The Sorrow of DM and other inheritable diseases - Page 7

Very sad what Lily went through and how it lead her to switch breeds.  Blitzen, I hope you don't give up on our noble breed.  

Lily, I'm sorry you've been through so much.  I do understand, after dealing with so many health problems in your GSDs, why you'd want to give up on the breed. I've thought about going in that direction too, even though I've always said that a GSD was the only dog for me. My last GSD, a German SL dog, lived to be 14 years. His main health issue was allergies and I got that under control early on. He also had breast cancer when he was 7 years old. He had a problem with his adrenals for a while too. In the end he had Mitral Valve prolapse and some arthritis of the spine. Overall I think he did quite well.  My dog before him was a WL GSD and he had HD and ED. We had surgery done on him and although he was never completely sound, he enjoyed a good quality of life. Still it was heartbreaking when we were going through it.  Both dogs had excellent pedigrees and the parents had health screenings and were titled. My present girl, a rescue, has DM. THis is really hard... I am seriously looking at other breeds and it's mainly due to the health issues in the GSDs. That said, I love the loyalty and intelligence of the breed so much. I keep hoping that things will change and the breeders will really start getting incredibly serious about the health of the breed. I know some are, but I'm still gun shy.

One of the vets I use told me that when he was in vet school and question asked was - in which breed do you find X disease more frequently than any other, the entire class always answered - German Shepherd - as they knew most of the time that would be the right response.

Libby noted earlier in the thread was rushed to the er vet this morning.  Xray and ultrasound show extremely large mass on spleen.  She is responding well to the pain killers and fluids and blood test show organs are functioning.  Lungs look clear.  They did a biopsy to determine which type of cancer.  Vet told me if it is lymphosycarma (??) it responds well to chemo.  Has anyone else had experience with this?  I am bringing her home tonight and will decide what to do once the biopsy results come in on Tuesday.  My fear is that she could begin to bleed internally and will discuss with the vet before picking her up.  I don't want her to suffer but the vet told me she was doing well and was "happy as a lark".  Hard to believe based on what she looked like this morning.  So please send good thoughts Libby's way.  She is a sweet girl and was the first dog I every did any competition and obedience work with.

Renofan,  My heart goes out to you. Libby is a beautiful girl and is lucky to have you as her mom. I will certainly send good thoughts your way...and prayers too, for both you and Libby.
Char

Thank you Starrchar.  Libby has been thru alot in her life.  I picked her up the day after 9/11 and named her Liberty.  I ended up with Libby becuase my then 8 year old gsd was diagnosed with a sinus tumor and giving 6 months to live.  I believe Libby helped give Reno the will to live as Reno was with me for 6 more years.  Libby suffered thru a serious lung infiltration when she was 2, had a cyst removed from her hip at 7, at 8 she bit a cysts off her tail and we went months trying to save it. Unfortunately 1/2 of it had to be amputated.  At 9 she bloated and stomach flipped.  Now this.  Libby is so special.  She gave comfort to my Dad when he was dying from cancer and then three years later did the same for my mom.  She would jump up on the couch and lay her head on their laps.  I remember my Dad talking to her about his illness and what was happening.  You could just see how much at ease she made him during a terrible time.  I just hope I can give her the comfort that she was able to give them until it is time for me to let her go. At least I know my beautiful Reno and my Mom and Dad will be waiting for her at Rainbow Bridge.  I was just coming to terms with her DM diagnosis and preparing myself for losing her in the near future.  Just did not realize it would be so soon.

Cheryl

Cheryl, I had my first GSD treated for lymphosarcoma, he was only 7 at the time, never again. Vets tend to overstate the prognosis and fail to inform owners that, yes, most dogs do go into remission, but most don't hold it for longer than a few months and then it's back to square one. My dog held  his remission for only 6 weeks. A friend had her Sheltie treated at the same time by the same vet, same protocol, his held one week. She opted to treat him again, this time it held 10 days. He was put down a few days later. My dog survived 3 months longer than he did with one treatment. My daughter's Cocker was also diagnosed a few weeks after my dog and the sheltie. She could not afford the chemical chemo so opted for steroids (also considered chemotherapy). The Cocker survived 8 months without being sick from the chemicals.

The oncologist who treated my dog painted me an optmistic picture. She had Goldens, one of the breeds with the highest incidence of genetic leukemia. She told me her female survived over 6 years with chemo. Later she told me she treated her 3 to 4 times ever year to accomplish that survival rate. Had she told me that initially I would have not had it done. Having said that, to be fair, a very tiny majority of dogs with lymphosarc do maintain a remission for years. Your dog could be one of them.

Depending on the protocol and the dog's response, some do get sick, very sick. Vets don't always disclose that. Some dogs are refractory and do not respond to the first or second treatment, so then the vet  has to get out the big guns and go with a rescue protocol. Dogs get sick, they get diarrhea, they vomit, they get very weak. Also a dog undergoing chemo must be very docile and allow strangers to handle him/her. 
The owner cannot not be present for some of the drug therapy; some of the drugs are so lethal that they need to be mixed under a ventilation hood by techs who are suited up to prevent absorbing the drug. The dog must also accept the presence of an indwelling catheter and not remove it. From start to finish, depending on the protocol, it takes at least 7, 8 weeks to complete a course of treatment assuming the dog goes into remission. If the white count drops too low, that delays the treatment until the white cells recover. Dogs cannot take the high doses of chemo most humans can tolerate; when they get deathly sick, they just lie down and die. The most you can expect from chemo for any of the leukemias is to put the dog into long remissions, it does not cure the disease.

Another thing vets might not disclose is that during chemo the dog become an immune cripple with absolutely no defense against disease.  He is prone to opportunistic infections like fungi, viruses, and bacteria. Exposure to other dogs or to an foreign environment is not advised.

I'm really sorry to hear about  your dog. I truly wish I could offer you some encouragement if she does get a diagnosis of lymspharcoma/leukemia. I am the very last person in the world to ever say don't do all you can to save your dog, but in the case of this horrible disease I myself would just go with the steroids and no chemical chemo.

Blitzen. That is what I am afraid of.  I don't want to put her thru all that but the vet made it sound like she could live another year if she had lymphosarcoma and received chemo.  She is also 10.5 years old and has dm.  No one mentioned steroids to me.  I will ask the vet about them once we get the biopsy results.  I picked her up this evening and she is a little better than this morning.  She hasn't eaten all day so I tried to get her to eat.  I was able to get her to eat 1/4 of a can and got a pain killer in her.  They were sending her home without any meds, but I insisted on a pain killer at least.  I am a bit confused as she was so sick this morning, fever, etc and now I have her home with no instructions until the results come back and no idea on what I can do to keep her comfortable.  They told me tonight the results won't be back now until Thursday.  She seems to be sleeping comfortably, but I will keep a close eye on her for signs of pain and discomfort.  This morning I was prepared to put her to sleep but then the vet painted a better picture so I changed my mind. Now I am not sure I made the right decision.

If she declines again like she was this morning, I will do what needs to be done. 

Thank you for sharing your story.  I needed someone to be straight with me.

Abby normal:  Thank you.  I appreciate your kind words.

Cheryl

We had to put Sasha down on 16 December, 2010 because of DM, she was 13.  While I was petting her, she turned around and both back legs just gave out. It wasn't the first time, but it was the worst. She could stand on her own. Jeanne and I both knew it was time. In spite of the Tramadol she was in a lot of pain. I tried to stay in the living room with her but that made her too restless, she kept trying to stand up and that hurt her. We both finally went to sleep, and and when I woke up I saw her at the foot of the bed. In spite of the pain, she managed to make it in the bedroom to be next to us. It was the last time she walked on her own. She had a rare nobility.