Unfortunately, our pets are not immune to cancer either. Malignant lymphoma is a malignant tumor that originates in cells of the immune system. Since these cells are mainly found in lymph glands, it is also referred to as lymph gland cancer.
As with many types of cancer, the causes or triggers of this type of tumor are unknown. Starting in the cells of the immune system, it first attacks the lymphatic organs (lymph nodes, spleen, thymus, bone marrow). As the disease progresses, non-lymphatic organs are also affected and eventually leukemia develops, which means that tumor cells are present in the blood.
Different forms of lymphoma are defined depending on where they occur and how far they have spread.
Based on where it occurs, a distinction is made between:
The most common form, involving several organs, usually the lymph nodes, spleen, and liver. The bone marrow may also be affected.
Limited to the gastrointestinal tract. The intestinal lymph nodes are affected.
The tumor is confined to the chest and is usually located in front of the heart. Fluid accumulation in the chest is possible.
Nodular skin changes occur.
Tumor cells are found in the cerebrospinal fluid.
Depending on the extent of spread, the disease is divided into five stages, starting with the involvement of a single lymph node in stage 1, progressing to organ involvement in stage 4, and ending with stage 5, which includes bone marrow involvement.
Due to the many different possible locations of the tumor, a wide variety of symptoms can be observed. At the onset of the disease, nodular changes in the lymph nodes in the head area often occur, which can be felt when stroking or touching the animal. The affected animals usually do not show any signs of general discomfort.
The main symptoms of gastrointestinal lymphoma can include chronic diarrhea, vomiting, and weight loss. Thymus lymphoma causes difficulty breathing, coughing, and fatigue due to the tumor mass in the chest. If the central nervous system is affected, seizures, disturbances of consciousness, circling, or disorientation may occur. However, cases with very nonspecific general symptoms such as loss of appetite, apathy, reluctance to move, fever, and emaciation may also occur from the outset.
Your preliminary report and the clinical examination usually provide the veterinarian with important information about the location and spread of the disease. If the symptoms are very unclear, various further examinations may be necessary to diagnose lymphoma accurately.
A blood test is always part of standard tumor diagnostics. X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, or ultrasounds can provide important clues about the spread of the tumor. The veterinarian will decide on a case-by-case basis to what extent these are helpful and necessary. With the help of fine needle aspiration (cell removal using a hollow needle), cell samples can be taken from altered lymph nodes and examined for malignant cells. However, these can be most reliably detected in a tissue sample obtained by biopsy.
Even though malignant lymphoma in its final stages can lead to leukemia, the "lymphatic leukemia" originating in the bone marrow must be distinguished from lymphoma, which is not always easy given the similar symptoms. Organs may also be affected in leukemia, but lymph node enlargement is not usually found.
Since most lymphomas in dogs are malignant and fast-growing, treatment must be started as soon as possible. Various types of chemotherapy drugs (medications that kill cancer cells) are used with the aim of shrinking the tumor (remission). Your veterinarian will create an individual treatment plan based on the course of the disease, which often must be carried out over several weeks
Complete cure of lymphoma is still only possible in a few cases. The goal of tumor therapy is to prolong the dog's life by suppressing tumor growth. However, relapses must always be expected, even if there may be several months to several years between individual episodes. During the course of treatment, the tumor cells may also develop resistance to the drugs, which makes treatment even more difficult. The average survival time of a dog with lymphoma undergoing chemotherapy is twelve months, in some cases longer.
"My horse isn't too fat." That's what many horse owners think – and they're wrong. Assessing a horse's weight isn't easy, and horse scales aren't usually available on site. With a little practice, you can use body condition scoring to assess your horse's nutritional status yourself.
This infectious disease caused by the coronavirus affects only cats and occurs worldwide. The disease remains one of the most common causes of death in cats. The name is derived from the most common symptom of this disease, peritonitis (inflammation of the abdominal lining).
The West Nile virus is transmitted by mosquitoes between birds, but also to humans, horses, and other mammals. For a long time, it only occurred on the African continent. However, since 1999, the West Nile virus has also spread to the US. In 2018, it was detected for the first time in birds and two horses in Germany (Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt). Since then, infections have occurred in the summer and fall months. Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony are particularly affected. However, more and more cases are now also occurring in Thuringia, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Bavaria. West Nile infection is a notifiable animal disease.
Testicular tumors are the second most common type of tumor in male dogs and account for four to seven percent of all tumors in dogs overall. There are different types of tumors, with dogs with one or two undescended testicles (= cryptorchidism) having a significantly increased risk of developing a testicular tumor.
Feline asthma, or cat asthma, is a chronic respiratory disease that, like asthma in humans, is triggered by an allergic reaction. Typical signs of feline asthma include severe coughing or wheezing. Young to middle-aged cats are most commonly affected.
X-rays have long been the most commonly used imaging technique. An X-ray machine is now standard equipment in a veterinary practice. These invisible rays were discovered in 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who received the first Nobel Prize in Physics in 1901 for this technology, which has been used worldwide ever since.
Some dogs have long hair, others short, others trimmed... Dog groomers are becoming increasingly popular. And even dogs that don't really need a haircut can relax during a wash, cut, and blow-dry.
A hernia is a bulge in the abdominal wall through which the peritoneum and intestines can protrude. Perianal hernia, also known as perineal hernia, is a condition that occurs in 90% of older, unneutered male dogs, in which fat and abdominal organs protrude under the skin in the perineal area (the area between the anus and the external genitalia).
This eye disease, also known as Collie Eye Anomaly (CEA), is a hereditary condition affecting Collies, Shelties, and some related breeds. It is a congenital developmental disorder of the back of both eyes that can lead to visual impairment or even blindness.
The word distichiasis comes from Greek and means "two rows." In this condition, an extra row of eyelash-like hairs (distichia) grows out of the sebaceous gland openings at the edge of the eyelid. Since these misplaced, hard hairs grow toward the eyeball, they cause permanent irritation and damage to the cornea. Another form of distichiasis is ectopic cilia. These are scattered hair follicles that grow out of the inside of the eyelid as individual bristly hairs or as a whole tuft of hair, standing perpendicular to the cornea and causing permanent irritation to the eye. Ectopic cilia are most commonly found on the upper eyelid in dogs and very rarely in cats.
For people who have always been around dogs, talking to their four-legged friends is probably easy and almost second nature. But at the beginning of the relationship, it is important to immerse yourself in the dog's world and meet it where it is coming from. So you have to learn its language—not the other way around.
When the body develops antibodies against its own structures, this is referred to as an autoimmune disease. The immune system mistakenly attacks parts of the body, damaging certain functions and organs and even destroying them completely. Autoimmune diseases in dogs include individual forms of pemphigus and lupus, which will be explained in more detail below. The individual diseases are distinguished based on the different target structures in the body.
