Hey all,
Well I received the worst news today. My beautiful 9 yr old male aussie has advanced liver cancer. Being told felt like someone dropped a 100lb weight straight on my chest. I was shocked, upset, confused, and sad.....

I wanted to share with you the nutshell version of my story in hopes that maybe someone out there is just like me...unaware of the sickness their dog has.

I had no sign in him that there was a problem. The only thing that came up was about 4 days ago he was lethargic for a day. Then back to him self. Keep in mind that lethargic and this dog dont go into the same sentence. I had him herding last weekend. He is a High energy, nervous go,go,go kinda guy. Life of the party! For him to have an off day is weird.

I thought maybe he had an upset tummy or his hips were bugging him from class. So I waited a day to see how he was, and presto...back to normal. 3 days passed and again he was slow and blah.. So I called my vet. Sounded to him like an orthopedic problem and wanted to see him for an exam of the hips and legs and check for progressed arthritis. He said muscles had a little atrophy and a little arthritis was present and ran a blood panel.

Called the next day and said he had Auto immune hemolytic Anemia, in short, RBC levels were low and there had to be a cause to this. Needed a chest x ray and abdominal ultrasound.

Took him in the next day and test showed his Liver was consumed by tumor and was bleeding into his abdominal cavity. He said he could go into shut down at anytime...Tomorrow or 8mths from now, however nothing can be done...he said the prognosis in his opinion is poor. He gives him 3-6 months tops.

The cancer is a slow moving cancer and takes a long time to develop. Liver cancer is one of the hardest to detect because the liver can function with as little as 10%. 90% of it can be damaged and it will never show a sign. Then it is too late. The liver is also the only organ in the body that can regenerate itself if you remove 90% of its mass. So if detected you can save the living part and take away and chemo the rest, most times at full recovery.....Not in our case.

So the reason for this post is to tell you all I had a dog with zero signs of anything wrong till 4 days ago (a little fatigue) and his liver is 100% diseased. His blood panel came back fine, no vomiting, solid stool, a little water increase ( but it has been hot here in Southern california) no jaundice, no orange urine, no pot belly due to enlarged liver, no nothing!!!

If you have a dog, and you have an extra 300 or so dollars, get his chest xrayed and belly ultra sound every so often. Run blood tests and check all vital organs. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I did all of the routine stuff and I never saw this coming.

I will have to put my friend to sleep soon, so it seems, and I hope that he will miss me as much as my heart and soul will miss him... Please give your dog a hug.

Oh, Danielle, I'm SO sorry

My heart, too, goes out to you. I had to put my last dog to sleep early this year because of bone cancer, and it still hurts. I still wonder if I unknowingly contributed to the cancer. Was it because in the early years I believed the more vaccinations the better? Was it the less-than-premium kibble I fed her until I finally switched her to a raw diet? I don't ask myself those things to feel guilty, but to try and learn how to do better by my current dog. Thank you for the courage to share your experience, however painful. You will help other dogs by educating their owners. I had never heard about liver cancer. Now, prompted by your post, I at least know that dark urine and jaundiced eyes are something I shouldn't ignore.

While researching your post, I found the "Pet Web Library". It looks like a very good, non-technical but authoritative resource for a large number of canine conditions: http://www.marvistavet.com/html/the_pet_web_library.html I am going to spend some time reading there.

Again, thank you for your words of warning, and I empathize with your loss. Take comfort in knowing you will save your best friend from hurting any more.

Hard news for your dog and you. I'm so sorry, Danielle.

Your advice on periodic x-rays and ultrasound is well taken.

I'm so very sorry about your boy, Danielle.

I've heard many vets offer Senior Wellness programs/packages which include a yearly exam, bloodwork, x-rays, etc. at a reduced price. It can help take the sting out of those high vet bills and insure your dog/cat gets a complete yearly physical. Very good advice!

I thank you too for sharing your story, painstaking as it is for you. My sincerest sympathies regarding your news.

My dog was diagnosed with kidney failure in March. I want to share with you part of my experience, and that is after all the series of tests/ultrasounds/accu/etc...the vet did another blood test in July and told me he thought, given those levels, the dog would go another month and then begin to shut down...although he did also say he didn't know for sure, but that was his prognosis, and he is a good vet.

Nearly 5 months later, so far so good with the big dog. I just keep him on the canine noni juice which has high high antioxidant levels and aids in immunity. (www.tahitiannoni.com) I also watch him close for symptoms. Nothing. He is doing very well and I guess I trust I will know when the time comes...I hope for you the same. Enjoy your time with him, just like you did before the news. The only thing any of us have is today--live it like no other.

I'm so sorry about your aussie.

Your advice is good advice. We recommend at the clinic I work for to do at least yearly bloodwork, even to the point if it's a money issue do bloodwork instead of vaccines.

From my personal experience, I run bloodwork on all my dogs at least yearly. When my german shepherd, Bullet was a year old I ran his yearly bloodwork and found out his kidney's were defective. No one would have ever thought. That one little test let me make changes in his life to give him the longest time possible. Unfortuneatly, a month ago at age 3 1/2 his body could no longer go on. He was my best friend in this world, but thanks to my simple bloodtest I was able to give him a longer life with supplements, accupuncture, .... and tons of love.

My deepest sympathies, terrible shock I am sure, I had to put down a 14 mnth old who had hapititus B, terrible ordeal, the liver was the size of a finger by the time we had the final diagnosis, she swelled up like a balloon on and off medication helped for a while, we lost the battle, and she was PTS to save her from any more suffering, my thoughts are with you at this time.

So sorry to hear about your dog. My 10 year old mix just had a blood panel check, we thought he had cancer. Even though he doesn't, while we were waiting for the results we had pretty much decided he did have cancer (lumps ALL over him, turns out they're all just fat nodules) and even for those few days it was awful. My sympathies.

Danielle,

I'm so very sorry to hear this. I hope you find comfort in the fact that there was no way at all for you to know!

I recently had to put my bhoy to sleep and I know how heartbreaking this is, (from knowing you have to until having to), particularly when you give as much to an animal as we do (all on this board work hard at it or we wouldn't be here), and it's returned to us unconditionally.

Don't be scared to show your feelings! It helped me a lot to be able to let go a cry when i felt like it (yep i cried like a baby).

Enjoy what time you have left and remember the good always! Sounds like you have a real good dog there, even through illness he wants to work for you!

Thoughts & Prayers.

John