Yet another Boxer with Lymphoma

[SmallParts]

Hello everyone.

I am so glad I found this community and registered. (See Introduction). Thank you all for being here to help answer questions, provide knowledge from experience and moral support.

Going to try to summarize these events so as to not write a book, please bear with me if I leave anything important out.
Approximately two weeks ago our 3 year old Boxer, Brodie, began drinking way more water than usual and excessively urinating. We knew something wasn't right and brought Brodie to the vet immediately. The vet didn't seem to be very concerned yet ordered a urinalysis and found "some" bacteria. He prescribed an antibiotic and within hours of first taking it Brodie stopped eating. The next day we brought Brodie back with the new symptom and the vet decided to do an X-ray. The X-ray results showed something unusual in Brodie's stomach. At this point we thought Brodie had eaten something he wasn't supposed to, not unusual with Brodie as he was always trying to sneak a paper towel off the counter or looking in the bathroom trash for a tissue. Despite keeping a close eye on this, he's gotten things before including a sock one of my daughters left on the floor years ago.
The next day I took Brodie to a vetirinary specialist to have an ultrasound done and possibly have the foreign object removed so Brodie could get feeling better. The doctors did not believe the foreign object was the cause of the symptoms Brodie had and did a blood test at which time they found way elevated calcium. After an Aspirate was performed on one Lymph node it was concluded and later confirmed Lymphoma.

This was devastating news of course. We didn't know much about cancer at the time... in fact it turns out we didn't know much about anything we know now.

A few things I know now that are now changed for Brodie and will be for any future pet we live with.
-- FULL blood labs will be done at each yearly checkup and attention will be paid to everything that presents out of range. Our current/former vets office only performed partial blood labs for animals less than 7 years old. Now I know I could have asked for a full lab each year had I known.
-- Home recipes and Blue Buffalo kibble will be the only food Brodie or any future pet will get in our household.

Brodie is currently proceeding with Chemo and we are hopeful that he will be around for us to love for a long time. He is getting lomustine every three weeks although I am now reading about multi drug processes that I will be asking our Oncologists about. Brodie is taking Denamarin, Prednisone, Clavamox and a famotidine as prescribed. Self prescribed, Brodie is taking a ProBiotic and cod liver oil with his food ever day. Brodie is eating Blue Buffalo and a home mix of cooked meat and vegetables including green veggies and brown rice.

We are very hopeful that Brodie will beat the odds. We think if any dog can do it, it will be Brodie. He is an amazing dog and we love him dearly.

If you have any further advice or recommendations as to things to research or try please let me know. I am open to anything that can help Brodie live a long normal life.

I should add that Brodie is currently doing well. We have noticed that he gets tired easier and doesn't seem to be as heat tolerant as he used to be. He lives indoors with us but when we are outside he seems to get worn out much faster than he used to. He is a bit incontinent and still drinks a lot of water due to the Predisone. Other than that, he still likes to play chase and hide/seek with us and barks any time the door bell rings.

Thanks for reading,
SmallParts

 

[Barkley]

I'm so sorry to hear that you're dealing with this disease...and in such a youngster, no less!!

Though I'm unfamiliar with cancer drug protocols, it sure does sound like you're doing everything you can to extend his life and quality of life. The only thing I can add is that you may want to do some reading on, and talk to your vet about, the possibility of removing grains (you mentioned rice) from the diet. I know there's a lot of discussion out there with regard to grains in a dog's diet, so do your research, because everybody seems to think their opinion is the right one. ;-) For what it's worth, for allergy and tummy trouble reasons, we switched our pups off of grain...geez...must be 7 years ago now? While I can't say with 100% certainty that it helped, it certainly didn't hurt, and all evidence is that it did, in fact, contribute markedly to their overall well-being. The tummy trouble went away almost immediately, and food allergies became a thing of the past. So...just something to consider in your overall approach, which sounds quite thorough and loving, I might add!

Please do keep us posted on your baby's progress, won't you? Barkley and Jordan send big sloppy Boxer kisses your way, and I will keep you in my thoughts!!

Best,
Jenn

 

[Tuff Love]

Oh your poor baby! Way way too young to be dealing with such a horrible thing. It sounds like you're being very proactive about your research and treatment though and you have a fantastic attitude- keep it up! I've never dealt with lymphoma but many others here have and will surely chime in soon. Best of luck to Brodie! Keep us posted on his treatment.

 

[shindig]

Sorry to hear about Brodie :(. Bandit, my 7 year old boxer also has Lymphoma and is going through chemo. He in on the CHOP (Wisconsin Protocol) and is doing well. He's been going through chemo since last November and has went out of remission once. He's now back in remission and has been since March.

It's a draining process to say the least. The prednisone will make them drink even more water and he will always be hungry. Bandit's put on 5 lbs since starting chemo . He's not quite as active as he use to be and tires faster on walks. He also isn't as heat tolerant as before, so I'm glad to know that it's probably just a side effect of the chemo and drugs.

I've been experimenting with Bandit's diet since I discovered he has lymphoma. Right now, he is on Orijen (chicken and turkey) which is grain free, high protein and low carbs. I also mix in Evangers meat products (duck, pheasant, bison, chicken), which are grain and gluten free. He's also on K9 Immunity Plus, which is an immune booster along with fish oil and occasionally flax seed oil/cottage cheese mix. I also mix in supplements like l-argentine and l-glutamine, along with Vitamen E and milk thistle. And last but not least I put in a natural pro-biotic to help with his digestion. I just started putting in a little apple cidar vinegar to his meals also. All his treats are grain-free now and usually meat products like chicken/rabbit jerky.

Good luck with Brodie's chemo....I'm sure he'll pull through fine and give you many more years of sloppy kisses .

Kevin

 

[Roge]

I am sorry I cant advise but I would just like to say that I hope all goes well with the treatment, being such a young dog he should have bucket loads of fight in him and I know by reading your post that all that can be done will be done.
Good luck , sending lots of posetive healthy <<<vibes>>> Bridie,s way.

 

[SmallParts]

Thank you everone! Really appreciate the well wishes and prayers. We'll use every one we get for sure.

@Barkley, yes, I've read about the pros/cons in rice and am likely to be removing even brown rice form his diet in the coming days. Unfortunately I have no suggestive help from the veterinary specialists (Oncologists/Internists) office nor my former veterinarians office. When asked, each of those offices told me to continue feeding as before without regard for what I was feeding.
Instead, I went to a dog trainer close to my house who has boarded Brodie several times over the years and found that she is a wealth of knowledge in diet. She set me up with Wilderness (Salmon) initially which was a bit too rich for Brodie. We then tried Blue Buffalo (Fish and Oatmeal) which he is doing good on. She makes homemade holistic food for her dogs every day and has now added Brodie to her "To cook for" list. I swing by every few days and pick up his food from her. She has absolutely been our angel during this and will be keeping Brodie for us in July as we have to be out of town for a week.

Incidently, I have noticed Brodie is almost not shedding at all anymore and his breath doesn't smell fishy anymore either. I wish I would have found out about all of these things three years ago. I feel like I have let Brodie down imagine the quality of care I could have provided had I known before.

 

[shindig]

Sounds like you have a good plan for Brodie. Holistic homecooking is probably the best. I wish I had more time to prepare Bandit's meals, but I do home cook for him 2-3 times a week, sometimes more.

And don't feel regret over anything. I know it's a natural thing to do, I've done it many times since finding out Bandit had cancer. But I can't change the past and all I can do now is give his body the best opportunity to fight this horrible disease. And there really is no way to know what caused the cancer, so you will just torment yourself if you think that way. I know, easier said than done .

Kevin

 

[Cami]

The majority of the time (not always) the vets will tell you to keep everything "normal" when starting any type of cancer protocol.
Changing foods can sometimes cause a host of issues that the medications might also be capable of causing. If nothing has changed it is far easier to suspect (pinpoint) the cause, in this case the medication.
Once meds are started however and tolerance has been determined changing foods might be more of a consideration.
When my girl was fighting cancer for many years I was never allowed to start chemo (well I was advised against it) on the off chance she may have to start chemo. She never did but I felt the risk was more than I wanted to deal with.
Cancer feeds off of sugar. The body can get energy from various means of nutrition (protein, fat, carbs, etc). Carbs turn to sugar, unused sugar turns to fat. Grains are a source of carbs.....(sugar which feeds cancer).
It is EASY to remove grains from a diet thus eliminating a source of carbs....(sugar) or "cancer food".
A body fighting cancer needs a high protein content, low carbs and healthy fat. It doesn't need additional items that tax the system (gluten for example) since the body is on over drive not only dealing with the cancer itself but the medications/treatments.
Supporting the body as a whole is a great idea and there are many supplements available to help with this.
Chemo is expelled via the kidneys (or processed by the liver and expelled in their poo) so its a good idea to offer something to help the specific organs to stay as healthy as possible during treatment too!

 

[Albie]

I'm so sorry to hear about Brodie. This is a great place to get helpful advice and sympathy for what you're going through. It's been forever since I posted on Boxerworld. However, when things get tough I know where to turn for help and encouraging words. Our 7 year old boy, Jack, was diagnosed with lymphoma last week. I'm just so upset right now, and can hardly believe that my seemingly healthy boy has such a nasty disease. Jack received his first chemo treatment on Thursday, May 17. After meeting with the oncologist, we decided on a course of treatment that includes the chemo drug, doxorubicin, and prednisone. The things we've noticed since his treatment began are nausea on the first day of treatment, some episodes of heavy panting, and frequent urination. I gave him his prescription for ondansetron that first day, but it took several hours for the nausea to subside. The vet said to give it to him through the weekend since most symptoms relating to the chemo are worst 2 to 3 days after treatment. Jack's lymphoma was discovered when he went in for surgery to have two skin growths removed. He had a pre-op visit with our general vet on May 7 which included bloodwork, and everything was normal. Surgery was scheduled for May 14, and when I received a call from the vet that morning, I thought it was to give me news of his surgery. Unfortunately, it was to tell me that she thought we had a serious problem and that she needed to biopsy his lymph nodes. It just baffles the mind to think that in the week since she saw him, he could get cancer. At that point, I hadn't even noticed the enlarged lymph nodes, but once she pointed them out, I could see they were enlarged. To look at Jack you would never know that's he is such a sick dog, which is a blessing. It just makes it rough on us to know what lies ahead. Keep us updated on Brodie's progress and I'll let you know how Jack does. He has bloodwork scheduled for May 24, and his next chemo treatment is June 7.
All my best,
Georgia

 

[rockysarge]

I wanted to add my prayers to those already mentioned for your pooch Brodie. I wish I could give some advice on how things could go. I just wanted to send out good wishes for you and Brodie, I hope it all goes well and he keeps doing the things he loves to do.


I wish you and yours all the best