Oncologists Are Important People

Cancer is a sad feature of the veterinary profession. We see many cancers cropping up as our patients age, and they age very rapidly due to their short lifespan of 10-17 years. The rule of thumb for cancer, of course, is that it needs to be removed. If it is located in a single site and that site is accessible to our surgeon, the patient might be totally cured by his regular veterinarian. On the other hand, disease that has already spread to distant parts of the body (i.e., metastasis) and arises from an inoperable location are significantly more challenging. These patients should see an oncology specialist if they can. Most pet owners, however, have zero interest in working with an oncologist. Why?

Aside from the fact that many humans have traumatic memories of losing a family member to cancer, most pet owners seem to view the oncologist as an ineffectual bystander, someone who is paid to act as a sentinel, starting IVs and collecting measurements as their pet goes about the business of dying. Cancer specialists are actually brilliant people with a lot of valuable knowledge that isn’t easily accessible by your regular vet. One of their special skills is rendering a prognosis, which is the expected future course of a specific disease in a particular patient. Your regular vet sees a lot of cancers, but an oncologist sees nothing but cancers. He or she carries the hard-earned wisdom of experience and can describe what the future would look like if advanced treatment (or any treatment) were pursued. They can talk very intelligently with you about expected quality of life and cost. You can then make an informed decision about the direction you wish to take, as well as how far you wish to move down that path.

Specialists are also the only ones with access to radiation therapy and the fussier anti-cancer drugs, the ones requiring special gear that your regular vet does not have lying around the clinic. These kinds of treatments need to be tailored carefully for each individual patient. In animal oncology, the supreme goal is approaching a cure as near as possible WITHOUT making the pet feel ill from unwanted side effects. That can be a pretty narrow path, and the best person to guide you along it is the one who has the most experience mapping a route. Veterinary oncologists spend their whole career calculating those risks and steering well clear of the bad stuff.

The most interesting skill of veterinary oncologists, though, is their secret knowledge of the new cancer therapies, which are coming along at a pretty rapid rate. Decades in the veterinary field have taught me that many new medicines (and blood tests, and vaccines, and diets, and supplements, and training methods…) are merely fads that soon dwindle away into an echo of their own advertising. Specialists who work with these new technologies all the time are in a position to share which ones look like they will actually live up to the hype. In our next piece, you will learn about some of the most promising treatments for your pet. Stay tuned—it’s pretty exciting stuff.

Dr. M.S. Regan