Princess Havana

We chose to go with chemo because we had the means to do so and surgery wasnt an option for the type of cancer Leila had. It meant that we were able to say that we tried and we were totally guided by the advice from our vet, who was lovely and completely open and honest with us. In hindsight - nothing would have helped I dont think.

We tried to made some quite drastic changes to Leila's diet...but we just didnt get enough time.

Bear in mind your girl also had a relatively significant surgery so do the best you can with getting her to eat. We went with the theory, if she wants it, she can have it - to make sure we kept up her strength - if there was any meat & veggie leftovers from whatever we had for dinner, she got them. We chose to stop feeding biscuits - but continued to let her steal cat bickies! There is a good cottage cheese and honey recipe (I think I got it from on here or at least the idea for it) which is high in protein and dogs go crazy for. What else did we feed? cheap butchers mince, eggs, pumpkin. Most of these things arent too expensive when you take out the biscuts. If all else fails and she wont eat it but will the biscuits - feed them!

Apart from not eating as much, how is her personality bearing in mind the surgery and unusual vet visits? A lot of people say "you will just know when enough is enough" and that did happen with us - Leila stopped being her - she wouldnt eat and had to be given pain relief - that was enough. Until that happened we were on the plan that the vet had set for us.

Hang in there.

Thanks for all the Info CareyJ, She seems alot more alert last couple of days, but that might be the medication she is on....Chemo is due to start by friday, monday at the latest.. so i will update and let everyone know how she is going.

As for her diet i have found a place in adelaide that does it, so i have made an appoitment to see them.

have you popped into the palliative care forum and read thru Ollies story?

will give you a better idea of what is happening.

i will add my Lucinda lived with MCT grade 3 from aug 2002 until feb 2009.. no clean margins. Lucinda was holistically treated and lived a full and happy life mostly guarding er beloved flock. Ollie had both chemo and is holistically treated ( a perfect combination i feel).

keep positive and keep the faith

helen

Hi Dogbesotted, reading through some stories has given me more and more hope, i just hope she will be ok when the chemo starts....

its been a very stressful couple of weeks.

thanks for your kind words

So sorry to hear about both Havana and Abbigail.

We lost our 21 month old GSP to cytosystic sarcoma (like lymphoma but worse!) last year so we understand exactly what you are both going through

There are some fantastic support groups out there. Whatever treatment option you chose, may it be chemo or diet change and care or something different, there are some fantastic success stories out there.

Doing the best you can within the resources you have and providing them with a safe loving environment means you have done everything for your babies.

Hi CareyJ, Yes so our news just seems to be getting worse and worse, im just praying for some goods news.

So we found out monday she has Mast Cell Tumour stage 3, thursday we took her for an ultrasound just so they could look around a bit more b4 we said yes to surgery.

Results came back friday and they werent good, vet said she has another apple size tumour on her other side of stomach he wasnt that clear on weither or not it was related but he said it was more than likely. so we opted no for surgery whcih was meant to be today.

he recommened that we start chemo to see if they can shrink tumours, then they will reasses wiether or not to remove it.

so she will start chemo as soon as she can.. geez its killing me... hopefully we are doing to right thing.

as for her diet we have changed around a bit. she doesnt seem to be eating alot.. loves bbq chicken and cheese as for her meat loaf i make she takse her time eating... is it still ok to give dry biscults?

i have made an appoitment to see an hollisic vet this week so hopefully he can help a bit more in the way of her diet and vitamins.

just got to keep remembering we are doing this for her not for us and as much as it would kill me to give her,her wings when do you know enough is enough?

thanks

Hi Staffyluv,

i am new on this forum and i have been sitting here readin through your post... WOW ollie is a miricle dog!

i have too just founf out that my pup has Mast Cell Cancer Grade 3 and i would greatly appriecate and help and advice that you might give me

thanks

p.s i hope Ollie is well

Hi,

Can you answer a few questions for me please:

As it is grade 3 has the tumour been removed?

Did they get clear margins?

Did they offer chemo or radiation therapy?

What sort of food do you feed?

Do you use any supplements?

1. Changing diet to remove as many carbs as possible (grains, rice, breads, sugars).. Google anti cancer diet for dogs - most of them have the same advice... I think there is a link to one here in Ollie's thread.

2. Supplements with the assistance of a good holistic vet - I can't recommend this enough, it is really important.

Keep life as normal as possible - keep a check for more tumours/lumps... Grade 3 has a very high recurrence rate.

Mooper's boy Jack had MCT grade 3.. They removed the tumour and got clear margins, and to date he is healthy and there has been no recurrence...

We did chemo and holistic - it is a long, expensive and often a hard road, but I would not change a thing.

We are in the process of getting her check into a clinic in Melbourne, where they will operate on the tumour if the ct scan (in adelaide there is only one place that does it and the waiting list it 6-8 weeks long and we arent willing to wait that long time is everything right?) comes back ok (if it has spread we will have to move onto plan b)...

fingers crossed she will recover from the operation ok as they will need to remove most of her side tissue and remove parts of her rib.. i will upload pics so you can see the size and position.

she has only had a bisopy taken (last week) from her lump which has come back with these results... so we are moving as quickly as we can without rushing.

the vet did recommended chemo after surgey just in case and radiothereopy if the tumour has spread...

atm the moment she is still on meatloaf with dry biscults

and no supplements at the moment.

i will google diets and get her onto that straight away. so from my understaning lots of protein and vegies?

as for supplements where can i get them from? and what do you mean by holistic vet? ive never heard of them beofre?

at this stage we havent seen or felt any more lumps or bumps but i will make sure i am always checking.

i can only imagine the long and winding road.

im safe to say and most people that have dogs/cats they are truely your best friend and i would do and spend any amount of money on her as she is our baby.

thanks

Stage 3.

Hi Staffyluv,

i am new on this forum and i have been sitting here readin through your post... WOW ollie is a miricle dog!

i have too just founf out that my pup has Mast Cell Cancer Grade 3 and i would greatly appriecate and help and advice that you might give me

thanks

p.s i hope Ollie is well

thanks Guys for the replys already.

So the vet appt didnt go to well. defianlty not what we were expecting.

Havanas diagnosis is Mast Cell Tumour Grade 3.

Vet discussed a few options but the best one is too operate and remove all the tumour and then to follow with Chemo.

He said that given her age (almost 3) we should definalty look at going ahead with it... he said that the surgery is major and there can be some major setb backs and if all goes well chances of a cure is high.

Our vet has put us onto a Specialist ( Dr Charles Kuntz) he works from a place called SouthPaws in VIC... we are paitenlty waiting to see if they will take her..

so again if anyone has any feedback advice we greatly apprieicate it.

fingers crossed

Hi Guys,

Im new on the forum...

Just yesterday my partner and i were told that our 2 1/2 year old Female Amstaff "HAVANA" was dignosed with Maglignent Lymphona stage 3.

This of course is such a shock to us and we are absoultly devostated.

We are off to dicuss all open options with our vet for her treatment today.

Can any one please help with any kind of advice would be greatly appreicated.

we are situated in Morphett Vale, South Australia

Thank you

Deneka