What to do when your BEST FRIEND gets theWORST news
ELGAR was a beautiful, friendly black Labrador. He was one of my favourite patients. When you work anywhere for any length of time as a vet, you become attached to patients as if they were your own animals.
His owner Margaret rang one evening when I was on call — Elgar had collapsed and couldn’t stand. At the surgery, tests showed he had a ruptured splenic tumour.
Sadly, the cancer had already spread to his lungs and there was nothing we could do. She and I cried together that evening as she said goodbye to him. He was ten years old.
As I’m sure many of you know only too well, losing a pet is like losing a member of the family. My two dogs, ‘the boys’, were with me for 15 years through thick and thin, and it still breaks my heart thinking about losing them.
Cancer strikes fear into us all. It’s made of our own cells, so it’s difficult to kill, and it seems to lurk, silently growing without us knowing. Seeing as most of our pets are mammals like us, cancer is just the same for them.
Tumours are much more common in older animals, but can strike at any age and can be benign or malignant.
Cancer does seem more common these days. Pets, like us, are living for longer, so we see more cases. By far the most common areas affected are the skin, the digestive system and the mammary tissue (what we would call breast cancer in humans), which is the most common in unneutered bitches.
WHY SOME BREEDS ARE MORE AT RISK
THERE are some things that appear to make cancer more likely and, statistically, some breeds appear to be more at risk from certain types of cancer — flat-coated Retrievers, Rottweilers and German Shepherds to name a few.
In fact, according to the last Kennel Club breed health survey in 2014, around half of flat-coated Retrievers were reported to have died of some type of cancer.
It is known that spaying a bitch before a year of age drastically reduces her risk of mammary tumours, but straightforward links with diet and lifestyle have not so far been fully researched in dogs. Some owners don’t realise that skin cancer is also a concern for pets. It’s easy to think their fur will protect them, but it’s not as simple as that. Skin cancer comes in many forms in animals.
While it’s true that hairless animals and white eared-cats are susceptible to sun-related cancer like humans, there are many other ways skin cancer can appear in animals. For example, some lumps on the skin can be tumours.
Veterinary charity PDSA advises owners to use pet- safe sun creams that are recommended by vets on their animals, with the focus on protecting the nose and ears.
CHECK YOUR PETS FOR ANY CHANGES
CANCER can go unnoticed, but there are things you can do to be on the lookout.
Watch for unexpected weight loss, especially with a good appetite. Look for changes that might show pain like not eating, limping or pawing at the face. These can be some of the first signs of cancer.
Get used to running your hands over your pet. Lumps and bumps are often nothing to worry about, but can be serious.
In general, if a lump is slow- growing, smooth, not firmly attached and not ulcerated, it’s probably benign.
The opposite signs — fast- growing, attached to underlying tissue, ulcerated or with edges you can’t quite feel — means you need to see a vet quite urgently.
Thankfully, just as in human medicine, our diagnosis and treatment options have vastly improved in recent years and lots of cases can be treated and have a much better outlook than ever before.
Veterinary medicine and surgery really do parallel the human side these days, so treatment options for cancers are similar, too.
Whether you choose surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or some of the newer options, or even a combination of all of them, will depend on what sort of tumour you are dealing with and where it is on the body. Solid masses sometimes don’t
respond well to chemo because the drugs can’t penetrate the lump, while diffuse cancers like lymphoma often respond really well to chemo. The more complex or challenging cancers will usually be tackled by a specialist centre. WHAT TREATMENTS ARE AVAILABLE?
THE other thing to remember is that we treat animals slightly differently from a dosing point of view. We all know the harrowing side-effects of human chemotherapy — hair loss, vomiting, weight loss and so on — but in general we use lower doses in animals because it may be considered unfair to put an animal through things that it can’t understand.
With this in mind, some treatments aim to slow the cancer, not cure it at all costs. Your vet or specialist should talk you through this, so make sure to ask questions so you understand the likely prognosis and side-effects of treatment.
When it comes to cancer and its treatment, people have different views about what is fair and what they are willing to put their animal through.
i’ve seen and heard of cases that i definitely would not have replicated with my own dogs, but this comes down to the owner’s choice and making the decision based on as much information as possible.
it will also depend on the character of your pet. some are stoic and happy wherever, while others are simply terrified to be hospitalised. a hundred different factors will dictate the path you follow, so try not to worry about it unless it happens.
That said, it’s always better to act sooner rather than later so please, if ever you’re at all worried, never feel like you’re wasting your vet’s time. it’s better to be safe than sorry — after all, that’s why we are here.