would you give your dog chemo and why?

I would never give my dog chemo.. I think its cruel and very selfish to make an animal suffer longer for our sakes.

I work at a vet clinic so I see what exactly goes on. Chemo is very different for humans and dogs. Dog (in certain situations) only have a few IV injections of the Chemo treatment, then they're good to go. They don't get nauseous and they have no side effects afterwards. Unlike humans where they're weak and sick for a long time.So if I had a dog that had cancer, of course it depends on the dog, age, body score etc and I had the money, yes, I would treat my dog with Chemo.

Dogs going through chemo treatment don't suffer the same side effects people do. Rarely does a dog have any nausea and I've only seen a couple of dogs that loose any hair, and I've never seen one go completely bald. Generally, dogs may feel lethargic the day they receive treatment, but 24 hours later, they're back to normal. Dogs don't have to carry around the emotional baggage of having cancer that people do. That emotional stress plays a huge part in a person or dog's recovery. Chemotherapy isn't as strong in dogs and when the drugs don't work anymore, the dog is put to sleep. They don't reach the last ditch effort, throw all the medication we can at it stage that people go through. The number of medications used is limited and treatment is stopped when the patient goes into remission or the medication quits working. When nothing else works, the animal isn't sent home to die a slow, drawn out death. They're euthanized painlessly and calmly. I worked at a vet clinic where we treated dogs with chemotherapy drugs and I personally helped my mother in law with two of her Corgis that came down with lymphoma. Because she decided to treat the dogs rather than just put them down, she got another two years with each dog. Yes, they had one or two bad days during treatment, but they were just as happy and playful as any other dog the rest of the time. They had one really bad last day when we realized none of the medication was working, and they were put down the next day.I think not giving the dog a chance at a couple of years of good time is worse than treatment, and if you've never had to make that call, you really have no right to make judgements.

I would not. I was actually in that position once with one of my dogs and didn't do it. My main reason for not doing it was a good friend of mines experience with it. Her dog became so sick with the treatment and any extension of her life was not quality living. She said she would never do it gain. The dogs don't understand that the sickness from chemo can possibly help them. With my dog, when she started bleeding from her nose (brain tumor) and quit eating even wet food (she loved to eat), I knew it was time to say goodbye.

I did have a course of chemo on one of my dogs who suffered from osteosarcoma. His foreleg was amputated, but the cancer returned. The chemo bought him (and me) another 10 mths together.,Was it worth it - for me, it was. But I can tell you this, dogs DO NOT react to chemo in the same way humans do. My dog didn't lose his hair, was not in pain, and by the day following chemo he was his old self again. They bounce back very quickly. He did not suffer I can guarantee you that.Would I do it again? Likely not, and surely not if the prognosis is terminal in the short term. Not because it was physically hard on him, but because there was no way to explain to him why he was going through it - why his leg was removed, why all the meds, etc., why he had to be away from his family, etc. When it was evident his case was terminal, we ceased chemo and kept him comfortable. When keeping him comfortable was no longer an option, he was euthanized.

The weight of opinion was against me, using the same argument as you put forward when a four yr old dog I owned was diagnosed with aggressive skin cancer.However, based on the opinion of an oncologist, the general health of my dog aside from cancer and my own research, I made up my own mind and went ahead with surgery and four treatments of carboplatin (chemotherapy)Chemotherapy for dogs is not given at the same strength as it is for humans, only prescribed if it is in there is a realistic prospect it will extend life with a quality to it or possibly cure the dog and for my dog he did not make a fuss when it was administered by drip so no sedation, bounced back into the car and experienced no side effects.In between treatment he had blood work to insure he was fit for it and in my opinion it was important to try and mop up any stray cancerous cells to give him the best chance of living a full life for as long as possible. Was it worth it yes, because I knew he would not suffer at and deserved to be given the chance to live. He lived an addition four years, dying of unrelated tumors – the oncologist opinion was the original treatment cured him and it was bad luck he developed new tumors that were not treatable so I let him go.Many people who expressed the same opinion as you changed their minds because of his quick recovery, tolerance to the chemotherapy and how successful the treatment was.

If I had a guarantee they would survive I would! If I knew it would only give them a few months I wouldn't put them thru it! I had a dog who had bone cancer the vet explained they would have to amputate and then chemo and it would only buy him maybe a year! We opted tojust make him comfortable!

It depends on several factors. Age, type of cancer, and prognosis are determining factors for me. I also have to look at finances. I've assisted with chemo on dogs that were diagnosed with lymphoma that survived for up to three years after the treatment. The owners' and the dogs' lives were enhanced through the treatment. I have removed the terms "never" and "always" from my vocabulary years ago. I know that people's opinions change with age, situation and experience. Your "never" today might turn into "maybe" in 5 to 10 years.

If my dog was young and the Chemo was going to give him a chance to live a lot longer then yes I would have it done.My 12 year old dog Gsd has just been diagnosed with a malignant tumour (sarcoma) and at his age the chances are he will die hopefully naturally before the cancer spreads too far to cause him any pain so I am not going to put the old fellow through any operations or drastic treaments at his age. He is still bouncing about and coming out on long walks and is happy. he has no idea of course of his tumour, which at the moment is very small.I think the age and future health prospects for the individual dog must be taken into consideration before making a decision as serious as Chemotherapy.

I would opt not to treat my dog with chemotherapy. We had a yellow labrador who developed cancer several years ago and we decided to treat him with chemo, with the expectation that we were curing him. Unfortunately, as we found out later, the success rate with chemo is very small (about 10%), so we were only effectively extending his life by about 6 months (he did have a good summer though). Had I known beforehand that chemo is more cancer management rather than cancer cure, we probably would not have opted for chemo. I will agree with other postings that the side effects from chemo are very different compared to humans; not really noticeable and our dog acted normally, expect for maybe being slightly lethargic for up to 24 hrs following each treatment. About 8 weeks ago, our black labrador was diagnosed with lymphoma. Having been down this road before, we opted for no treatment, other than 10mg of prednisone each day and some medication to calm his stomach from the prednisone. He is nearing the end of his short 6-year life now, which we are sad about, but have no regrets about not treating him. In sum, the cost for chemo is quite high (we spent about $3500 on our yellow lab). If you have the money and want to extend the dog's life by up to about 6 months, then by all means go for it; but do not expect a cure...