Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I have been very remiss in not posting about our experiences with Oncept for the benefit of other potential users whose dogs also have melanoma. Orlando completed his 4 initial treatments and has recently been back for his 6 month booster shot. Xrays show the lungs to be clear.
Our experiences with Oncept have been completely unremarkable. He has had no reaction of any sort, even immediately after the administration, and no apparent long term side effects. Certainly he will make the one year mark, and hopefully longer as was indicated by Dr. Ohashi at ASG in Los Angeles. When we saw her for the booster, she explained to me that if the melanoma is on the move, the vaccine also has the capability of slowing it down.
He continues to see his regular vet for his Cushing's medications and his thyroid; both of those have remained stable fortunately. The only issue he has had with the toe amputation is that he seems to develop a small callus where the toe was removed and I suppose it is from an uneven distribution of weight on the foot. When it hurts he begins to hold the foot up, and then we visit his vet who is quite adept at debriding it. We have not gone back to Dr. Huber for that as I don't consider it to have anything to do with the surgery itself.
Dr Ohashi explained to me as well that Orlando would not qualify for a rabies waiver based upon the use on Oncept. He could not take the rabies shot while he was receiving the immunotherapy, but was able to do so in the 6 months that he had no treatment. I waited until I had to give it to him...animal control finally put a notice on the door, so then I complied. He had no issue with the rabies vaccine either, so things are probably as good as they can be for us.
Thank you for sharing Orlando's experience with the treatment, it will definitely help others who pursue the Oncept route. Glad to hear things are going well overall.
That's a bummer about the rabies vaccine, I'm sorry he couldn't get a waiver. But super happy he didn't have an issue with it. I was under the impression that when an animal (or human) is fighting cancer, their immune system is compromised even when they are not on chemotherapy, which in my head would allow them to be excluded from rabies vaccine requirements. I wish the powers that be would make more exceptions for animals with cancer. Ugh.
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I would have preferred that he not take the rabies booster, but it was entirely out of my hands. I did explain to animal control what had been going on with him, but they gave me a "we've heard it all" look and that was the end of it. Orlando's personal vet told me that she had only gotten one rabies waiver through, after submitting a ton of paperwork and basically swearing that the dog would not be alive by the next year. When he did not depart, AC showed up promptly and demanded that the shot be given.
I did forget to add the cost of the Oncept, out here in Los Angeles.
$87.00 to administer the vaccine via a canine transdermal device, needleless, into the inner thigh.
$780.00 for the vaccine
$45.00 for the visit
It is given 4 times over 4 months or so, I have heard that some schedules are different, and then 6 month boosters are given.
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