Lena

SevenFeathers

SevenFeathers

Dagobah Resident
Here's Lena on her 11th birthday in July. She's had a turkey burger and green beans. Showing great restraint while I took the picture!

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In August, she started being finicky about eating, not liking her old stuff and losing weight. She would eat out my hand but just sort of lost her normal doggy interest in food.

After trying different things to make her eat, I finally took her the vet yesterday. He said she has lymphoma. Most of of her lymph nodes are swollen. He offered steroids to help suppress the immune system and hopefully help her have an appetite again. Seems to have helped after 2 pills. She came in and looked at me for food this morning. This won't cure her, of course, but just help her feel a little better since she'll eat. I am going to dose her with Vitamin C to help her along, too. The vet said that Lena is the third dog in two weeks that has shown up with this.

I hope that she'll be able to fight this off for a while. She is not in pain, so that is good.

Please send your thoughts and prayers for Lena. She is a sweet girl. Thank you.
 
Precious puppa :-) I made liposomal vitamin C for my old girl and also added bone broth with a dash of curcumin to her daily diet. Her lymph nodes did shrink and her appetite was healthy. She loved the bone broth! Hope that happiness and health lasts longer for Lena and enjoy these times with her. All the best to both of you.
 
In August, she started being finicky about eating, not liking her old stuff and losing weight. She would eat out my hand but just sort of lost her normal doggy interest in food.

After trying different things to make her eat, I finally took her the vet yesterday. He said she has lymphoma. Most of of her lymph nodes are swollen. He offered steroids to help suppress the immune system and hopefully help her have an appetite again. Seems to have helped after 2 pills. She came in and looked at me for food this morning. This won't cure her, of course, but just help her feel a little better since she'll eat. I am going to dose her with Vitamin C to help her along, too. The vet said that Lena is the third dog in two weeks that has shown up with this.

I hope that she'll be able to fight this off for a while. She is not in pain, so that is good.

Please send your thoughts and prayers for Lena. She is a sweet girl. Thank you.
 
Jones said:
Precious puppa :-) I made liposomal vitamin C for my old girl and also added bone broth with a dash of curcumin to her daily diet. Her lymph nodes did shrink and her appetite was healthy. She loved the bone broth! Hope that happiness and health lasts longer for Lena and enjoy these times with her. All the best to both of you.
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Thank you for your response. Lena is not in pain now, but is this something would progress to pain?

Hoping the Vitamin C will help her. She is back to having somewhat of an appetite. I am thankful for that.
 
SevenFeathers said:
Thank you for your response. Lena is not in pain now, but is this something would progress to pain?

Hoping the Vitamin C will help her. She is back to having somewhat of an appetite. I am thankful for that.
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I couldn't tell you if lymphoma alone causes any pain. My old girl was a bit older than Lena and had a few other things going on and she did show some signs of pain towards the end. She was around 12yo when she was diagnosed and made it to almost 14. She trembled and licked at her front legs occasionally. She refused to get up one day and up until that day, her appetite was very good. Not getting up was a big deal for her because she was a very clean dog and while she could leak urine when she was in a deep sleep as she got older, if she was awake she would always go out to toilet - to the point of barking at the door if I hadn't realised she was waiting to go out. If I was going outside for any reason, she was rarely not very far behind me. If she had leaked in her bed, she would bark or stare at her bed and refuse to get into it until I come to clean it with vinegar and put a fresh cushion cover on it. Her cushion was moisture resistant and I had some extra covers made for it so that it was easy to change and wash. All that to say, her refusing to get up was a big deal for her despite her other issues. After I had bought her, her breeder found out that there was degenerative myelitis in her lines. Back in those days when I bought her there was no genetic testing for DM and the only way to confirm it was autopsy. My old girl had started to show some proprioception deficiency in her hind legs at around 6yo and when she got to around 11yo she started falling over. My nickname for her was 'hoover hound' and she had never ever refused a feed until that day. In her last 12 months she regained some puppy like energy and mischievousness that was delightful and had me chuckling lots. Almost like she had the carefree cheekiness of a happy pensioner.

Lena is almost at the upper average range for age for dogs her size, is she a labrador? She still looks to be quite healthy for her age and despite her diagnosis. It's hard because there comes a time when there's nothing more we can do other than keep them as happy and comfortable as possible. Could be a few good years in her for you yet, soak 'em up :flowers:
 
Jones said:
Lena is almost at the upper average range for age for dogs her size, is she a labrador? She still looks to be quite healthy for her age and despite her diagnosis.
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She is a lab mix of some sort. A couple of people saw boxer in her. We adopted her when she was about 5 months old when she and a sister were dumped at a groomer's place. And she has been mostly healthy all her life, no big problems. So when she started losing her interest in food, I knew something was wrong. I don't like giving her steroids, but in this case, they have brought her appetite back. It's just for a couple of weeks, then I'll decide what to do from there. As long as she can eat, she can keep her strength up.

I appreciate your words of encouragement.
 
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