A Coquitlam family is prepared to spend thousands of dollars at a U.S. treatment centre if they can find a canine donor with the right stem cells to try and prolong the life of their ailing dog.

Jasper, a golden retriever-poodle mix, was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma in January. The nine-year-old dog is being treated with chemotherapy, but his owners are looking for a treatment that could be a cure for the goldendoodle.

"He's a good dog. He's just been the best dog... He's part of our family," owner Andrea Saito said through tears on Thursday.

"(Chemotherapy) is not a cure, it's just a treatment, and it buys some time."

Devastated that the normally active dog was slowing down due to his treatment and illness, Saito searched for an alternative and discovered that a handful of U.S. clinics have started offering stem-cell treatment for canine lymphoma.

One of the three happens to be in Washington state. The Bellingham Veterinary clinic, offering treatment starting at US$13,000 (approximately C$16,700). It’s typically not covered by pet insurance.

“People want to have an effective treatment for them same as you would want for yourself or for other family members," veterinarian Edmund Sullivan explained.

"If we find a donor, it's about a 50/50 chance. So pretty good odds considering with current treatment (chemo), we get generally six months to a year. "

He said that the high price tag has, on average, a dog a month getting treatment in the United States -- those who do are willing to try anything to get more time with their pets.

"One person that brought their dog in for a transplant said that they had saved up money to remodel their kitchen, and they decided to use the money to treat their dog, and they said they liked the dog better than a new kitchen."

But finding the right donor is a major hurdle. It has to be from the same mother and father that created Jasper’s litter. The breeder’s records were destroyed in a fire, so Saito's family took to social media to help seek the owners of Jasper's siblings, setting up Facebook and Instagram accounts.

The Facebook page was shared hundreds of times, and had more than 900 "likes" as of Thursday afternoon.

"(The response) was overwhelming. We've had so many people wish us well, and prayers for Jasper," Saito said.

Strangers have told her they wished they could donate their own stem cells to help the ailing pup.

Through the page, Saito was able to track down three of Jasper's siblings, but the dogs were tested and none were a genetic match. They're now about to test a dog born to the same parents as Jasper, but in a different litter.

"If it all works out, we'll be ecstatic, and if it doesn't, we've had a good run," Saito said through tears.

Jasper's family is trying to find more canine relatives to improve the odds of finding a match. Anyone with a goldendoodle born in Langley, B.C. on July 9, 2006 or in January 2006 is asked to contact the family on Facebook.

The parents of the litter were a golden retriever named Bella and a white standard poodle named Romeo. The breeder's name is Christine Filipczyk.

With a report from CTV Vancouver's Penny Daflos