halledaisy

Sadly, I have very bad news. Our battle is over much sooner than I had hoped. The drip and anti nausea medication did nothing to improve her wellbeing and the tests showed cancer cells in her blood. The vet thinks her spleen and liver were also possibly effected (although wouldn't know for sure without biopsy which she couldn't have handled). As she could barely move, wouldn't eat (and when she did a few days ago she just vomitted) and just looked like it was time, we decided that the best thing for her was to end the battle so that is what I have done. I am so sad, but she had just had enough. I think either the cancer had already spread much more than they thought originally or she was just one of those few dogs that doesn't react well to the treatment. Thank you so much to all those that have helped me through this time, it was lovely to talk to you all and it has made such a difference. My next worry is now how my other lab (Daisy a few years younger than Halle) copes without her big sister. I hope she will be ok.

Hi Staffyluv thanks so much for the lovely email. It is just so good to be able to come on here and chat to people who understand. My friends and family are nice about it, but I know they really think she is just a dog, come on. She is at the vet now on a drip so hopefully that will help. They are doing some blood tests and stuff, but the vet thinks it is more than likely just a reaction to all the medication she has been taking. she has actually been on antibiotics for the past week as well as the cortisone so we are cutting that all back now to see if that helps. I have tried all sorts of biscuits (including arrowroot), turkey, beef, cheese, ham even some raw meet (my vet thinks it is ok to try to get her eating anything at this stage), but I haven't tried BBQ chicken so will try that tonight. They are going to give her some anti nausea drugs via injection as well today so hopefully that will help too. I just about gave up this morning, she is just looking so miserable I hope this makes her feel better. I don't want her to be in pain and usually she loves her food so this is just the worst. Thanks again for all your help.

I'm very sad today. Halle has been vomitting since last night and I can't get her to eat anything at all now. I don't know what else to try. The vet has said to stop giving her nearly all her meds now and try an anti nausea tablet to see if that will help. She just seems to be getting worse and worse. She has still had the runs (although not as badly as at the start of the chemo) constantly so I don't think she has really gotten much food into her at all over the past week. I'm worried that the cancer is worse and is in her stomach or something already. I hope things get better, its just getting harder and harder at the moment.

Hi all, Thanks again for all the kind words. Halle seems to be improving slowly, she had her blood test today so hopefully all is good. I am still struggling with her food though, does anyone have any other tips? She is quite hungry (will eat some of the artemis biscuits) and runs to her bowl, but if it is cooked meat with vegies, she won't touch it. I think she will eat sardines and I gave her hamburgers yesterday, but she just won't eat the meat mixed with vegies. I have cooked up beef with pumpkin and sweet potato and turkey with pumpkin, sweet potato and zuchini. She ate it for the first few days last week, but thats it. Thanks again- any support and suggestions are much appreciated!

Thanks Staffyluv. No, I'm not taking her temperature (I'll talk to the vet tomorrow), but she is now on antibiotics for the runs. I also got some special dry food today (I think it is called artemis grain free or something like that) and she ate that with no problems so far, so hopefully things are improving. I'd been giving her pumpkin, but I think she must have gone off the taste as that was what she wouldn't eat yesterday and today. Will try again in another few days. Do you think sardines and eggs would upset her more? She ate these this morning, but it may have made her worse I'm not sure. Thanks again.

Hi Staffyluv, Yes I have read all the threads about Ollie the both of you sound like you have had a very tough time, but are doing very well through it all. I hope we can be as strong as the two of you. Our specialist is Harold Pook (we are actually in Vic- my post says Qld, I stuffed it up somehow in my registration). Halle is not doing the best today, she has the runs pretty badly and since I have stopped the raw today, she doesn't want to eat anything else. I have been cooking her up beef and vegies mainly, but she wouldn't touch it today. She won't even eat cheese cubes. It is so hard when she is like this, I don't want her to be miserable. She did go for a walk this morning and enjoyed it, so she can't be too bad. Did Ollie go off the food just after she had chemo? If yes, did it take long for her to get her appetite back? Thanks for the response, it is great to talk to other people who have been through the same thing and try to get some help.

Hi Labsrule, thanks very much for the response. I'm sorry to hear about your dog, we have decided the same thing too though, I don't want Halle to be miserable. She vomitted a bit today, and is a bit down, but she was happy enough to go for a walk yesterday so hopefully all will be ok. We are being treated by a specialist vet through our normal vet. I don't believe he is a registered oncologist, but seems to be fairly well known in Victoria as a really good specialist. This may seem an obvious question, but I'll ask anyway- does no raw mean no bones as well? I've been giving cooked stuff, but also chicken necks and bones. I guess I should stop these! I think I found the Artemis food you talked about on a website yesterday so I might go and get some. It's worth a try anyway. Thanks again.

Hi all. My dog Halle was diagnosed with Lymphoma a few weeks ago (thanks to those who responded with such kind words to my original post) and she starts her chemo today. We have opted with the 5 treatments over 4 months rather than the more agressive treatment both due to cost and the stress on Halle with the extra treatments. I am wanting to now feed her a home made (we can't afford the Hills tin food) low carb, high protein and fat diet and am after some advice. She is a 30kg lab, does anyone have a list of the best foods I should give her? I am planning to give her a mixture of chicken necks, lamb necks, etc and a home cooked batch with chicken/beef or lamb and some vegies, eggs and cottage cheese. Please let me know if anyone has an idea of quantities, and additions or also if anyone knows of a really good very low carb, high protein and fat dry food. Thanks again to all.

Hi, its not looking good. We cant even start chemo till her biopsy wound heals (probably 4-5 days) regardless of the results about how aggresive the tumour is and now the whole right side of her face seems to have swelled up. I don't know what htis means, I've called the vet and am waiting to hear back from them.

Hi Gumnut, Just wondering, on your post it says you are in Vic- are you in Melbourne? If yes where did you get the chemo done? If we go down that path we can go to a specialist oncologist in Essendon or do it through our vet. Just wondering what you did. Thanks for your response.

Hi I'm new to both dogz online and forums, so hope I can figure it out! My 6 year old lab Halle has just been diagnosed with Lympoma and I have been reading a lot on the forums, but just don't know what to do and would love some support and advice. We are talking to the vet today again about chemo, but don't know how agressive it is yet so not sure what to do, we should find out later today. I have been reading a lot about holistic healing- could anyone give me some more information? I am actually in Melbourne (think my registration says NSW- think I made a mistake somewhere), does anyone know where to get some good food for Halle? Please let me know any advice- Halle has gone downhill very quickly so I really want to do something ASAP to make her quality of life better as I don't want her to suffer. Thanks and sorry if I seem to be waffling, I'm fairly stressed and just don't know what is best. Sasha