In May, we spoke with Dr. Briana Keller, board-certified veterinary oncologist, in a discussion about pet cancer treatment options. If you are currently facing this dilemma with your pet, you can catch the replay here or read the summary below!
Cancer treatment options can vary greatly based on where your pet’s cancer is, what kind of cancer it is, what your goals for your pet are. In general, however, there are a variety of different options to help your pet live their best life, even with cancer.
Chemotherapy
People often have a knee-jerk reaction when they hear the word “chemotherapy,” because it can be really scary. A lot of people have had loved ones that have undergone chemotherapy and have had a really hard time with it. When we give chemotherapy to animals, the goals are often different. Quality of life has to be the primary goal. So the doses used in animals are often a bit lower or less intense than those given to people. It’s really focused on what chemotherapy protocol is going to give your pet the best quality of life – giving pet parents more time with their pet rather than necessarily curing them. Our goal is to give them more good days.
Electrochemotherapy
Normally we use chemotherapy for treating cancer that’s throughout the body, either a blood cancer or cancer that’s spread to multiple places. Electrochemotherapy is a way to target chemotherapy to one specific site. During this procedure, an animal is under general anesthesia, and we inject them with an intravenous chemotherapy drug, so it gets right into their bloodstream. Then, shortly after that injection, we apply a probe to the surgical scar or the tumor that we’re treating. Each time we touch it to that patient’s skin, it delivers a topical electrical pulse that allows any cancer cells in that field to open up and absorb the chemotherapy drug at a much higher rate than what is being distributed throughout the body. Electrochemotherapy is usually performed in two treatments done roughly one month apart.
Surgery
At AERC, we work very closely with our board-certified veterinary surgeons for a lot of our cancer patients. The iceberg analogy for cancer is that the part of the mass that we can see either externally or on imaging is only part of the tumor – there’s almost always microscopic cells below the surface. So, if you’ve heard the term “margins” in relation to cancer, we’re trying to get a nice buffer zone between the edge of the visible or detectable tumor and the edge of what we can remove so we can get all those microscopic cells that would have the potential to grow back or spread to other sites. Our surgeons are really helpful in treating a lot of those solid tumors, either internally or externally.
Radiation
Radiation therapy is not an option we currently offer at AERC. However, we work closely with facilities in the Midwest that offer this treatment. We can consult with pet parents about what cases are going to be good candidates for Radiation therapy going forward, and we can let them know what to expect. We can also facilitate referring the pet.
Advanced Imaging
Another service that Oncology works with very closely is Radiology, and Radiology is helpful in a few different ways. If a cancer is internal, like a lung tumor, we use imaging to help diagnose the tumor. Radiology can also be helpful to stage many cancers depending on the type. So, even if it is a tumor on the skin, if it’s one that can spread to the lungs or liver, we’ll use our Radiology department to image those sites to help determine if there is evidence of cancer spread. Also, we often repeat those imaging tests throughout treatment to monitor the pet’s response to treatments, to see if we’re shrinking tumors with chemotherapy and to guide future treatment decisions.
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy means training the pet’s immune system to help attack the cancer cells. There’s only one immunotherapy treatment that’s officially labeled for animals – for dogs with oral melanoma. It can be really aggressive in the mouth, and so there’s a vaccine that’s designed to help train a dog’s immune system to attack its own melanoma cells. Unfortunately, it can’t prevent melanoma, so we don’t give it for prevention. There are a lot of investigational studies happening with other forms of immunotherapy, but for right now, the only one we have for pets is for dogs with oral melanoma. Beyond that specific type of cancer, you’re not going to be able to use immunotherapy as a treatment at this time.
Hospice and Palliative Care
Some pet parents think there’s no point in seeing an oncologist because they’re not planning on pursuing treatment, but AERC’s Oncology department can help in other ways, too. Our team is always more than happy to go over what to expect, and palliative care options that might not be familiar to your primary care vet. Palliative care just means making sure your pet is as comfortable as possible, whether it’s alongside a treatment modality or alone. So palliative care is part of the cancer treatment plan from day one – what medications and treatments are going to help your pet be comfortable, even if we’re not doing anything that’s going to slow the cancer progression.
End of Life Care
If we know we don’t have any treatments or medications left that are going to help, we try to help owners know what to expect. If the pet is really painful, they’re not eating well, and they’re already on every possible medication, that’s where humane euthanasia comes in. That is a service that we offer through the Oncology service. It’s quite an honor when clients want to come to us for that service. We can also refer clients to some of the many in-home euthanasia practices in the Twin Cities, and sometimes primary care vets will perform in-home euthanasia as well. The most important thing for clients to know is we make it as peaceful and as painless as possible for them. At the end stage, animals are suffering, and we can relieve their suffering.
Additionally, AERC hosts a monthly support group for owners who are facing pet loss as well as a private Facebook group for pet loss support.
If your you and your pet are facing a cancer diagnosis, talk to your primary care vet about a referral, or schedule an appointment with our Oncology service today.
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