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Guide To Diagnosing And Treating Dog
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Your
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one of the most important people in your dog's life. You should
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Dog Health Emergencies
During
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reduce your dog’s immediate pain.......
Pet Grooming
There are
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Does Your
Aging Dog Have Lymphosarcoma?
Accounting for better than five
percent of all tumors known to occur in the dog, lymphosarcoma is the
commonest malignancy seen in aging dogs, especially those in the eight
to twelve-year range. Its cause is unknown and is relentlessly fatal,
but early diagnosis combined with one or more of the therapy modes just
described can comfortably prolong life for eight months to a year.
This tumor can develop in any organ or part of the body, and symptoms
will naturally depend on the location. If it's in the digestive system,
there may be vomiting, prolonged diarrhea, and continuing weight loss
despite a good or even ravenous appetite. The liver or spleen may
become quite enlarged causing a "big belly." Tumors in the chest can
cause coughing and difficult breathing, as can tumefied tonsils.
In the skin form, there may be many hard, reddened areas which ulcerate
easily. Some dogs show tumor development in one or both eyes, usually
in the iris or just under the cornea. Any or all of these can occur in
one dog, but the commonest symptom is enlargement of the lymph nodes
located just under the skin on the back of the thighs, the front of the
shoulders, and on either side of the throat near the jawbone. Such a
dog may appear perfectly normal in all other ways and could
misleadingly induce you to ignore the swellings until the tumor spreads
further and causes obvious signs of illness.
Biopsy of an enlarged lymph node or suspicious skin will confirm the
diagnosis. X-ray studies can confirm additional disease in the chest or
abdomen and are essential when there are no external tumors. Blood
studies are also helpful, about half of the dogs with lymphosarcoma
tumors also have leukemia. Most cases of lymphosarcoma involve multiple
parts of the body, thereby making surgical excision of the tumors
impractical, if not impossible.
Chemotherapy is the method most often used and initially prednisone, a
cortisone-like drug, is the medication generally prescribed. It makes
your dog "feel better" and is less dangerous than most other effective
drugs. These more toxic drugs may be used later on, or they are
sometimes combined with the prednisone right from the beginning of
therapy. Radiation treatments and immunotherapy are occasionally used
as adjuncts to chemotherapy.
There are more
information articles on all aspects of basics dog training, dog health
issues, dog grooming and dog nutrition in
John Mailer's article directory
Copyright 2007 http://www.BasicsDogTraining .com
Does Your Aging
Dog Have
Lymphosarcoma?
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