Before going to veterinary school, internship and residency, I worked for veterinarians both local practice and referral practices. At first glance cancer is a bad disease and treatment is bleak. However, now that I have seen and treated hundreds of patients with cancer I can tell you a few things about it.

First, our goals with chemotherapy are different than they are in human medicine. Since humans do not have the "humane" option of euthanasia people must be cured of cancer. It rarely happens aside from some lymphomas and leukemias. What does happen is that the patient must be treated within inches of death to kill off all the tumor cells. In dogs and cats our goal is to provide symptom free quality life for as long as that is possible. I feel that chemotherapy is not a replacement for euthanasia per se, but may allow the pet and owners to spend happy time together. This gives the pet a quality life, and the owners time to get used to the loss. Since we use lower doses of chemotherapy, the dogs do not get a sick. They also don't have the "I've got cancer I'm doomed mentality" and many are quite happy (often to the distress of thier owners!)

Second, with the other disease I mentioned above, cancer may not be so bad. I treat many other disease that the dogs die of in a quicker, messier fashion. Cancer has a grave long term prognosis, but for many forms of cancer the pets can do well for months on chemotherapy.

Third, the cost of chemotherapy is generally not that high compared to surgery, or certainly to human costs.

Fourth, chemotherapy and euthanasia are decisions that only the owners can make. The choice is one that the owners, once well informed, need to make based on thier lifestyle, resources, and commitment. There is no wrong decision to make. Euthanasia is a completely respectable choice. Chemotherapy is not "cruel and unussual."

Fifth, there are very few people who piss me off, but I'll tell you about two. One is the person who tells another to put their dog to sleep rather than amputate a leg (dogs do great on 3.) And the other is the person who tells someone else they made the wrong choice over chemotherapy or euthanasia. If you would make the decision differently, hope you never have the chance.

The grief people feel one the loss of their pet is tremendous. Add to this guilt of "choosing the wrong path" and the emotional turmoil is indeed great. When people ask me "What would you do if it were your pet?" (a question I get asked almost every day" I tell them. Then I tell them that it should have no bearing on their choice. What can I do to help them? Make sure they are well informed about the choices, treatment options, side effects, risks, costs, and prognosis. When they make thier choice I can carry out thier requests.

If you have a dog that has cancer, see your veterinarian. If they can't/don't answer your questions completely ask them to refer you to an oncologist. They are happy to speak with you about your options and help you make an informed choice.

It was not only informative, but it was also supportive for those of us who are going through this most difficult of times with our dogs.

Our vet is one of the really good people in this world. Our dogs love him, and we trust him. When he found the cancer had spread to Pearl's lungs, he explained our options to us very clearly. We decided against chemo for Pearl; she's comfortable right now, and we're going to do everything we can do to help her be comfortable for as long as possible. And when the time comes, we'll be there to help ease her death.

We've made the arrangements for the funeral (I supposed you'd call it that). We're also going to plant a tree on our vet's farm, as a memorial to Pearl. Making these arrangements with our doctor has helped me deal with the terrible grief I'm feeling. In the meantime, we're following his medical advice, which was to take her home and love her and enjoy her for as long as we can.