Cancer in doodles

[Pauline Rackley]

It has taken me several months to post about the loss of my precious Zeus I lost him to hemangiosarcoma in Sept. I know goldens are over represented when it comes to many cancers. I remember thinking that the poodle part of the mix might offer some protection, but it was not to be. I honestly don't know if I could ever deal with this heartbreak again. I still feel that doodles are the absolute best dogs, but the thought of dealing with this again is terrifying. Just curious, how many of you have dealt with, or are dealing with this issue?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Pauline, I just want to say how sorry I am for your loss of Zeus. I hope you are healing and remembering him with smiles through the tears.

I know we have had a number of doodles here who were lost to cancer. Hemangiosarcomas and lymphomas seem to be the most common. Many were goldendoodles, but there have been some labradoodles lost to cancer as well. I don't think most of the owners are still active here, so you may not get many responses. 

66% of Golden Retrievers will develop some form of cancer in their lifetimes, and it doesn't seem that mixing their genes with those of a Poodle improves those odds, from what I have read. Another breed in which cancer is extremely common is the Bernese Mountain Dog, so much so that they have a life expectancy of only 6-8 years, one of the shortest of all dog breeds. I know that Bernedoodles have become very popular recently, and I fear we will see the same cancer rates in them as well. I hope I'm wrong. 

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Karen, Thank you for getting that information out there. 

[Jennifer and Jack]

I am so sorry for your loss. It is so heartbreaking.  Jack is my first fur child and I always say I will never get another one because of the amount of fear I have in losing him.  Then some days I think of all the dogs in shelters that already exist that have no one to love them or care for them and It makes me wonder if I could ever try it again after Jack passes.  

I am so sorry for your heartbreak. I am sending you a lot of love.

[Pauline Rackley]

Thanks everyone for your replies and condolences

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am so sorry for your loss! I don't know any of the statistics on Doodles, but it seems we have lost several this past year to cancers. I feel like many of those were Goldendoodles and not Labradoodles, but again, I could be wrong. I hope at some point, you get to a place where you might want another dog. There are so many out there who need homes. That said, after our Hershey died....she was 13....I swore never again. I lasted less than 7 months. We adopted Honey from a rescue and after she died, I said never again and now have Fudge and Vern. Our home just seemed so empty without a dog. Again, I am so sorry for your loss and that Zeus got cancer. 

[BG and Gavin]

I am so sorry for your loss of Zeus. I live in fear of this dread disease. Gavin has a spot of skin cancer excised in September but luckily it was not the type that matasticizes to the organs. I hope your pain subsides with time.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

I am so sorry for your loss of Zeus. Each breed has serious health possibilities but we hope our beloved pet won’t be one to add to the statistics. We never have our beloved pets long enough. My heart weeps for your loss. 

[Pauline Rackley]

Thank you everyone

[Stella]

I lost my Chase in July to haemangiosarcoma. He was 9 1/2 years old, multi-gen labradoodle. 

[Pauline Rackley]

So sorry for your loss. This cancer takes their loss to another level.

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

Pauline -- I am so sorry for the loss of your precious Zeus!  I, like you, wasn't sure that I could do this again after loosing our precious Sophie to Lymphoma one week after her 5th birthday.  Sophie was Lucy's liter mate Sister, so we immediately felt like we would also loose Lucy but our Vet insured us one didn't mean the other would happen as well.  After she was gone I, like you did a lot of research because I really didn't want to go through this again.  After hearing the statistics on Golden Retrievers and cancer, it just seemed like it would certainly happen.  I was so in love with the Golden Doodle breed, but just didn't know what to do.  I sat down one day and went through every single breed of dog that I would even consider.  What I found is they pretty much all have some issues.  Basically there are no guarantees regardless.  So what I opted to do was stick to the Golden Doodle and make my focus on the best possible breeding program that I could find.  Like I said, there are no guarantees, but the one thing I can tell you is that there is no better cure for sadness than a puppy in the house.  

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

We thought long and hard about this before we got Riley our bernedoodle.  I think losing Luna (goldendoodle) at just 7.5 years old was a huge shock to us, we expected at least 10 years... and the lymphoma took her so quickly that we were caught really unprepared.  From diagnosis to having to let her go was 2 months - we bought her about 1.5 months with heavy doses of prednisone then she went downhill quickly after that.

With Riley we are hopeful that she will take after her poodle dad and live a long life but we are also well aware that she may only live 6-8 years.  That doesn't really make it easier emotionally but at least mentally we are somewhat better prepared.  

The thing about cancer is it's just basically a "broken" gene for cellular reproduction (where there's no "stop" mechanism when there should be one) so I guess a mix would be 50% less likely to get cancer than a purebred with a high cancer rate.. but the rate would still be higher than average I would think.

Anyway we decided that despite the extra risk we still wanted a bernedoodle.  She is a great dog and even if she lives a short life it will be a happy, spoiled life. :)