Getting a cancer diagnosis is always frightening, particularly when your four-legged best friend is involved. After getting that diagnosis, you probably won’t hear your veterinarian explain your treatment choices, which will almost certainly entail chemotherapy.
When it comes to treating certain cancer types, chemotherapy is a drug that may be used solitary or in combination with other treatments like surgery and radiation therapy. Before surgery or in rare cases, chemotherapy may be used to decrease large tumors or to help eradicate cancer cells that are too small to be entirely removed surgically. Chemotherapy may be prescribed after surgery to help slow or stop cancer’s spread throughout the body in cases where spreading is a major concern.
Myths Versus Facts
As a pet owner, your initial instinct is to acquire knowledge from whatever source possible, and your friends and family will almost certainly provide their opinions. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions, and many people apply what they know about human cancer therapy to dogs when this is not the time for it. Knowing what this medication is and how it works can help you make the best option for your dog.
1. My pet is too old for chemotherapy.
Age is not a disease. Oncologists focus their treatment recommendations on your pet’s general condition, not age. Oncology professionals will run a battery of tests on your pet to examine her overall health and develop a treatment plan adapted to her needs. Regardless of age, doctors may develop a regimen that incorporates various cancer treatments. Chemotherapy is generally safe for dogs and cats of any age otherwise healthy.
If your pet has cancer, you need the assistance of a pet cancer care facility. Vets in these types of facilities are specialists in oncology and cancer treatment.
2. My pet will experience terrible side effects.
When owners learn their pet will be receiving chemotherapy, they typically dread awful, devastating side effects. But veterinary chemotherapy is not like human chemotherapy. Chemotherapy for pets has fewer or milder adverse effects than human chemotherapy because the dosages are smaller and more evenly distributed.
Severe inappetence, dehydration, vomiting, and diarrhea occur in a few chemotherapy patients. Most of these patients may have the same treatment again with a dosage decrease and preventive drugs.
If you want the help of a vet specialist, you can do a quick search on the web or you can visit them here. These facilities offer special care along with emergency vet services for your pets.
3. My pet will be hospitalized for a long period.
The objective of your pet’s cancer therapy is for her to live as normally as possible. Patients are not generally hospitalized for treatment, even if she needs frequent examinations and medicine injections. If complications emerge, that is the only time when they will require hospitalization, which rarely occurs.
Chemotherapy drugs have varied methods of delivery. Many chemotherapy treatments may be given orally at home, with periodic hospital visits to monitor your pet’s progress. The oncology team members administer medications that must be injected over a short period. Then they schedule chemotherapy appointments to include any lab tests and health evaluations your pet needs to reduce visit frequency.
4. My pet has a poor prognosis, and treatment will be meaningless.
The idea that a dog’s cancer diagnosis is a death sentence is a common misconception. With chemotherapy and other treatment options, many kinds of cancer are curable or reversible, allowing your pet to return to a normal life. A therapy may frequently delay the spread of cancer and provide you more valuable time with your closest friend if a cure is not feasible.
Your pet’s last weeks or months should be as comfortable as possible, and treatments may help relieve several side effects of cancer, including fatigue and nausea.
If your pet requires immediate vet care, you have to get in touch with an emergency vet facility like lexington emergency vet. Emergency vet can offer on the clock response for your pet’s veterinary needs.
5. My pet will be bed-bound and need to give up their daily routine.
Chemotherapy-treated dogs maintain primarily normal lives, despite more frequent veterinarian appointments. Most dogs retain their regular daily routine during therapy, with post-treatment lethargy being unusual and lasting just a few days. There is no need to separate chemotherapy-treated dogs from other household members. Pets may still go on a stroll with their owners, sleep in their beds, and participate in other everyday activities.
