Not only humans, dogs can get cancer too. And just like in human medicine, there is also chemotherapy for them. But what can that bring?
the essentials in brief
- Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs.
- Veterinary medicine has adapted to this and has developed chemotherapy for dogs.
- Dog owners should always observe whether quality of life or side effects predominate.
Sometimes it’s an unusual swelling that doesn’t go away. Or a wound that won’t heal. However, weight loss, apathy, persistent lameness, or problems with breathing or digestion may also occur.
When dogs show such symptoms, a tumor may be the cause. Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs.
Veterinary medicine takes care of that. “A third of all people get cancer and many die from it. The situation is no different with our pets, who live with us in the same environment and in the same household and are also getting older.”
That says specialist veterinarian Johannes Hirschberger, an expert in oncology and cytology at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich.
Hirschberger looks after dogs and cats that have tumors of all kinds: so-called solid tumors (carcinomas, sarcomas) and also tumors of the hematopoietic system (lymphomas, leukaemias).
Torture or Help?
Some dog owners who are confronted with the subject of chemotherapy after such a diagnosis initially reject it.
After all, anyone who has ever witnessed the ordeal of side effects with sick relatives or friends would actually like to spare their pet this.
As in humans, chemotherapeutic agents (cytostatics) can help four-legged patients to inhibit the uncontrolled growth of rapidly dividing cancer cells and thus suppress cancer.
But there is one difference: the goal for dogs is not healing, but prolonging life with a consistently good quality of life – with as few side effects as possible.
“With people, you see what they can tolerate and give them the maximum tolerated dose.
You can’t explain to the dog that he goes through hell for three months and then has a chance of recovery. You want him to be fine today, »explains Hirschberger.
nausea, vomiting, diarrhea
Converted to the body surface, a dog only gets 60 percent of the dose compared to human medicine. For this purpose, all drugs are not given at the same time from the beginning.
“As a result, the effectiveness is not as great, but the toxicity is also lower,” says the expert. And with it the side effects. In dogs, they can range from nausea and loss of appetite to vomiting and diarrhea.
But what, according to Hirschberger, “usually runs quite harmlessly”.
How the dog tolerates the chemo and whether side effects are still in relation to the hoped-for prolongation of life is also a priority at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover.
“The most important thing is that the animal is doing well,” says Verena Nerschbach, head of the oncology department.
Depending on the type of cancer and the progress of the treatment, the treatment lasts an average of three months. The owners come to the clinic with their animal once a week. There it is given an injection, an infusion lasting about 30 minutes or tablets.
The process before that is always the same: “The first question is always: How was the week?”, says the veterinarian.
In other words: Was the dog just a little limp? Did he have some diarrhea? Or massive side effects for days? This decides whether the therapy will be continued.
Chemo is usually well tolerated
When patients return home, they excrete most drugs in their urine within 24 hours.
Gloves should be worn because feces and vomit can be contaminated with cytostatics. During the acute phase, the animals should not have any contact with pregnant women or babies.
In general, dogs tolerate chemotherapy well. “In about 85 percent of the cases, the dog owners usually didn’t notice anything,” says Nerschbach.
But there are also dogs that suffer extremely from the side effects, for example because they have intolerances, previous illnesses or a genetic defect. This is particularly the case with collie species and shepherd dogs.
On the right way?
“Then you have to discuss very critically whether this therapy is really the right way, and reduce the dose accordingly,” says the veterinarian. Likewise in cases when the animal does not respond to the chemo.
In the case of lymphomas, which mainly occur in Labradors and Golden Retrievers, the chances are high: “In 80 percent of the cases, they respond very well to therapy.”
Depending on the course, a veterinarian must also convince dog owners to stop the therapy.
“We rely on the owner to tell us honestly whether his animal was really well in the week between treatments,” says Nerschbach.
Because if you want to continue the therapy at any price just because you can’t let your animal go, that’s “anything but right”.
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