Swollen Lymph Glands

Hi Vet. My 8 year old retriever has very swollen Lymph Glands (I believe) in her neck, and behind her rear legs. They are quite big, maybe size of a golf ball. She threw up today, and it was yellow in colour. Her breathing sounds a little restricted too which I believe is due to the gland in her neck? Should I wait until Monday (2 days) to bring her to the vet or is this an emergency? Thanks for your time

Hello - if a dogs' breathing is restricted, then it is definitely worth calling your emergency vets for them to be triaged.  That is, the process of reviewing a case and deciding how urgently it needs to be seen.  Swollen lymph nodes in different places around the body can be a sign of serious systemic infection, but potentially also of a common type of cancer.  The emergency vet may not be able to diagnose your dog overnight, but may well find a way to make her more comfortable than she is at present. Best of luck and please let us know how you get on.

Hi Liz, so I brought her to the vet and she has confirmed it is Lymphona. She has sent off sample of the fluid in the glands to be tested to confirm the stage of the cancer. Very tough time for us right now but we must remain strong for Lexie no matter the result. Thanks for your help

Im sorry, if unsurprised, to hear that and wish you and Lexie all the best with the results.

Results are back, confirmed that it's rapid. We did not go ahead with a xray and ultrasound as vet believes since it's rapid, she's is probably in Stage 3/4. We have her on steroids now, they have reduced all lymph glands back to normal size which is good. We didn't go ahead with chemo, not sure if we should have gone ahead and got the x-rays and ultrasound done, what do you think?