Treatment for my dog

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angell1

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so if it turns out my guide dog does have cancer. I do want to attempt to do something about it. my conscience is seriously bothering me if I didn’t try anything for her. she is young and in good enough spirits that I believe that she has a good chance of fighting it.

it’s most likely going to be expensive and ther is always that paragraph in the catechism about spending money on animals what should go to relieving human misery as a priority would be unworthy that always bothers me. I don’t know if it applies to this sort of situation though. I have a job now so I can afford it. my dad is also buying insurance so they may cover it, if they determine it is not a pre-existing condition. I’ve almost done paying off my debt with my parents and I did finish paying my student loans already. There is no other urgent situation in my family that would require funds at the moment.

I wouldn’t be cutting my charitable giving either if I did this, I am planning to set up a direct withdrawal with my parish since the collection baskets never relaly work out well for me. I also do a monthly sponsorship for an elderly person in Cameroon.

my next goals were to go to world youth day in Panama and to start saving money to perhaps buy an apartment but I am more than willing to forgo those at the moment if Macy needs care.
This couldn’t possibly be sinful, could it? god placed her in my care so I have to give her the best chance at life that I can. she is the most devoted and obedient dog, I have never seen anything like it. my first guide was great but very different from Macy. if she was an older dog, I might feel differently or if she doesn’t respond well to treatment thatn I would probably reconsider. but I don’t see how this would be different than any other large expense, like a vacation or a car or purchasing technology. that’s what a priest told me once anyways. any thoughts or advice?
 
angell1 said:
so if it turns out my guide dog does have cancer. I do want to attempt to do something about it. my conscience is seriously bothering me if I didn’t try anything for her. she is young and in good enough spirits that I believe that she has a good chance of fighting it.

it’s most likely going to be expensive and ther is always that paragraph in the catechism about spending money on animals what should go to relieving human misery as a priority would be unworthy that always bothers me. I don’t know if it applies to this sort of situation though. I have a job now so I can afford it. my dad is also buying insurance so they may cover it, if they determine it is not a pre-existing condition. I’ve almost done paying off my debt with my parents and I did finish paying my student loans already. There is no other urgent situation in my family that would require funds at the moment.
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Your expense for your dog, within reason, is justified.

More so that this is a guide dog, but my answer would remain the same if it were a pet. Quality of life and what you can afford is your determining factor.

In the same breath, if the cancer is untreatable, you can also decide to opt for palliative care if quality of life is still there, before you let her go. Or, of course, you can let her rest immediately.

My own experience was that of my little dog having an inoperable brain tumour, and we had multiple options. We decided to go for palliative care to control the swelling. We based our decisions on what we thought the various options would give us, such as how many month/years he would have gotten, as well as expense, and the fact that he had insurance. While he was under palliative care, he experienced relief and happiness, so the quality of life was still there for a few months. Eventually, the palliative care gave out and he lost his quality of life. At which point, we had to make the very difficult decision to let him rest.

We could have let him rest early upon diagnosis, but our main question was: is he happy? For as long as he was happy, we let him live, and then when he was no longer happy, we let him rest.

It’s entirely up to you, but don’t let anyone tell you that treating your dog is a waste of money or immoral.
 
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Thanks @porthos11. I believe from some previus posts, your dog was also a lot older. mine is only 3.5 years old, which makes all of this feel so much worse. I guess I will just have to be patient for a few more days and wait for the biopsy results before deciding anything. Based on her current signs though, I definitely want to try something first not just put her down based on the diagnosis. She still has the same energy, is eating fine, no weight loss and the swelling seems to be only in one place, so hopefully we have caught it early enough
 
It’s good to give your beloved dog all the chances you can. I hope things turn out well for you and her.

My old dog had a fit the other week, the vet thinks it’s probably a brain tumour. I’m not having him scanned or trying any heroics, because of his age - he’s doing fine on medication for now. If he was young like your dog, I’d have taken a different approach.
 
We had three ferrets with adrenal cancer (not at the same time, they each developed it over time). Surgery was about $350 a ferret and involved driving to the Washington, DC area from our home in NC to a specialty vet in the suburbs in Virginia who could treat them. He was wonderful and probably the coolest vet I’ve ever met. We could afford it, we loved them, and they all lived long enough to die of natural causes. I’ve never thought twice about what we spent and neither has my husband.

If I could afford it - especially given Macy is your guide dog and there’s a very different side to that relationship over even that between me and my dog - I would try everything I could short of putting myself in dire financial straits. I don’t think my dog expects me to risk everything I own for his sake, nor would I even expect a fellow human to do that for me. But I would also be ready for the possibility that things may not go how I would hope, and I’m sure you are.

I will pray for Macy. And my boy and I send her and you hugs, woofs, and puppy kisses and prayers.
 
angell1 said:
Thanks @porthos11. I believe from some previus posts, your dog was also a lot older. mine is only 3.5 years old, which makes all of this feel so much worse. I guess I will just have to be patient for a few more days and wait for the biopsy results before deciding anything. Based on her current signs though, I definitely want to try something first not just put her down based on the diagnosis. She still has the same energy, is eating fine, no weight loss and the swelling seems to be only in one place, so hopefully we have caught it early enough
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Happy and eating alone are sufficient reason to keep her alive. It’s a question of quality of life.

And especially if the dog is treatable and you have the resources, by all means treat the dog.

My little dog was a bit older, but only 7 years. That’s young for a little dog, who can live about 15 years.
 
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angell1 said:
This couldn’t possibly be sinful, could it?
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No, of course not. You’re not taking food out of your family’s mouths, or endangering their housing. And especially for a guide dog – if the vet says treatment may help, I don’t see any reason not to try.
 
oh, yeah, that is fairly young, for some reason I thought it was older than that. Maybe I am getting confused with something else. I am sorry for your loss, anyways. yes, a relationship with a guide dog is certainly different however I certainly don’t want to minimize the losses of others. i just don’t feel like i would be doing her justice if i didn’t try, no matter the outcome. AFter all, she pulled all her strength these last few weeks to still guide me, before we really knew what was going on, even though she was having discomfort.
 
yes, if things don’t end up working out, well, not much i can really do about that, but i don’t want to take the attitude of giving up before even attempting to do something. quite a few people are already acting that way about it, even though we don’t even have a definite diagnosis yet
 
angell1 said:
so if it turns out my guide dog does have cancer. I do want to attempt to do something about it. my conscience is seriously bothering me if I didn’t try anything for her. she is young and in good enough spirits that I believe that she has a good chance of fighting it.
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Hi Angel.

I have had 2 dogs that got cancer. Both quite old German Shepherds. One kept getting bloat, and got pneumonia during his last episode, was xrayed and tumours on the lungs found.
The second dog developed mammary cancer. She had two ops . A second unrelated cancer developed and it was decided to keep her going on pain management etc until quality of life was a struggle.

In both cases my vets had discussed chemo as an option, however it is very difficult on a dog , esp their ages 13 and 12. I guess if they had been younger, if I had insurance , I might have tried it. As it was the 2 mammary cancer ops, plus 2 emergency bloat ops ( one on each dog) did cost a fair bit. Cancer and bloat seems to go hand in hand with large dogs. ( anecdotal at this point).

First thing to say is if your dog is going for an op , discuss gastropexy ( tacks the stomach to the stomach wall ) to prevent bowel twisting with bloat, with your vet.
Second, you have a highly trained young working dog, a guide dog. Macy cost $$$ to train. And underwent a rigorous selection process

If your specialist oncology vet believes your guide dog has a good chance of beating it, I would consider treatment a good option.
But first , ensure they X-ray the lungs, and the lungs are clear.

Depending the cost, I would consider this an excellent crowd funding project. Macy is your guide dog, cost $$$ to train for you , and should give years of service to come.

I have a young maligator. If she were to develop cancer, depending on the treatment prognosis, and her ability to deal mentally with the treatment, I would consider it. The training we put into these dogs to turn them into working dogs kind of adds a new dimension to the expense of vet treatment.
 
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yes, about $35000 to train, if you want to be exact. i am not sure if she will be able to continue guiding even if she is in remission, but just to have her alive and healthy would be good enough for me. still waiting on the biopsy results, probably will take a few more days, but the et seems pretty convinced. i will most likely meet with an oncologist only when it is confirmed
 
I would say, if you can afford it, it is your call. I just base that on my love of dogs, though. I know how hard it is to lose one. I lost mine two years ago and I still think of him every day even though I have a new baby (puppy).

I will keep both you and Macy in my prayers. I hope you are able to find peace through all of this.
 
Angel, if she cannot continue being your guide dog when in remission, will you be allowed to keep her, and can you get a new guide dog too.
 
I don’t think it’s a sin. But I would ask the vet for statistics on prognosis. How much more time with your dog is the treatment going to provide? I would probably go ahead and get the treatment. You will always find other money to replace the money you have spent. This dog is irreplaceable.

While you are working for the extra money, you will probably learn something very valuable. It’s a win win situation.
 
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This is not financial advice, etc.

Have you discussed with your vet a payment plan? Or looked up charities that help with vet bills? There are a couple of charities that deal just with animals facing cancer treatment. I can’t vouch for any, but there might be help available on that front for you.
 
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like I said, it’s not money I would have given away to charity anyways, I already have things I do give to, the church does not require us to give away every spare penny, it was money I was planning to start saving to buy an apartment and move out, but I don’t have to do that for the time being.

people spends thousands of dollars to buy a car, that’s not sinful. a guide dog is for mobility purposes, it’s sort of similar,

I understand if you personally wouldn’t do it, that’s fine, but I have talked to a priest about it before, and he said it’s no different than any other large expense we might have, like a vacation or a car or saving up to buy a house, some other such thing
 
yes, I would be allowed to do that, I have my first guide in retirement at home as well, he’s 12.5 years old now and still doing fine
 
yes, I will do that, when I get the official diagnosis, a part of me is just hoping they’re wrong about the whole thing
 
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