salmon Oil capsules, Artemisinin, Co Q-10 etc. He also got Essiac Tea.

Benny had prednisone late in his disease and he was operated on in November 2007, was in remission until July, 2008 when a second tumour popped up in the same area as the first.He died in April 2009 after a very brave battle with this killer disease. He was only 6. He was a schnauzer.We miss him every day.

If you want to check out a site which was formed by a friend of mine who lost her precious Golden at age 6 back in 2001, it concentrates on Golden Retrievers and there is lots of great information which might help you. If not for this friend, Benny would not have had the quality of life he did for almost a year.

The Smiling Blue Skies Cancer Fund - smilingblueskies.com

Also the CANINE LIFE MUFFIN site is http://cancer.landofpuregold.com/nutrition-diet.htm

and more information below.....

Golden Retrievers Helping us LIVE LOVE LAUGH ... & LEARN about Beating Cancer

Love Ranger with everything you have in you, take lots of pictures and keep on keeping on. My thoughts are with you and your family at this sorrowful time. I do understand!

Prayers go out to you,
Hugs to Ranger,

Joanne

rockytola

Well I guess my friends have covered most of the basics so thanks guys! Sorry to hear about Ranger. We had my Cocker Spaniel go to a holistic vet to help with his immune system, he had chemo too (Wisconsin Protocol) which helped extend his life and also used vitamins from Aloha Pharmaceuticals. No carbs, all protein diet and flax seed and cottage cheese blended every day. Wishing you all the best, our thoughts and prayers are with you! Please post any questions you may have and we will try to respond. As my friend Benpaws says, lots of love and hugs!

Alicia

I can't express how thankful I am to have found this site and to know that I am not alone in this battle. This has turned our lives inside out. We have great moments, but when reality hits it's all down hill again. I know I have to be strong for my kids, but the thought of losing my buddy is heartbreaking. He has always been such a strong and healthy dog. He's brought nothing but happiness to our family. I can't fathom the day that he is no longer with us.

For now, I will continue with his diet and supplements and it looks like I should add cottage cheese to his diet.

Thanks for the great advise and for the links on Goldens. I will definitely check them out.

Sincerely...Alicia

Benpaws

You have come to the best site where everyone understands what you are facing with your loyal companion and best friend. I hope you find solutions and help for Ranger so that he is free from pain and with you for many more days.

The people here are just AWESOME!!!

Hugs,
Joanne

rockytola

Hi Alicia:

You can check out the cottage cheese and flax seed oil on-line. It's called the Budwig Protocol and is probably something that humans should take too :-) Good luck with Ranger and keep us posted. We are here to help support each other!

Take care

John

josie

Hi there- yes you have found the place for both your questions and shoulders to cry on.
Our sweet 11 year old border collie was diagnosed with Lymphoma at the first of August. What a roller coater ride of emotions. Our "regular" vet offered nothing in the way of anything on the alternative approach. He told us to wait until she got worsening symptoms, and then we would go to the steroids. We did not take to that idea well at all and found a holistic vet in our area. Switched her to raw meat with carrots, broccoli, cottage cheese and flax oil with supplements mixed in. He also gave us some drops.
No one thought she really had Lymphoma. She was the regular happy girl we always knew so we spent four months loving every moment with our pal.
In late November things changed. She seemed sad and the nodes were swollen worse than ever. We took her in and that's when we went for the two weeks of steroids. She came right back around and we were thrilled and so was our vet. Unfortunately things went bad fast the last few days on the steroids. Our lady was sad and for the first time ever in her life, rejected her food. We had to make the decision quickly and it was the worst day of my life...
The only positive thing that came out of that day was that the vet could not find a vein, and it was explained to us that her veins were actually exploding. She was very ill and had not let us know- "What a trooper" they all said. I realized then that we were not making the wrong decision, be it the hardest in our lives.
To be brutally honest, your dog will most likely not survive this. And it is gut-wrenching to hear that. BUT, what you can do is everything now to extend the pleasure that you and your family have with your bud. I highly recommend going with a RAW diet- chicken necks, chicken wings chopped up. But most of all- lots of love and no tears. Our girl outlasted the diagnosis and kept a smile on her and our faces for four and a half months. I am still dealing with this, and cry often. We do have her sister here with us who has helped tremendously, yet she is sad too.
I am very empathetic for you and your family as I have just been where you are now and I only wish that you can try to stay positive with the time you have left with your sweet dog.
Something that really helped me through this was our holistic vet said dogs only live in the moment- they don't think, 'mmm what will i do tomorrow, or maybe next week?' It's always about right now and the love they see RIGHT NOW. Us humans need to be more like dogs, big time.
Thinking of you- Josie

Alicia

Thanks Josie,

I'm trying to enjoy every day I have with him. Like your Collie, he is such a happy boy. So full of life that it's heartbreaking. I just pray that we can extend his life with the diet and supplements and at the same time keep him happy and comfortable.

I know that this disease will take his life, but I'm just not ready for that!! I'm happy to hear that they live in the moment. I always wonder what's going through his mind, whether he knows that he is sick. I want to believe that he doesn't and that he's getting all these yummy treats because he's my special boy.

I'll keep everyone posted on his progress. For today, he is still happy, still running and still eating up a storm and we are enjoying every minute with him.

Thanks again, I can't tell you how much better I feel having you all to share my feeling with.

Alicia

mfhershiser

Hi Alicia. Like you I have a much loved golden of 8.5 yrs who was diagnosed with lymphoma. My own regular vet who has lymphoma herself, was happy for me to take him on to Auburn University's Small Animal Hospital to establish a treatment protocol. We are doing the chemo and after one round, he is almost his old self but much less energetic. He seems to know he shouldn't push himself anymore. AFter a really bad scare of two days when he refused all food and I was convinced he was dying, he has built back up and will be getting chemo again around the end of this coming week if his CBC is good.

I've not heard of the Full Spectrum Cancer Care diet but I'm going to check it out. For a couple of weeks I exhausted myself trying to cook fresh salmon and chicken for him. Now I'm still doing some of that but mainly relying on Blue Buffalo;'s Wilderness grain free dry and canned dog foods. He loves them, especially the duck. He is a retriever after all. We have not had any prednisone yet and I'm not sure it's going to be part of his protocol. His prognosis seems to be pretty good at this point, not that we caught it really early since it's in his liver, kidney's, spleen and lymph nodes throughout chest. His breathing was quite labored but after just one round of chemo, the nodes have shrunk and his breathing is much better. I'm doing the cottage cheese and flax seed oil protocol for his immunity as well.

My own vet was in remission for several years and thinks that Rex can have a remission too. She has treated one dog for over two years who has lymphoma. The dog is now getting a lot sicker but not due to the lymphoma. He developed diabetes as well which causes so many more complications.

I wish you all the best with Ranger. I love goldens so much I can hardly stand it. I cry over all of them. I'd love to see your Ranger so email me his pix to secondserve50@aol.com and I'll email Rex's pix to you too. I've had goldens for almost 30 years. Also check out Smiling Blue Skies Cancer Fund website. Tons of goldens there. It seems that this breed is afflicted with this disease for sure. Again, good luck and God be with you as you deal with this. Don't get discouraged and always believe your dog can survive. Mary Frances