Dog leukemia?

Deb and Ed M wrote:
Thank you, Dr Doug and Toedtoes. It makes me feel a little better, because at one point, with Bailey standing and wagging his tail at her (and putting on a pound of weight or so), my daughter had remarked that "maybe he's getting better?" and I had replied "He's lying to you - he's always going to lie to you because he loves you". Even after he came out of a seizure, he'd wag his tail at us, like everything was great. But I could even tell by MY dogs' reaction to him, that he was desperately sick - they normally roughhoused with him; but when we got home - they treated him like he was made of glass. I think they knew he was dying, so haven't been too distraught about his being gone.

I had two Collies with cancer in fact I chronicled it in a thread from beginning to the end on the forum a few years ago.

The part where you said your other dogs treated him like glass was also the case with Strider and my other Collies. Every week I would drive Strider to chemotherapy at K-State about a hour and half away. Strider would lay his head on my arm In the car on the way up and back. After chemo we would go to Vista-Burger and get him a hamburger. This is extremely difficult to type and has brought back a flood of memories. Needed to add along with elevated white blood cells his calcium levels were through the roof.

Toadtoes the reason I elected to try chemo was I thought we caught it early enough there was a chance of total remission but I was wrong. Strider lived a additional 8 month's and when his quality of life diminished I elected to have him euthanized. Very difficult thing to do but it was time. In that 8 month's we had some good times and some difficult times.

Unless there is some change in the protocol for treatment I don't know if I would go that route again.

As God is my witness Strider said goodbye with his eyes, it's time.