How to Care for a Dog With Cancer

When your dog is diagnosed with cancer, it can seem like a fatal sentence. But many dogs can live for over a year with cancer, and the condition can sometimes go into remission with treatment. Your dog's quality of life is the most important thing to consider when he is diagnosed with cancer. Keeping this at the forefront will ensure that you make the best decisions for your dog.

Instructions

1. Talk to your vet about the results you can expect from chemotherapy, both before you begin the treatment and at each stage of it. While chemo is an excellent choice for treating cancer in many dogs, other dogs will suffer a reduced quality of life, without much time added to their lifespan. Generally, it takes about six weeks to know how well the chemo is working.

2. Feed your dog a high-quality natural dog food, which will help him fight the cancer as effectively as possible. Ask your vet for recommendations for your dog, because she'll be able to best tailor your dog's diet to the specific health problems he has.

3. Provide your dog with an orthopedic bed if she doesn't already have one. A dog with cancer may experience pain and lethargy, so a comfortable bed will go a long way toward keeping her feeling well.

4. Discuss the use of pain medication with your vet. Most dogs with cancer do well with pain medication, though you need to pay attention to your dog's quality of life. Even on pain medication, he should be interactive. If he's sleeping all the time, his quality of life is not going to be very high.

5. Give your dog a lot of one-on-one time to make cancer symptoms more bearable for her. If she's an outdoor dog, bring her indoors more often to offer her support. If she's an indoor dog, be sure to include her in family activities---even if it simply means inviting her to sit next to you.

6. Be ready to euthanize your dog when and if his quality of life declines. If he still shows interest in things, he clearly has a will to live. But if he is listless and uninterested in what he used to enjoy, he may be telling you that it's time to let him go. You can have a vet come to your home for this procedure, which is an especially good idea if your dog is stressed by visits to the vet's office.