Update on Canine Cancer Treatments

Many of you know that I feel a special kinship with the topic of canine cancer. I still get e-mails and an occasional phone call, out of the blue, from someone who has found the Saving Bentley story on the web and wants to talk to me about what they are experiencing with their own dog. I still know that more dogs get cancer than people and I still know there are many hearts that break because of this disease.

There was an interesting article in the Los Angeles Times about the growing popularity of oncology as a veterinary specialty, focusing on one group, Rosenberg's Veterinary Cancer Group in Los Angeles. "Treating animal cancer has become a multimillion dollar business..."

Rosenberg's group started 17 years ago and now included nine oncologists, an acupuncturist, two offices and all the resources needed to perform the various lab procedures that are a part of cancer treatment for pets, including x-rays, blood tests, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy. The protocol seems to be very similar to the one used at Penn, which is predominantly a team centered approach, and the mantra of "quality of life" applies equally on both coasts.

In fact, most of what I read in the article is what I experienced at Penn when Bentley was being treated including the fact that most dogs do not get the side effects of treatment that humans do because the goal is to prolong their lives, not cure their diseases. It is a approach that we don't accept on the human level, and it accounts for the roller coaster ride that treating a pet with cancer often feels like.

And as for those who question the practice of treating pets with cancer in the first place, well, they don't have to. But some of the most important developments in human disease treatment have come from treating animals.

Clearly, many people are pursuing many options when it comes to taking care of their pets for the duration and, in my opinion, they should be entitled to these options. Once you have been there, you are forever changed.

For an inspirational take on the canine cancer topic, I remind you of the journey Luke is taking with his dogs, walking from Dallas to Boston, to raise money and awareness for canine cancer.

As he would say, "Puppy up!"