We have a nine year old Beagle with an aggressive cancerous tumour in the urethra. She began spotting blood from the vagina and we took her for a number of tests for a diagnosis. We're now awaiting word from our Vet as to prognosis and treatment options. She (our Vet) is consulting with her peers in Guadalajara.
Surgery is apparently not an option because of the probability of metastasizing and incontinence.
She shows no signs of problems yet - active, affectionate, eats well, plays with our other dog, urinates and defecates normally.
Before specific options for treatment are recommended our Vet indicated chemo and radiation might be required. I have no prior experience with this. Previous pets have simply died of old age.
Naturally we did Google searches and discovered dogs seem to have a parallel with human experience. Chemo and radiation prolong life but are usually not a cure. The suffering is simply prolonged. I have had several friends and acquaintances who had undertaken months and years of treatment, experiencing excruciating debilitation and ended up dying anyways.
The options I'm anticipating appear to be to pursue chemo and radiation treatment which likely will only prolong the inevitable or taking no treatment options, waiting for the inevitable and making her final time as comfortable as possible and ending with euthanasia when she has no more quality of life. Money is not an issue.
I'm asking if anyone and can offer experience and advice with pet cancer. We are obviously devastated to lose our beloved pet before her time.
SunFan
As a side note, we initially wasted over two months and $ with what I would consider an incompetent Vet who misdiagnosed the problem and wasted time with irrelevant diagnosis and treatment and a recommendation for a caring, compassionate, careful one . PM me for details.