Lung cancer diagnosis in 11-year-old :(

[SDelVecchio88]

Hello all, we received some sad news today. Our 11-year-old chocolate, Brodie, has had a nagging cough for about week. We thought maybe he injured his throat pulling on the leash or had an infection. Unfortunately, an X-ray showed cancer in his lungs that had likely spread from elsewhere. He is loaded with so many fatty lipomas (recently had a couple removed and biopsied) that it was impossible to keep up with them all and have them all tested. Perhaps one of those was the culprit.

As some of you unfortunately can relate to, we are processing a lot of information. What makes it so hard is that aside from the cough, Brodie is his normal self. He still plays, he still causes trouble, his appetite is perfectly intact. The doctor mentioned chemo as an option but said there would also be symptoms from that, and I'm just not sure that makes sense given how old he is. We have to speak more with the doctor about our options and possibly managing symptoms. I am hoping there is something that could possibly help with the cough. If not for that, he would seem his normal (albeit slightly elderly) self. Not sure how long that will last, of course.

If anyone has any experience with this or advice it would be greatly appreciated. This forum has gotten us through some tough times over the past 10-plus years. Thanks in advance

[smartrock]

I am so sorry to hear you and Brody are facing this challenge. I have not had a dog with lung cancer but we have had dogs with cancer. One of them, that had recurrent mast cell tumors, had some oral chemotherapy that did not seem to cause him obvious side effects. He was a bullmastiff and lived about as long as our other bullmastiffs did, which was not a long life (7-8 years). Our 2 labs who have died had splenic hemangiosarcomas and by the time they were found, they were bleeding internally and it was too late for treatment.

The last time one of my dogs had kennel cough the vet gave us something they merely labeled as a cough medicine. I don't know what it was but maybe you could inquire whether there's something that could help long term. I don't know if what we had was more of a short term sort of medication but hopefully you'd need it longer rather than shorter.

[SDelVecchio88]

I am so sorry to hear you and Brody are facing this challenge. I have not had a dog with lung cancer but we have had dogs with cancer. One of them, that had recurrent mast cell tumors, had some oral chemotherapy that did not seem to cause him obvious side effects. He was a bullmastiff and lived about as long as our other bullmastiffs did, which was not a long life (7-8 years). Our 2 labs who have died had splenic hemangiosarcomas and by the time they were found, they were bleeding internally and it was too late for treatment.

The last time one of my dogs had kennel cough the vet gave us something they merely labeled as a cough medicine. I don't know what it was but maybe you could inquire whether there's something that could help long term. I don't know if what we had was more of a short term sort of medication but hopefully you'd need it longer rather than shorter.

Thank you for sharing. That’s very helpful and we will definitely inquire about it. Sorry you had to go through that with your dogs. Hoping for great health for your current and future doggos!

[Sue-Ram]

We used to have a member that had great results with the products from Paw Healer (not lung cancer). They have a honey cough syrup for dogs. I think you can call and talk to the owners. I don't know if this would help with your situation. Sending good thoughts for Brody.

https://www.pawhealer.com/search/cou...p.aspx#content

[Snowshoe]

I'm sorry. I really have no experience. Oban was diagnosed with cancer but he was 13 and failing from other problems so we, in consult with the Vet, did not treat it. I hope you find something for the cough, but does that really seem to bother Brodie? Good thoughts for all of you.

[SDelVecchio88]

I'm sorry. I really have no experience. Oban was diagnosed with cancer but he was 13 and failing from other problems so we, in consult with the Vet, did not treat it. I hope you find something for the cough, but does that really seem to bother Brodie? Good thoughts for all of you.

Sorry to hear about Oban

No, as of now the cough really doesn’t seem to bother him much at all. That’s kind of what is making this so hard. He really is his normal self aside from the occasional coughing, so the diagnosis was unexpected. But given his age and the fact that they said the cancer almost certainly spread to his lungs from elsewhere, we’re just trying to make the right decision. I know we’re not going to cure the cancer at his age, especially given that it has spread. We’re just hoping for as much time with him as possible and him remaining happy and comfortable for as long as possible, but that’s a given.

He has no issues eating, drinking, going to the bathroom, getting into mischief, etc. I guess the diagnosis now has me anticipating him going downhill, and we just want to be as informed and prepared for that as possible. We will, of course, consult with the vet more, but I think highly of all the opinions on this forum and always have, so this seemed like a good place to start.

Thank you for your reply

[barry581]

I've lost several to different cancers, but haven't dealt with lung cancer. No recommendations but best wishes for you and Brodie. Hopefully the vet can offer some treatment.

[Macy]

I'm sorry to hear about the diagnosis. Macy got immunotherapy for a large melanoma,(surgically removed from her shoulder) a few years ago. She had zero side effects and is now 11. From our journey, I understand that cancer treatments affect dogs differently than humans. I hope you can find something that helps Brodie and am glad to hear that his cough doesn't seem to bother him.
All good thoughts for you and your pup.

[SDelVecchio88]

Thank you all again for your helpful responses. We're going to schedule an ultrasound to find out more. Unfortunately, the doctors are confident it is metastatic cancer since there are multiple spots and not just one mass in the lungs. As of now, they are recommending that we not do much since chemotherapy may not be effective and could have its own side effects.

The anticipation is really the difficult part for us. Brodie still seems very much like his normal self. When you read and hear that most dogs typically live 1-2 months after a metastatic cancer diagnosis, it is impossible to imagine him going downhill that quickly from where he is now. We are not naive and know 11 years old is very much a senior for a lab, but it's just a strange feeling when his behavior, bloodwork, lymph nodes, etc are all "normal." It seems like we need to just take things one day at a time, which many of you know is easier said than done.

[lovemylabby]

I'm so very sorry to hear about your boy Brodie. It is certainly a heartbreaking diagnosis. We love our dogs so much and never want them to suffer. Just wanted to send you good thoughts and wishes for your boy.

Brodie knows how much he is loved...