Cancer In The Anal Gland ....

[seekeerz]

A friend's 10yr old Staffy has been diagnosed with the above and has received differing information.....chemo and surgery, with a strong likelihood of faecal incontinance and no certainty of a cure, or accepting the fact that Clio's time will be limited, but still enjoying her meals and walks.

The second option has another drawback insofar as the dog can become constipated very easily and an enema is necessary which can result in indoor accidents.

Any thoughts, etc would help, thanks,

[woofgang]

Oh dear, tough one. Here's what i would be considering.
How is the staffy at dealing with the vet, having walks and so on limited? Either way it sounds like there would be a strong risk of incontinence so if it was me I would discount that as a factor. Is it DEFINITE that its a cancer?
If its IV chemo then the dog has to be happy to be handled, to accept multiple insertions of an IV line, because I think that the chemo is more than one dose, and to stay quiet at the vets while the IV line is in. I also think that there is no guarantee that this will prevent the spread of certain cancers. I understand from dog owners who know, that dogs tend to tolerate chemo better than people in terms of sickness loss of appetite and so on, but some dogs still feel rough for a day or so after each dose.

I have got a friend who rescues greyhounds. They have a high incidence of bone cancer, the treatment for which is amputation and chemo. She knows that some of her dogs could stand the stress of the treatment as I have outlined above, and that for others, the stress would be worse than early PTS.

I hope this helps even a little.....

[seekeerz]

Thanks for your answer Woof, yes it will be a course of chemo and I think Clio would handle it ok, but he owner is a pensioner, and the treatment would be about $250 per dose which would also be a consideration.

Lots of things to deal with, with two different vets giving different advice as well

[woofgang]

can I ask what the different vets have said? If either of them is promising that the op and chemo will give a cure, then i would discount that immediately. Are you in the US or was the $ sign a typo?

[chaptazbru2]

I assume the anal glands have to be removed? There is a chance that the vet could accidentally 'nick' the sphincter muscle during this op and that is what makes the risk of faecal incontinence, BUT two of my dogs have had their anal glands removed, one in the 1980's and the other in the late 90's and both of them came through the op without any mishaps. I hope all goes well with Clio.

[seekeerz]

I'm in Oz, hence the $ sign, Woof, and no, neither vet was promising a cure ...her usual vet was not saying anything much though I think he was aware of the situation, her second opinion vet did all the tests and is pushing strongly for the chemo/operation route.

I think my friend is torn between giving her dog the best quality of life for the time she has left or going down the 'treatment' path which may prolong it for a while but be pretty miserable with all the drugs involved. I believe dogs do tolerate the chemo better - i guess that was the thing I was trying to get a clearer picture of, so thank you both for the input.