Walk The Line: The Path You Will Follow With Your Pet’s Cancer

You may have suspected it was serious before you saw your veterinarian. Perhaps there was a lump, getting bigger. But your dog was so well! And now your vet is telling you about lots of tests that are needed, various different treatments that you need to make a choice between and your head is spinning. Are the tests necessary? Will the treatment make your dog ill? How successful will it all be?

These are common, normal concerns. If you didn’t care about your dog, the emotions wouldn’t be causing so much havoc inside you. But you do, and if your companion is going to get through this, YOU are going to need to be level-headed enough to make the right decisions at the right time.

First, you need to learn the lingo. Make sure you understand the basic terminology – its worthwhile checking out the section on this site about cancer definitions under the General section. Second, its important that you understand what is leading your vet to give the advice that you’ve had.

There are 3 things that you MUST find out if you want the best for your dog:

1.    what sort of cancer is it?

• Ideally a biopsy of some form to be sent to the laboratory for histopathology. In some cases fine needle aspiration is a suitable, and much simpler, test. See the Cancer definitions audio in the General section for more on this.
• For some tumour types there are more advanced tests that give even greater information than histopathology. Immunohistochemistry is a relatively new technique which can both further define the tumour type AND serve as a second opinion on the pathologist’s work. If you or your vet don’t think the diagnosis is exactly what you were expecting, then ask for this additional test to be done.

2.    how advanced is the cancer?

• To answer this, the disease needs to be staged and the process is different for each cancer type. For most, it includes imaging tests such as xrays, ultrasound and CT scans and examination of a local lymph node either by fine needle aspiration or surgical removal.
• This information is critical in many cases. For example, removing the original cancer often will not have any benefit if there is already evidence of the tumour elsewhere. Having a small amount of visible tumour is not likely to be more responsive to non-surgical treatment than a large amount. Both radiation and chemotherapy are typically most useful at microscopic disease.

3.    what is my dog’s general health like?

• It is too easy to put the blinkers on and focus just on the cancer. If your dog is heading into unrelated heart failure, perhaps the cancer is not the disease limiting your pet’s quality or length of life.
• The tests that are usually done to answer this question include blood and urine analysis. Blood tests DON’T pick up everything that can go run, but if your pet is otherwise normal on physical examination and with clear blood tests, then as far as I’m concerned, its time to focus on the cancer.

Once the tests have been done, it is much easier to work out what to do next. Treatment of some form will follow. To find out more about specific options like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, have a look at the Treatment section.