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Just two days after a wonderful, slobbery visit with my favorite dog, Murray, a black lab belonging to friends, I got an upsetting phone call from one of them yesterday. "Are you sitting down?" asked Beanie. "Murray has cancer."
He'd had a tumor removed from his front left leg and was wearing a blue bandage when I'd seen him on Sunday. Lab reports had come back and the news was grim. I didn't know what to say. My friend (my horse teacher and a vet tech herself) had called me before even telling her husband and the dog's former owner. "I'm dreading it," she said. "I don't want to tell Chris or make that phone call."
Cancer, as we are all painfully aware by now, has no regard for its victim. I'd lost my own pet to liver cancer last year and all I could think was: "Not fair. Not fair. Not fair." One thing you can say about the big C, at least it's democratic.
Cancer is the leading cause of death among older dogs and kills approximately half of them every year. Dogs get cancer at about the same rate as humans and one in four dogs will develop a tumor of some kind in his lifetime. Besides older dogs, female dogs are also more susceptible and certain breeds are genetically more prone to cancer, including boxers, terriers and retrievers.
There is, however, some good news.
Pfizer Animal Health recently released the first-ever doggie cancer drug, Palladia, aimed at treating cutaneous mast cell tumors. Introduced by the FDA in early June, Palladia can be used with other treatments, such as such as surgery, chemotherapy or radiation therapy. The drug works to destroy cancer cells and cut off blood supply to the tumor, thereby killing it. Common Palladia side effects might include: diarrhea, decrease or loss of appetite, lameness, weight loss, and blood in the stool.
"This cancer drug approval for dogs is an important step forward for veterinary medicine. Prior to this approval, veterinarians had to rely on human oncology drugs, without knowledge of how safe or effective they would be for dogs. Today's approval offers dog owners, in consultation with their veterinarian, an option for treatment of their dog's cancer."
--Bernadette Dunham, D.V.M., Ph.D., director of FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine
Right now, Palladia is only available to boarded specialists but if all goes well, it will be available through non-boarded veterinarians early next year.
Meanwhile, the Veterinary Cancer Society has published a list of common cancer symptoms in small animals (dogs and cats):
1. Abnormal swellings that persist or continue to grow
2. Sores that do not heal
3. Weight loss
4. Loss of appetite
5. Bleeding or discharge from any body opening
6. Offensive odor
7. Difficulty eating or swallowing
8. Hesitation to exercise or loss of stamina
9. Persistent lameness or stiffness
10. Difficulty breathing, urinating, or defecating
Keep an eye on your pup and take seriously any of these symptoms. More great resources:
National Canine Cancer Foundation
Pet Cancer Center
Pet Cancer Awareness
Veterinary Oncology and Hematology Center
Canine Cancer
Of course, the language barrier is even more excrutiating when your pet is facing cancer and you want to explain what is going on. Still, petting, snuggling and hugging seem to work effectively. Just keep dishing out the love to those great animal teachers and they'll get the message.
***
Rosie'sMom over at Rosie's Road documents her yellow lab's battle with cancer, starting with that first awful discovery:
"Some have asked me how did we find out Rosie has cancer. I have to thank the owner of our doggie day care, Penny, for that. She first noticed a small lump one day in late May while Rosie was playing at doggie day care. When Dave picked Rosie up for the day, she showed him the lump and recommended that Rosie go to the vet to get it checked out."
Kerry at Canine Cancer Blog wrote a wonderful post about seeing musician Rob Thomas in concert and finding out they shared something in common:
"And when it came time for him to play “Little Wonders” I knew that I would think of Georgia and that moment we shared so long ago. But then, I realized that I wasn’t the only one thinking of my dog when that song came on. Surprisingly,
