February 2022
Canine cancer
No dog owner wants to hear those words, yet what are the treatment options for patients?
Vicky Payne explains.
ABOUT VICKY Holistic vet Vicky Payne BVetMed MRCVS is based in East Sussex, and qualified from the Royal Veterinary College in 2001. She uses a range of complementary therapies alongside conventional medicine and surgery.
Your vet can check your dog over for any telltale signs that may need further investigation.
Every day there seem to be adverts on the TV reminding us that one in two people will get cancer in their lifetimes.
Despite vast amounts of research and fundraising, this has increased from one in three when I was a child, but this is a consequence of people living longer, and better early detection of cancers. The good news is that more people than ever before will either be cured of their cancer or be able to live with it. But what about our dogs?
Owners are always worried that lumps and mysterious symptoms in their dogs may be signs of cancer, but cancer is a less frequent diagnosis in dogs than it is in people. Accurate data on the prevalence of canine cancers seems hard to find, but it is listed as the cause of death or euthanasia in around one in four dogs.