The Dog Cancer Survival Guide (76 page)
Read The Dog Cancer Survival Guide Online
Authors: Susan Ettinger Demian Dressler
When two joys of life are significantly affected, it’s my opinion that we need to start assessing life quality. And when three joys are gone for good, I believe the scale is tipping and life quality may be dropping significantly.
Your dog is an individual and you are the best person to assess her happiness. I suggest going over the list above and noting any joys of life that are negatively affected at this time. Any joys that can be corrected with supplements, surgeries, medications, lifestyle changes or simple attention, will be considered for inclusion in your treatment plan.
Average Life Expectancy
E
very dog is different, of course, and no one can ever predict how long any particular dog will live. I’ve seen dogs live well past their expected lifespan, including some dogs with cancer. Even so, as you work through the decision-making process, it will be important to have a hard piece of data on hand: your dog’s life expectancy, based on the average for her breed and/or weight. Without this comparison, it is difficult to have a truly wide-angle view of your dog’s situation.
The following list contains most of the common breeds in the United States and the average life expectancy of each, based on published data and my own clinical experience.
| Average Life expectancy Based on Breed | |
| Afghan Hound | 12 years |
| Airedale Terrier | 11 years |
| Basset Hound | 13 years |
| Beagle | 13 years |
| Bearded Collie | 12 years |
| Bernese Mountain Dog | 7 years |
| Border Collie | 13 years |
| Border Terrier | 14 years |
| Boston Terrier | 12 years |
| Boxer | 10 years, 4 months |
| Bull Terrier | 13 years |
| Bulldog | 9 years |
| Bullmastiff | 8 years, 7 months |
| Cairn Terrier | 13 years |
| Cavalier King Charles Spaniel | 10 years, 7 months |
| Chihuahua | 13 years |
| Chow Chow | 13 years, 6 months |
| Cocker Spaniel | 12 years, 6 months |
| Corgi | 11 years, 4 months |
| Dachshund | 12 years |
| Dalmatian | 13 years |
| Doberman Pinscher | 10 years |
| English Cocker Spaniel | 12 years |
| English Setter | 11 years |
| English Springer Spaniel | 13 years |
| English Toy Spaniel | 10 years |
| Flat-Coated Retriever | 9 years, 6 months |
| German Shepherd | 10 years, 4 months |
| German Shorthaired Pointer | 12 years, 4 months |
| Golden Retriever | 12 years |
| Gordon Setter | 11 years, 4 months |
| Great Dane | 8 years, 5 months |
| Greyhound | 13 years |
| Irish Red and White Setter | 13 years |
| Irish Setter | 12 years |
| Irish Wolfhound | 7 years |
| Jack Russell Terrier | 13 years, 6 months |
| Labrador Retriever | 12 years |
| Lurcher | 12 years, 6 months |
| Maltese | 13 years |
| Miature Dachshund | 14 years |
| Miniature Schnauzer | 13 years |
| Miniature Pinscher | 14 years |
| Miniature Poodle | 14 years |
| Norfolk Terrier | 10 years |
| Old English Sheepdog | 12 years |
| Pekingese | 13 years |
| Pomeranian | 14 years |
| Pug | 13 years |
| Rhodesian Ridgeback | 9 years |
| Rottweiler | 10 years |
| Rough Collie | 12 years |
| Samoyed | 11 years |
| Scottish Deerhound | 9 years, 6 months |
| Scottish Terrier | 12 years |
| Shetland Sheepdog | 13 years |
| Shih Tzu | 13 years, 4 months |
| Staffordshire Bull Terrier | 10 years |
| Standard Poodle | 12 years |
| Tibetan Terrier (Lhasa Apso) | 14 years, 4 months |
| Toy Poodle | 14 years, 4 months |
| Vizsla | 12 years, 6 months |
| Weimaraner | 10 years |
| Welsh Springer Spaniel | 11 years, 6 months |
| West Highland White Terrier | 13 years |
| Whippet | 14 years |
| Wire Fox Terrier | 13 years |
| Yorkshire Terrier | 13 years, 6 months |
It’s useful to keep in mind that just as one year in human years is different from one year in dog years, one year in the life of one dog is not the same as one year in the life of another. If your dog is of a breed that usually lives ten years, and he stands to gain one year from a course of treatment, that extra year represents ten percent of his natural lifespan. On the other hand, if your dog is of a breed that usually lives fourteen years, one year gained is equal to only seven percent of his lifespan.
While this breed chart can provide a useful guideline for purebred dogs, it is not helpful for mixed breeds. Generally, dogs of the same weight live about the same length of time, and the smaller the dog, the longer the life span.
| Average Life expectancy Based on Weight | |
| Body Weight | Approximate Life Expectancy |
| Miniature (up to about 12 lbs.) | 14 years |
| Small (12-30 lbs.) | 13 years |
| Medium (31-50 lbs.) | 12 years |
| Large (51-80 lbs.) | 11 years |
| Giant (over 80 lbs.) | 9 years |
Age is not a disease, nor is it a pre-existing health condition, like kidney or heart disease. To make a prognosis, or prediction, about the ultimate outcome of a particular dog’s cancer, we look for the presence or absence of certain factors (which vary depending upon the cancer type). Old age is not automatically one of those factors. Advanced age does not necessarily worsen a prognosis. The reason to look at your dog’s age, compared to her expected lifespan, is because it shows you what you’re fighting for.
Treatment Plan Analysis
I
f there were one absolute “cure for cancer,” there would be no need for you to analyze your cancer treatment options; you would simply do what we recommend. Unfortunately, we don’t yet have the silver bullet that kills cancer, so you have some decisions to make, and those decisions require some thought. This chapter will help you to analyze yourself and your dog’s cancer.
I suggest taking notes as you work through this chapter, because you will want to record your thoughts and as much of the data as you can. In
Chapter 23
, I recommend keeping a journal; your work in this chapter may be the start of it. You may also want to use the companion book
The Dog Cancer Survival Guide Companion Journal.
Keeping track of your planning, your decisions, your actions and your questions will really help you when you take your plan to your vet or oncologist for input and refining.
“We used your book as a support and guide to determining how we would address the horrible reality that our dog had cancer. Your book gave me the following: 1. Education 2. Channeling energy into action not remorse, regret or second guessing 3. Providing a decision-making platform. My husband and I discussed her condition, her age, her prognosis and what makes her happy. We adopted her at two. She is a very emotionally needy dog, she is “fretful”, does not like vet offices (our vet come to our house) and does not readily embrace strangers. We decided that any protocol requiring a lot of time in vet offices would reduce the quality of her life. Your book helped us determine what we are - clearly - Type B.”
- Valerie Sachs, Pepper Pike, OH
