Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I was wondering if any you whose pups who were treated with doxorubicin could tell me if your pup developed heart problems due to the doxorubicin. The literature I found says that sometimes heart failure or irregularities do not occur until months after the treatment has ended.
Percy has had three doxorubicin treatments and is scheduled for his fourth next week. The oncologists that we have been working with recommended five or six treatments. When I asked what was the difference between the two, they said that it depended on how well he tolerates it and said that they recommended six because they did not think he would not live long enough (from the cancer) for heart problems to be an issue.
I am concerned about treating Percy's cancer so aggressively as to cause other problems (heart failure) and am considering not completing all five treatments. I found some of the papers that describe the doxorubicin studies and, depending on the study, between 10 and 20 percent of dogs would suffer heart failure with about 5 treatments. Sometimes the symptoms would not show up for several months, so it was difficult to tell at the time of treatment if the dog had had too much. Since Percy seems to often be falling into the unlikely percentage of things lately (his cancer is apparently very unusual - hemangiosarcoma in the bone), I'm considering whether I should err on being cautious with doxorubicin treatments.
I was wondering if any of the dogs here who were treated with doxorubicin eventually developed heart failure or heart problems, or did not develop heart problems? How many treatments did you do?
Thanks,
AJ
I haven't had any experience wth doxorubicin.
I've just had two pups die of hemangioscaroma. We have had a couple of hemangio dogs here that had it to start in their bone.
As you know, the prognosis is very poor. It's a nasty cancer since it involves the lining of blood vessels. Hemangio meaning in latin "blood vessel". It's a terrible cancer that is far more common in dogs than anyone talks or knows about.
There are no wrong answers. I personally wouldn't worry about heart failure if you continue with treatment. I know it's torture not knowing if you're trying to help and worried that it may be wrong.
When I had the chance to do surgery with my geriatic 12 1/2 year old Comet when hemangio was suspected on her spleen, I chose not to do surgery because I didnt want her to be have to recover from a major surgery as a old dog only to know the outcome was poor. But that's because I had one, 1 year and a half earlier die from cardiac arrest from hemangio tumor on the heart. He was only 8 years old.
I'm sorry that Percy is going through this. I'm sorry there's not more hope with this hideous cancer. My heart goes out to you.
I'm wishing you the best.
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
gayle had a soft tissue sarcoma - we did five rounds of doxorubicin. she did not develop any heart issues from the chemo. we finished in may or june of 2010.
charon & gayle
Life is good, so very, very good!!! Gayle enjoyed each and every moment of each and every wonderful day (naps included). She left this world December 12, 2011 – off on a new adventure.
Love Never Ends
Hi,
Champ is in that rare category with you. That we can tell, it started in his left rear femur. We thought osteosarcoma but when they did the abdominal ultrasound there was a very small mass on the spleen. He had the spleenectomy almost immediately and it was confirmed to be hemangiosarcoma. Since the leg tumor was well progressed at this point they assume it was the primary site which, yes, is odd for hemangiosarcoma. By the time we got around to amputation, the bone was so destroyed by cancer pathology was inconclusive.
We did 5 treatments of doxirubicin between the spleenectomy and amputation. He tolerated it very well.
Currently we are having serious issues with anemia but his heart seems to be fine almost 10 months after treatment ended.
Best of luck,
Joy & Champ
AJ I wish I had experience that could help there but unfortunately I don't. In this Tripawd News video with Dr. Johnny Chretin, head of oncology at VCA West Los Angeles, he discusses doxo versus carboplatin, maybe this can answer some questions.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you all for your responses. I'm sorry for the late reply, we were out of town this weekend.
Jerry, thanks for the link to the video. There was a lot of interesting and useful information in there.
Joy, I hope Champ is feeling better. I've been following your recent postings about Champ particularly closely because Percy is a fellow hemangiosarcoma patient. I'm glad to hear that Champ's heart is ok and hope the anemia will resolve soon.
Charon, thanks for letting me know (and I'm glad to hear) that Gayle had no problems with the doxorubicin.
Cometdog, thanks for your message. I'm so sorry for your loss. I cannot imagine going thru this twice and so soon after each other. Yes, the uncertainty of all of this is one of the hardest things to deal with -- not knowing how to balance the risks and benefits -- is my attempt to try to help Percy actually hurting him in other ways? I know that eventually I will make a decision of what to do, but the journey to each decision is so hard.
Percy is scheduled for his mid-chemo evaluation later this week. They are doing extra tests (sonogram, xray) to decide whether or not to continue the chemo. I ended up calling the oncologist today and explaining my concerns (Percy has been panting a lot more than usual lately which is what caused me to research this) and she recommended that we go ahead and do the tests before deciding. So I've got another day or so to decide.
Anyway, thank you for all of your responses and well wishes!
AJ
That's sounds like a great plan! It will help ease your mind!
Wishing only the best for you guys!
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
I found this extensive conversation in regards to almost all of your questions
http://tripawds.....38;ret=all
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Look at you with that search button, Comet! Yowza! Thank you, I needed this info too. Very timely.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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