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My dog's anal gland cancer spread to lymph nodes. How long will he live?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Pomeranian | Female | 25 lbs

My dog has been diagnosed with anal gland adenocarcinoma.we are not treating it as it has spread to lymph nodes and we want him to have a quality life without surgery complications. What will be the survival time in this case?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Anna M., DVM

Veterinarian

Published on August 19th, 2017

I'm so sorry to hear about Reshmk's diagnosis. There are many variables that come into play when discussing life expectancy, and unfortunately not all of them can be predicted. Anal gland adenocarcinoma can be locally invasive and sometimes the tumor gets big enough to cause significant pain and discomfort for the dog, or can grow to a size that inhibits normal/comfortable defecation. So, sometimes the limiting factor is a determination of quality of life based on the direct activity of the mass and its effects on a dog's comfort level. Other times, we can have less direct symptoms related to the cancer, either due to metastasis and those effects on the organs, or due to hypercalcemia, which is a common secondary issue with this type of cancer. Hypercalcemia can lead to excessive thirst and urination most commonly, or can cause GI upset, vomiting, and decreased appetite. These symptoms of hypercalcemia can sometimes initially be managed with medications, but often decisions about quality of life are made when the dog feels ill and medications can no longer control the symptoms. The best one to offer input on a specific survival time would be your vet, who knows the details with Reshmk's cancer and how aggressive it appears, but with the knowledge that it has already been diagnosed in the regional lymph nodes, I would anticipate a survival time of 6 months or less, as the general survival time even with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy is still less than 3 years. I'm so sorry again about this sad news. I hope this helps.

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    Answered By David Darvishian

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! So sorry to hear about Reshmk. This is a very difficult question and really no one can answer this adequately. Cancers behave very differently even in different animals with the same cancer due to host immune response, diet, overall health, etc. The pathologist (if a biopsy was taken) can always give a prognosis and discuss with your vet a guess at survival time based on other cases that they have seen or are written up in the literature. I would consult with your vet and see what they think. Many factors come into play such as if the cancer has spread to distance sites (which it sounds like it may have since it's in the lymph nodes), how aggressive or malignant it is, how invasive it is, among many other things. The important thing is to remember her quality of life. As long as she is eating, drinking, eliminating, not in chronic severe pain, etc then I would just monitor her and enjoy each day that you have with her. You could also explore natural methods to treat her to provide palliative care and maybe make her feel better. Nutrition is also something to look at. There is growing evidence in vet and human medicine supporting cancer diets that are very low in carbohydrate since tumor cells require blood glucose to survive. Good luck and I hope she remains in good shape for a long while for you.

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