Medical Oncology

An understanding of tumor cell dynamics is important for the understanding and planning of successful treatment of malignancies and points out the error of the wait and see approach. Tumor cells are dividing most rapidly when the tumor is small, and rapidly dividing cells are the most sensitive to chemotherapy. Therefore if a tumor is known to be sensitive to chemotherapy, it is best to treat a tumor shortly after surgery or radiation therapy when no tumor can be found rather than waiting until the tumor has regrown.

The side effects of chemotherapy on our animal patients are usually very minimal if  they occur at all. The relative lack of side effects occurs for several reasons, one of which is the dosages used in animals are not as high as those used in people. While an animal is receiving chemotherapy it is closely monitored by the veterinarian by means of physical exams and bloodwork.  Our philosophy is that an animal should feel as good, if not better, than normal while it is receiving chemotherapy.  If there are problems that are definitely caused by the drugs, we can change the drug, change to dose, treat the side effects with additional therapies, or we can discontinue treatment.