11 Year old Boxer with Thyroid Cancer

by Marilyn
(Smyrna, Georgia)

I have had boxers for many years.

Presently I have an 11 year old male boxer that was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in July of this year. We took him to Georgia Vet Specialist. We were told that the tumor was invasive and surgery was not possible. They wanted to do a 4 week radiation treatment that would involve putting him to sleep every morning, Monday thru Friday, to administer the radiation. This would be followed by chemo once the radiation was completed.

After much crying and soul searching, we decided that we could not put our baby through this extensive treatment - he would not understand what we were doing to him.

He was a show dog for the first few years of his life so I called the handler that showed him for me. She advised me that at his age not to put him through the treatment.

We decided that we would love and take care of him for the remainder of his life but it is so hard when he coughs and tries to clear his throat and can't.

I have no idea what the life expectancy is without treatment and dread the day that we have to do the unthinkable.

Has anyone else had an older dog and elected to not put them through cancer treatments?

P.S. We had his mother - she had cancer but a different type - we put her through chemo and she had no quality of life. She made it through round one of the chemo and felt better for a minute - then the cancer came back strong. We had chemo once again to no avail. We had to put her down and swore that we wouldn't put another one of our pets through what we put her through. We LOVE our pets like they are our children and do anything and everything we can to keep them healthy, safe and happy.