# Experience with Cancer and Chemo?



## Lea (Oct 20, 2012)

Hi there. No experience with canine cancer but I wish you all the best of luck with your fur baby's recovery.


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

From what I understand, dogs usually don't get the severe side effects like humans do. The only time I have had experience with chemo has been with osteosarcoma in a rottweiler. I guess with bone cancer it is not very effective, but with other cancers it can work much better. I wish you much luck and hope your poodle makes a quick recovery!


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## Samba (Sep 14, 2012)

double post


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## Samba (Sep 14, 2012)

Oral chemo (CCNU in particular), is generally easily tolerated by dogs. The injectable ones are the ones that have a greater chance of cauing probems...but with saying that, dogs certainly dont have the same symptoms that people do. 

We treat a lot of pets with chemo, 80% have no side effects, some have mild Gi side effects (responsive to cerenia), and a handful get horrible GI upset that we do not continue chemo.

We have 2 spoo's in for chemo right now, both are doing well and love coming in for their injections and treats!

Luckily with nerve sheath tumors, they are often excisable and with good margins hopefully the chance of metastasis is low.


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## deemery (Apr 4, 2011)

*Jersey's on Cytoxan 5mg*

And doing fine... She had her first follow-up earlier this week, everything's normal. She does seem to be grooming her paws more than before, and for that and an itchy spot on her belly we started zyrtec 5mg (1/2 of 10mg pill)

The vet oncologist did tell us that, particularly with injection chemo, some poodles have been known to lose their hair. A bald poodle would be a sorry sight...


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## Samba (Sep 14, 2012)

deemery said:


> And doing fine... She had her first follow-up earlier this week, everything's normal. She does seem to be grooming her paws more than before, and for that and an itchy spot on her belly we started zyrtec 5mg (1/2 of 10mg pill)
> 
> The vet oncologist did tell us that, particularly with injection chemo, some poodles have been known to lose their hair. A bald poodle would be a sorry sight...


None of the poodles we have treated have lost hair, the amount of regrowth on their legs from the catheter placement was crazy...like they were never shaved! We notice it more on cats, that their guard hairs come out. Leaves them so soft and bunny like. Its strange that even the hair vs. fur breeds dont loose their coat much. Sometimes they thin slightly, but of 1000+ chemo patients I have worked with, none of them went bald 

Glad to hear your pup is doing well. Cytoxan is one we use frequently and other than very mild GI upset you probably wont even know your kid is being treated with chemo. Please do be careful when cleaning up after him, make sure you double glove/bag.


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## deemery (Apr 4, 2011)

*An update on Jersey*

Jersey was on Cytoxan, but this appears to have irritated her bladder (known side effect, the vet said.) At first we thought it was a urinary tract infection, but after a week on antibiotics nothing changed. She had on really bad day (Christmas Eve) but once we took her off Cytoxan, she's bounced back. Se still has the bladder irritation symptoms, but her energy level, appetite, etc, are all good. We'll start her on a different low dose chemo next week. 

Her symptoms included frequent urination, both the need to go out (we had some accidents when she didn't get out in time) and once she's out, she'd squat multiple times on her walk. There was an occasional drop of blood at the end, too, but the Vet said that's typical.


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