DOGINFOS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Accounting for better than five percent of all tumors known to occur in the dog , lymphosarcoma is the commonest malignancy seen in aging dogs , particularly those in the eight to twelve-year range. Its cause is unknown and is relentlessly fatal , but primordial diagnosis combined with one or extra of the therapy modes just described may comfortably extend life for eight months to a year.

This tumour may develop in whatever organ or part of the corpse , and symptoms will naturally depend upon the location. If it's in the digestive system , there may be vomiting , prolonged diarrhoea , and continuing weight loss despite a good or smooth ravenous appetite. The liver or spleen may become fairly enlarged causing a "big belly." Tumors in the chest may cause coughing and difficult breathing , as may tumefied tonsils.

In the skin shape , there may be a great deal of tough , reddened areas which ulcerate easily. Some dogs show tumour development in one or both eyes , normally in the iris or just under the cornea. Any or all of these may occur in one dog , but the commonest symptom is enlargement of the lymph nodes located just under the skin upon the back of the thighs , the front of the shoulders , and upon either side of the throat close the jawbone. Such a dog may appear simply normal in all other ways and could misleadingly induce you to ignore the swellings until the tumour spreads farther and causes defined signs of ailment.

Biopsy of an enlarged lymph node or suspicious skin will corroborate the diagnosis. X-ray studies may corroborate additional ailment in the chest or abdomen and are essential when there are no outside tumors. Blood studies are similarly helpful , with regards to half of the dogs with lymphosarcoma tumors similarly have leukemia. Most cases of lymphosarcoma implicate multiple parts of the corpse , thereby making surgical excision of the tumors impractical , if not impossible.

Chemotherapy is the method most ofttimes employed and initially prednisone , a cortisone-like drug , is the medication normally prescribed. It makes your dog "feel better" and is fewer dangerous than most other efficacious drugs. These extra poisonous drugs may be employed later upon , or they are on occasion combined with the prednisone correct from the beginning of therapy. Radiation treatments and immunotherapy are on occasion employed as adjuncts to chemotherapy.