Canine Lymphoma: What Are The Symptoms?

Canine lymphoma is a fairly common cancer in American dogs. The most commonly seen lymphoma in America is a type called Lymphosarcoma, although treatments are essentially the same with all types of lymphoma. As it is with humans, the lymphatic system is an important part of any mammal's immune system.

Symptoms

The “typical” canine lymphoma patient is a middle-aged dog taken to the veterinarian because one or more lumps have been found. Most dogs are not feeling particularly sick at the time of diagnosis; it may be tempting to "hold off" on treatment to see if the pet gets worse. This is not a good idea. Waiting can drastically reduce the chances for long-term survival. Better remission rates are achieved if your pet is treated in the early stage, while it still feels healthy.

If you notice fast growing lumps on your dog that seem to be in the area of the major joints (at the neck, in front of the shoulders, in the armpits, at the back of the knees or in the groin), have your dog examined by a veterinarian, even if your pet appears to be feeling fine. The average life expectancy for a dog with untreated lymphoma is only about 2 to 4 months from the time of diagnosis.

Treatment

About 50% of dogs with lymphoma can be put into remission. Lymphoma is first and foremost a disease of the immune system. It is a failure of the body to recognize the aberrant cancer cells as invaders. In order to overcome the cancer, the dog’s normal recognition response has to be triggered to allow the dog’s own system to fight the disease. Chemotherapy, and very occasionally some type of radiation therapy, are vital components to an effective treatment for lymphoma.

Some veterinarians suggest diet supplements in addition to chemotherapy for dogs with lymphoma.

Related Reading

Photo: Pixabay

More Articles

More Articles

Amazon.com is pleased to have the Lymphoma Information Network in the family of Amazon.com associates. We've agreed to ship items...

The question ought to be what are myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), since this is a group of similar blood and bone marrow diseases that...

Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC) is a very rare and aggressive skin cancer that usually develops when a person is in his or her 70s. It is...

Radiation Therapy Topics

...

At some point, the Seattle biotech company Cell Therapeutics Inc (CTI) should earn an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for utter and...

Site Beginnings

This site was started as Lymphoma Resource Page(s) in 1994. The site was designed to collect lymphoma...

Three papers appearing in the journal Blood and pointing towards a regulator-suppressor pill could offer hope to blood cancer...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a third so-called Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the investigational oral...

The US Food and Drug Administration today has approved an expanded use of Imbruvica (ibrutinib) in patients with...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it has granted "Breakthrough Therapy Designation" for the investigational agent...

According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team from the University of California, San...

Pharmacyclics has announced that the company has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for...

New research suggests that frontline radioimmunotherapy...

Gilead Sciences has announced results of the company's Phase II study of its investigational compound idelalisib, an oral inhibitor of...

Sitemap