18 month old GSD with lymphoma - Page 2

Blitzen, I don't think it's such a 'dirty little secret'. Anything genetic needs to be looked at as such, but lymphoma can be environmental, as can many if not all cancers. Say you have a litter which is raised in a treated wood environment. The pups could absorb the carcinogen, arsenic, before they ever go to their new homes....then when some develop cancer of one sort or another, say lymphoma, then because more than one developed it, automatically it's assumed to be genetic when, in fact, it is just as likely to be environmental. Also, could be pesticides and herbicides. I'm not saying that GSDs aren't prone to lymphoma, but maybe it is a sensitivity to carcinogens in the environment like arsenic. How many people on this board have treated wood somewhere on their property?

I'm thinking of leukemia as a dirty little breed secret in the context that many breeders won't talk about it. The breeder who bred my dog with lymphosarc, swore he never heard of that disease. I came to find out one of his selects produced it in more than one offspring. Maybe I should have called it denial rather that a secret ?

My dog was a health mess from the time I got him at 10 weeks, autoimmune issues, the breeder never heard of that either yet he had been breeding GSD's for over 30 years.

I understand, Blitzen.

I just read the post here and I just lost the best young dog I've ever had.  He was just 4 years old and also had T-cell lymphoma.  I own this dogs dam who is now 7 years old and completely healthy.  I searched the US to find a sound healthy tested male dog and shipped semen for the breeding.  The puppies were beautiful with great temperaments.  I keep the #1 male, he was the love of my life and then to lose him at 4 was devastating.  I am more than willing to provide any info that might help anyone who can track pedigrees that might have problems.  My email address is: LWP666@aol.com.  If someone out there has any information on certain bloodlines that might have problems  please email me. Thank you.

It's not blood lines. For instance; A lady called me three days ago looking for a GSD puppy. She explained that her rescue mongrel, which she had since it was a small puppy, just died from lymphoma at eight years. The dog was not GSD or a golden, just a black mutt. I hear of dogs of all breeds and nondescript mongrels succumbing to cancer from people looking to replace them.

http://www.gsdbbr.org 

Zulenza, et al.......... list your information here. You can read the other reports and see if any are related to your dogs. My dog is listed there and yes, it can get you into trouble with the breeder, but it is what it is and I did it anyway.

Lymphoma does not equal Lymphosarcoma.

The oncologists who treated my dog used these terms interchangably.....lyphoma, lymphosarcoma, leukemia.
 

Lymphoma, lymphosarc and leukemia are 3 different terms with somewhat different prognosis depending on  the details. An oncologist missusing the terms suggests that the diagnosis was never definite, even though they knew it was hematological malignancy of some sort. In humans, it would be criminal to not differentiate amongst the 3 conditions, but dogs are a different animal.

guddu, dogs ARE a different animal with regard to cancer diagnoses and treatments--because your doctors are definitely going to go beyond a basic diagnosis of a disease that is seated in the lymphatic system; your doctors will be investigating exactly which cells are being affected and staging the illness.  Most dog owners aren't financially able to go to those lengths; even now, in the era of health insurance for pets, it still comes down to the fact that veterinary expenses have to step aside for things such as rent or mortgage payments, utility bills, groceries, medical care for the humans in the household and so forth.

The terms lymphoma, lymphosarcoma and leukemia ARE used interchangably in veterinary medicine, and it absolutely is NOT 'criminal' or a breach of ethics for veterinarians, whether they are oncologists or not, to do so; and your suggesting that to be the case likely causes owners of affected pets additional heartache, fear, guilt and uncertainty.  The Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania's Oncolink website covers the subject quite thoroughly.