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 M¢87  Funded By Mahalo ? |  September 27, 2009 02:36 PM

Does chemotherapy work for dogs?

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September 27, 2009 02:47 PM
Yes, but it depends on the type of cancer.

Cancers of the white blood cells (lymphoma and leukaemia) are particularly sensitive to chemotherapy in most instances. Therefore, chemotherapy is the main form of treatment for these conditions. The chemosensitive forms of canine lymphoma will go into complete remission for long periods of time following appropriate management. Some forms of lymphoma and leukaemia in dogs and cats can remain in complete remission for years.

Other conditions primarily managed by chemotherapy alone include multiple myeloma, which is related to lymphoma, and transmissible venereal tumour (TVT). TVT is extremely rare in the UK but it can actually be cured by chemotherapy.

As always, the goal of veterinary cancer therapy is the restoration or improvement of quality of life first and prolongation of a good quality of life second. It is with his premise in mind that patients and cancers are selected for chemotherapy administration. Certain cancers are regarded to be very sensitive to chemotherapy, others are less so and there are tumours that do not appear to respond to current veterinary chemotherapy drugs at all.

All patients receiving chemotherapy are potentially at risk of developing side effects and therefore health assessments need to be made prior to calculation of dosages and institution of therapy. Blood tests and physical examination findings can highlight important issues such as kidney problems or low white blood cell numbers. These might necessitate chemotherapy dose adjustments.
Source(s):
http://www.vetspecialists.co.uk/06_Animal_Welfare/Oncology_Facts/Tumour_Che...

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September 29, 2009 07:54 AM
my vet told us that it works temporarily, and then the cancer comes back with a vengeance thus causing the animal MORE suffering.

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