My 7 year old German Shorthaired Pointer, Buck, is having a biopsy procedure this AM

[Ranger Dan]

It’s frightening seeing what’s in dog food. I have a big yorkie — he’s 11 pounds. Bundle of energy and loads of fun. I give him a small breed blue buffalo hard dog food. But I also do a lot of cooking to balance that out. He gets eggs, beef, chicken, fish and believe it or not, he likes broccoli. And I’ll give him unflavored Greek yogurt sometimes too for the probiotics benefit.

Too much contradictory info out there so it gets confusing.

Purina Pro Plan has big and small and active vs regular. I like the idea of breed specific dog food, but don’t know that there it is more than a gimmic.

 

[MJG-90]

I like the idea of breed specific dog food, but don’t know that there it is more than a gimmic.

I’m sure there are ingredient differences, but I think it’s mostly about the size of the pieces.

 

[Mr. Chim]

I’m sorry about your dog. What type of cancer and what are the treatment options?

Lymphoma. Tumors in the lungs and likely his GI tract. Said we could attempt chemo treatment but it would be incredibly tough on him and doesn’t have a high success rate. Gave us some steroids to fight back the growth but it’s just a short term deal.

You look at him and he’s absolutely fine and energetic. He’s only 8, sucks.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Kinda on topic.. has anyone seen the FDA grain free dog food warning come out in the past couple months? I just saw it, it advises against giving dogs potatoes or multiple legumes such as peas, lentils.. I was about to pick up my boxer's dog food at target when I saw the article, I always have given her Rachel ray nutrish - grain free lamb and potatoes. DCM is already common in boxers and it sounds like potato/grains could make things worse..

Does anyone have a reasonably priced dog food they'd recommend?

https://www.fda.gov/animalveterinary/newsevents/cvmupdates/ucm613305.htm

We give our golden doodle Merrick (in its various flavors). He likes it very much.

 

[Player2BNamedL8r]

Lymphoma. Tumors in the lungs and likely his GI tract. Said we could attempt chemo treatment but it would be incredibly tough on him and doesn’t have a high success rate. Gave us some steroids to fight back the growth but it’s just a short term deal.

You look at him and he’s absolutely fine and energetic. He’s only 8, sucks.

My heart breaks for you sir. No other words...just thoughts and prayers.

 

[nits74]

Lymphoma. Tumors in the lungs and likely his GI tract. Said we could attempt chemo treatment but it would be incredibly tough on him and doesn’t have a high success rate. Gave us some steroids to fight back the growth but it’s just a short term deal.

You look at him and he’s absolutely fine and energetic. He’s only 8, sucks.

Terrible. So sorry.

 

[lunsmooth]

Had to put down our 10 year old Yorkie, Rudie, in 2011, about a month before our wedding. She was perfectly fine, but then woke up one day and had a weird looking pink spot by her eye. We took her to the vet thinking it was maybe pink-eye or some allergic reaction to something. Turns out it was Stage 4 lymphoma. We put her down the next day. Wore a shirt and tie to the vet that day and held her the whole time. Was right by her side and petting her head while they put her down. Easily the toughest day I’ve ever had. Like Chim said, you’d look at her and think she was completely healthy.

We got our Millie just 2 weeks later. Nearly 7 years later, and Millie is my best buddy in the world.

Best quote I’ve heard about dogs (May not be exact)...”Lock your wife and your dog in the trunk for 2 hours. When you finally open it up, see which one is more excited to see you.”

Millie is thinking of Chim and Ranger Dan.

 

[christoph]

just awful. I'm so sorry.

 

[dbsteel]

These cancers and heart issues in dogs are horrible. I've put four Labs down over the last 14 years or so. We've always had two at a time until now.

First one had osteosarcoma in his leg- had the leg removed but he died overnight at 7 from a clot.

Second one had a spinal tumor and her back legs quit working- she was 11.

Third one (last year) also had a spinal tumor and his hind legs quit working- also 11.

Then this past spring, our fourth guy, a chocolate, really seemed like he was starting to struggle out of the blue and they found he had an enlarged heart. But at times he didn't seem that bad, so it was tough. So we had to put him down at 8.

Is it the food, the vaccinations, the breed? Probably a little bit of each. I had to slam five beers before taking the last two in (my wife can't even go). The weird thing is, its really kind of peaceful to me when they go. The hard part is the buildup and making the decision when they don't seem all that bad. Its happened so much for us its almost like we are numb to it.

We are now down to one Springer Spaniel. We love the labs, but just aren't sure anymore since we've never had one just die of old age.