Hi, we are not in the same situation as we are in a big city and see an oncologist almost exclusively now with Abby, but I believe I've heard others from small towns say their vet consults with an onc. in another city - not sure of the logistics/cost, but hopefully someone w/ experience will weigh in.

As for getting diet/supplement advice from the vet/onc, I know the books/sites that talk about the various supplements generally say to "discuss it with your vet" before starting anything new, but I've found my vet/onc don't really have a whole lot to say on the subjects. I've told our onc everything I'm doing with Abby and he is fine with all of it, but didn't really have any input. There was one thing where he gave me good input - I asked about giving antioxidants during chemo. There is some hubbub out there about whether this aids the dog's "good" cells that need some help, because they take a beat-down from the chemo, or whether it actually helps the cancer cells. Our onc said that there's no conclusive proof either way and explained the theories behind each school of thought. He said there was a study done with dogs on chemo where some were given antiox.'s and some not, and there was no real difference in the end. He said he would never let me do something he thought would be un-doing the work he's trying to do w/ Abby w/ her drugs, and he was fine w/ me giving her the antioxidants. He said it wouldn't hurt and hopefully helps. He said you'd have to be giving super high doses for it to be a bad idea.

As for changing the diet, I've also heard that you shouldn't change during chemo, as a change in diet can upset the GI tract, and so can chemo, so not a good idea to do both at once.

Re: artemisinin , I'd start with this page here and then if you want to learn more, there's a Yahoo group called "artemisinin_and_cancer" that you can join that will give more info. Or just PM me and I can share what we are doing with Abby.

When/if you do add in supplements be sure to go slowly and add them one at a time so you know the dog is handling them ok before adding in the next one.

It's overwhelming, I know - there's lots of info out there and it's hard to wade through it all.

Jackie, Abby's mom

I was a bit in the same situation. When Tazzie was diagnosed, we happened to be relatively near (3 hr drive) to a city with an oncologist and cancer care center. I returned home - 15 hrs further away - where there was no oncology or cancer care for dogs.

What seemed most important is to have someone who cares and will communicate with you. The oncology practice mostly seemed into charging excessively (even when the less expensive treatment might have been preferable, I learned later). And the chemo person was very unavailable. That did not apply to all vets at the center - the surgeon was terrific and communicated with us.

I found one vet in my city who had done a little bit of chemo, so took Tazzie to her. What was good is that she was receptive to the information I found, mostly through this website. Yes, you can find oncologists who will consult from a distance including CSU, but you can probably find someone in Pennsylvania. Through one of the tripawds (thanks again Maximutt), we ended up with two oncologists consulting from very long distances (Michigan and California!), and my local vet was happy for this information. So I think the vet's attitude matters the most. We had unusual developments (SubQ mets) and used metronomics and a few other alternatives. Unfortunately our ride was not particularly long, but the time he did have was good in quality.

Technically, Tazzie was still a patient of the original oncologist, but even my vet could never reach her by phone.

Susan