# Five Great Goldens - 5 Cancer Deaths



## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Welcome to the forum. So sorry for you bad experiences with cancer in the breed.


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## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

I'm sorry for your pain. Unfortunately, you have plenty of company here. I don't think many of us have had a dog die peacefully of old age. I guess we must be the eternal optimists though since we continue to have dogs in our lives with the hope that this time will be different...


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## Jackson'sMom (Oct 13, 2007)

Cancer truly is the scourge of our beloved breed. I have been fortunate in that only one of my five goldens (one is still with me) died of cancer.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I am so sorry you have been dealt blow after blow by this horrible disease, and that the vets didn't provide the right care.

I think you are a very brave and loving dog person to continue to open your heart over and over after such loss. 

I'm glad you joined us on this board, if nothing else, too many of us understand your loss with first hand experience.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Cancer is such an awful awful disease and it is so heartbreaking when it affects one we love...... human or canine. Of course I hope and pray that research can wipe it off the face of the earth. In the meantime, I will study and read and research long lived lines .... not a guarantee but in my mind, a good start. Then of course there is avoiding carcinogens, whether it's the chemicals on the lawn, cleaners in the house, preservatives in their food, minimizing vaccinations, flea and tick meds etc. I will hope and pray that they are healthy and long lived and be thankful for every day I share with these special special beings.


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## Five Times Love (Mar 12, 2010)

Thank You ALL for you kind thoughts...I too pray for a better day...


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## Cassie&Bailey'sMom (Feb 23, 2010)

Oh Five Times Love I surely feel your pain and frustration with this deadly disease and certainly with some Vets. We just recently lost our six year old golden suddenly and without any Veterinary guidance to help us navigate.

In November I noticed my girl becoming rather lethargic, and then she developed a strange sounding bark along with a very congested breathing pattern. I immediately took her to the Vet who gave her a cursory look-over and said, "Oh it's just a cold." Even though something just didn't seem right, I took the antibiotics and administered them as instructed for two weeks. The lethargy improved slightly, but the hoarse bark and breathing did not. Shortly before the completion of the course of antibiotics our girl developed strange looking crusty sores on her eylids....back to the Vet----"Oh she just scraped herself and an infection has set in. Here's more antibiotics." Two weeks later our precious golden is vomiting, can't eat and can hardly move around. Back to the Vet with an insistence he do some thorough investigating. An ultrasound revealed an extremely enlarged spleen and portion of her heart......(classic presentation of advanced Hemangiosarcoma). The Vet still didn't know what it was and why her spleen would be so enlarged. I immediately took her to an Acute Care facility. She had supportive care there while they performed a biopsy to confirm the cancer, but the lab results were delayed for a week because of the holidays (can you believe that). Her liver was now involved and her kidneys began to shut down. We let her go to sleep two days after Christmas without even having the biopsy results back---she was succumbing fast.

This was an otherwise EXTREMELY healthy dog prior to the onset of the lethargy and strange sounding bark.

Needless to say we changed Vets for our new dogs, and when I told him of our sweet golden who recently passed and her hoarse bark and lethargy (without saying what she died from) he immediately whispered, "It was cancer wasn't it."

I'm not saying our girl would have lived any longer had the Vet been on his game, but certainly we would have least been able to prepare ourselves. I never believed throughout that entire ordeal that my girl would succumb to a "cold."

I only hope and pray our scientific community can make great strides in the near future to assist in the fight against this deadly condition. These amazing animals are far too precious and loving to have their lives cut so short. Every day I had with our girl was worth every tear I shed and continue to shed.

http://www.modianolab.org/cancer/cancer_hemangiosarcoma.shtml
Very informative article on Hemangiosacrcoma


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## Five Times Love (Mar 12, 2010)

*Cassie and Bailey's Mom*

I am so sorry you had to experience another underachieving Vet. Few of them are more than shots and spay capable and lack Clinician ability. Even worse my babies were seen by so called specialists in Oncology and Internal Medicine. 
Many are just financially motivated and lack caring and compassion for anything. 
Again I am sorry for you...you got screwed as is so common these days and I wont even go into bad breeders, as if they stop breeding the cancer gene this beloved breed would fast be extinct.


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## HovawartMom (Aug 10, 2006)

I'm so sorry!.
5 on 5 is tough!.
Priska was my 1st golden and she died from cancer!. 
I'm,still,going back & forth,about getting another one!.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Five Times Love said:


> I am so sorry you had to experience another underachieving Vet. Few of them are more than shots and spay capable and lack Clinician ability. Even worse my babies were seen by so called specialists in Oncology and Internal Medicine.
> Many are just financially motivated and lack caring and compassion for anything.
> Again I am sorry for you...you got screwed as is so common these days and I wont even go into bad breeders, as if they stop breeding the cancer gene this beloved breed would fast be extinct.


 
I'm so sorry that you have had such substandard care. I am very blessed to have a very competent and caring vet. I found him as he is who ESRA uses and he guided our Cody thru the horrific, most often fatal, AIHA. He is active in rescue and in the community in regards to animal issues. I know Dallas Gold, who lives nearby, has a wonderful large vet practice that is very proactive on many levels and again reaches out to the community on many levels...... they have their own orphanage for pets needing homes, have a monthly free seminar for the public on various topics ( last month was accupuncture). There are very competent and caring vets out there...... but as our pets advocates, it is up to us to find them. I also always go to appts with topics I want to discuss researched and questions written out. I get faxed copies of all test and lab reports, and I wouldn't hesitate to get 2nd and 3rd opinions if there were any questions in my mind.


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## mullietucksmom (Mar 22, 2009)

I lost three Goldens to Cancer. ^Mulligan^ at 8 with Pancreatic Cancer. I put him through hell trying to save him...When ^Tucker^ got Cancer of the Liver, at 8, I let him go when he asked to me to. and my baby boy ^Spark^ at 7, got sick on a Friday evening and we lost him Monday afternoon, from Hemangiosarcoma. 
I wondered about a different breed for our next dog...we looked we visited shelters....
But when it came right down to it...our family isn't a family without a Golden...So we have Skye for how ever long we get to hold her...


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## tessalover (Nov 29, 2009)

Everyone please check out this thread if you don't mind.... http://www.goldenretrieverforum.com/showthread.php?t=74653


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I lost two German Shepherds to cancer. Both were hit very fast, and I only had hours to say good bye. Many breeds are hit with this disease.

I saw this article in the Milford Daily News today about a vet trying to find the answers in Cancer from long lived Rotties.

http://www.milforddailynews.com/highlight/x1664756816/Vet-learning-about-cancer-from-this-old-dog

I would really love to know what differences he finds with these dogs, whether it be pedigree, environmental or nutrition. I wonder if there is any type of studies like this going on with the senior goldens that are out there. My mother's neighbor just put down he golden at 17 years old due to old age.


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## Cassie&Bailey'sMom (Feb 23, 2010)

Brinkley was the first dog I have ever had that died so young. I simply was just not prepared. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine she would be taken from me so soon. My husband used to joke that he was scared to death when I would go out of town and leave her in his care....."If anything ever happened to that dog while you were gone, I would never be forgiven." We were both so ignorant of the cancer threat in the goldens. The loss of Brinkley has deeply affected the entire family---she was such a deeply rooted and adored member of our close-knit family.

Since our unfortunate experience with the Vet who took care of Brinkley (I use that term, "took care of" loosely) I have found a small veterinary clinic in San Clemente, and they really seem to be on the ball. Very diligent, knowledgeable, thorough and so far very personable. We have a giardia battle going on with our new pup, Bailey, and the two vets at the clinic call me every other day to see how we are managing, and offer words of encouragement and advice.

I'm old enough to know that if you think things just don't FEEL right, then they aren't. I just wish I would have paid attention to that little voice last November when things began to go south with Brinkley. I am more than paying attention now!


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

I'm very sorry for everyone who has lost a dog to cancer. We've been visited twice with hemangiosarcoma. Both times our vets were on top of it, from the start. Neither dog presented symptoms until they collapsed. Unfortunately our first golden did not make it off the surgical table for a splenectomy. His hemangiosarcoma was so advanced the surgeon called us to recommend we not wake him up from his surgery. I only wished he had given us a funny bark or exhibited excessive lethargy--those weren't symptoms we saw. If we had he would have been examined and diagnosed much sooner. We enjoyed 13 years, 6 months with him--thanks in large part to excellent veterinary care over the years.

We have Barkley with us today, thanks to our veterinary team. One vet saved his life in December 2004 (undetermined illness but we were told to prepare to lose him). Another vet in the same practice diagnosed leptospirosis in December 2005 and saved his life again. He was one sick dog at the time. Both times Barkley was seen within minutes of presenting symptoms. After Barkley collapsed on an early morning walk this year, he was seen within an hour by one of the veterinarians in the practice. He was able to do blood testing, finding lowered red blood cell counts, order x-rays and a sonogram, and schedule a splenectomy for the next morning when the sonogram revealed a grossly enlarged spleen. Before we left the clinic that night he gave us his personal cell phone number to call if Barkley crashed. This vet performed a 4.5 hour splenectomy the next morning and did a beautiful job closing him up. He patiently answered ALL of my questions with compassion. I felt totally comfortable with our decision on the course of Barkley's treatment. He also coordinated the drawing of a blood sample to send off for clinical research (through the NIH) being conducted now on 5 different forms of canine cancer. Before every chemo treatment our vet comes out to visit and ask me if I have questions. He calls to tell me the hct levels, then comes out to let me know how Barkley did when I come pick him up. 

Tomorrow is day 60 after Barkley's collapse. We know his disease is terminal, but thanks to excellent and immediate veterinary care we are able to spend wonderful time with him.

My advice to anyone who does not feel their vet is on top of things--find someone else as soon as you can! It is very important to have a good working partnership with your vet during the good times, so when the bad times come you can rely on their expertise. If something doesn't seem right, it probably isn't. Make the change while you can. Trust your instinct.


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

I feel bad for those who have lost a dog to cancer, while my own have been very healthy and so far long lived (almost 14 years before passing of kidney failure and 12.5 and going strong still for my 'old' dogs), I tear up for friend's dogs who died from cancer when I think of them.

However I do think there is a genetic factor, some lines do have early cancer in them. Also food, vaccines, chemicals and more contribute to polluting our pets and can lead to disease. I do what I can to avoid these things and hope for the best for my dogs, it's all we can do really. 

Lana


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## goldensrbest (Dec 20, 2007)

Cancer is a tough, lost 2 goldens, 1 old english, and my dad, and mil, and others.


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## AmbikaGR (Dec 31, 2007)

Five Times, I as do many, know your pain and frustration. I have lost all three of the girls waiting for ma at the bridge to some form of cancer over the past 7 years. The hardest one of all happened three years ago today. 

As for vets I have seen my share of misinformed and unchallenged over the years. The conclusion I have come to is that just like my own doctors I need to find ones that are willing to listen as much as they are willing to talk. IF they are of the belief "THEY KNOW" what is best and I have no worth while input, I move on. I found such a vet about 7 years ago and travel well over an hour to her office. I live in one of the most populated areas of the country, Northern New Jersey, and without exaggeration probably have over one thousand vets closer to me.


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## twogoldenboys (Mar 3, 2008)

I'm sorry for your losses. My mother has had 5 Goldens in the past 25 yrs. Cancer took all 5 as well. She did have 1 who lived to be 1 month shy of 17 years and lived with Leukemia for 5 years. No chemo, no traditional meds. She is a firm believer of holistic living.


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## Abbydabbydo (Jan 31, 2007)

I am so sorry for your losses, I don' know what the odds are on 5 out of 5, but certainly you have had some rotten luck.

I totally agree with Hank on Vet's and Human Dr's. If they aren't listening to you or don't show any interest in solving a problem, move on.



AmbikaGR said:


> As for vets I have seen my share of misinformed and unchallenged over the years. The conclusion I have come to is that just like my own doctors I need to find ones that are willing to listen as much as they are willing to talk. IF they are of the belief "THEY KNOW" what is best and I have no worth while input, I move on.


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## rappwizard (May 27, 2009)

I've owned 3 golden retrievers--one passed away due to hemangiosarcoma at the age of 9; the other made it to nearly 13 but passed away due to complications from arthritis medicine that caused internal bleeding--he did not have cancer; both of these goldens were first cousins. I currently own the niece of one of these goldens. I love the temperament and overall soundness--no allergies, hot spots, skin problems.

I echo the comments that many have made about what could be the reason behind the cancer deaths in goldens (and other breeds overall). There is a link in another thread that indicates although cancer seems to be prevalent in goldens, goldens tend to survive longer than other breeds that are diagnosed with cancer.

Compared to "days of yore" what could be the difference between then and now? Is it because we just have more goldens now, so that it seems as if we have more goldens dying of cancer? Goldens started to climb in popularity once Gerald Ford brought one to the White House--that's only about 30 some odd years ago. Is it because more goldens are spayed and neutered, and the loss of hormones results in less protection from this disease? Studies on rotts seem to indicate this may be the case. Increased pesticide/vaccine use? Possibly. Obesity? The Golden Retriever Club of America funded a study that indicates obese/overweight goldens and other breeds appear to be at higher risk for cancer and other diseases. Is it the kibble? Should we go back to table scraps like in the good ol' days (or feed raw?)

We have to do, as what many have said on this thread--make sure we have a relationship with a knowledgeable, compassionate vet and that we have done our research as well, and make what we feel are the best decisions for our pet.


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