Get Dr. Dressler's Dog Cancer Diet FREE Chalk up a win for the Animal Medical Center and Memorial Sloan Kettering. These two medical facilities have teamed up with Merial, one of the major companies producing drugs for dogs.
They came up with a winner: a vaccination for dogs that have malignant melanoma, a type of cancer of the skin or mouth.
This is not a vaccine that is used to protect from cancer. The word vaccine is a bit vague, because in common use this is something that is given in order to protect from a disease.
This vaccine is used only after a dog is diagnosed with melanoma.
Melanoma in dogs has different grades (some are more aggressive than others) and different stages (some have spread farther than others).
The usual stats are pretty dismal for the high grade melanomas, especially of the mouth or on the toes. Even with standard conventional care, these have a median survival of 2-4 months at worst, and about 5 months or so at best (remember, not every dog follows these stats).
The nice thing about this melanoma vaccine is that it has been shown to triple survival times. Not too shabby!
The vaccination just got conditional approval by the USDA last May and may be available through an veterinary oncologist near you.
Best to all,
Dr D
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
{ 25 comments… read them below or add one }
Dr Dressler.
Not relative to the above topic I know…
But do you have any information on Leiomyosarcoma? I now know this is the type of cancer Spanner has – quite rare by all accounts.
She is still with me – just. We got a vitamin and painkilling injection 2 days ago so we could visit her beach one more time. She had a great time & even ate (although it was JUNK food!) She will probably pass this weekend, but we have made the most of her time left.
Best regards
Helen & Spanner
Spanner was put to sleep tonight. 7/12/08
I will miss her so dearly. I’m not ashamed to say she was my world.
Dear Helen,
I am so sorry. My thoughts are with you on this sad day.
D
Hi
Can my vet get this vaccine? Miss Marley had a oral melanoma, and just had is removed 1/23/09. She is very perky, and would like to try this ES Claer and Nu Vet Vitamins.
Hi,
My Cocker spaniel dog Boscar, age ~9 years. He has heart murmur for
about 5 years and has melanoma in his mouth. The melanoma was
detected in Aug.2007. Since then he had surgery, Cancer vaccine,
Chemo and now we are giving just painkiller. I also asked vet to
give some sleep aid (Which he is not started on yet)
Below is the summary of the main events:
Aug 2007 – In a routine exam, vet saw a mass growth in his mouth (remember he did not refer/know it was cancerious) and suggested to
remove the so called mass of tissues. Which was removed(or scrapped off as told by vet) the next day (Also, Vet did not sent the mass to the pathologist) – Cost of the surgery – Approx. $800
Feb.2008 – While giving his arthritis medication, i noticed similar
mass of tissue in the same area. Immidiately called Doctor,got
appointment next day and scheduled surgery 3 days later –
Cost of the surgery – Approx. $800
The second time doctor told us that he did not expect that mass will grow so fast (remember he did not know that it can be cancerious)
and he send that mass to pathologist. 3 days later we were informed that he has melanoma, a kind of cancer. He referred us to oncology
specialist(nearly 25 miles from our home).
Since we saw our neighbours dog had cance and it is alive even after 6 years, we did not think/told it is of aggressive kind.
fEB 2008 – Less than a week after the second surgery, We took Boscar to the oncology speciality vet, there they did some blood work,
x-ray,…etc (COST – approx.$900). Then a surgery was scheduled/then
was done for removng left upper jaw(COST- $3500)
After the (Jaw removal) surgery, Vet suggested to give the Cancer vaccine to increase the survival chance.These cancer vaccine was
given once every 15 days for 2 months (4 shots). The cost of each
vaccine was $450. (Later i saw in the internet, cost of each shot
is 250$).The vaccine was started from march – may(COST= 450*4 = $1800)
Sep 2008 – After our trip from abroad for a month (Boscar was in our home and a friend stayed and took care of him), we took Boscar for a
routine checkup. They did some x-rays, blood work etc.
This time they told us that the cancer has spread to his lungs and that we need to give him chemo. If we give the chemo also, the vet said he would survive less than 6 months.So, the chemo was stated in Sep. (COST of x-rays, blood work,chemo…= $996 )
Oct 2008 : Chemo therapy, blood work. (COST – approx. $550 )
Nov 2008 : Chemo therapy, blood work,x-ray (COST – approx. $900 )
We were told by a rescue worker, from whom we adopted Boscar
that chemo is very painful for the dog to go through and it is not
worth. We heard similar things from my husband’s coworkers also.
That made us to stop the chemo therapy and look into some thing
different and another reason is, because the side effect of chemo
is heart failure, kidney failure etc. Since Boscar had already heart
murmur, i was afraid he might die while receiving chemo.
One article told that they started MSM+ riboxy + curcumin for the
cancer from health food store. We bought those things and started
giving them to Boscar. Since curcumin is concentrated antioxident,
also since Boscar had heart murmur, i was afraid he might get stroke.
So I stopped curcumin and started giving only riboxy +MSM.
Dec. 2008 – Since it was difficult for us to commute 25 miles to vet (for health reasons, i don’t drive in freeway), as my husband had meetings, work pressure and so, we decided to go to a very good fecility around 12 miles from our home. (So that i could drive in the city street). During Dec. we gave boscar pain medication and was doing ok. The monthly vet bill dropped from approx $1000 to $350.
Jan. 2008:
Jan.19th – The Vet is so amazed about Boscar being active, his energy and his weight is constant between 27-30 pounds. He told us, if cancer is progressing, the first thing is, he looses his weight.
Jan.25th – Boscar is becomming weak. I think it might be his heart not cancer. Yesterday, (Jan 27th) i took him to the park couple of
blocks away(temp was 62F).He was ok while going but it was very
difficult for him to walk back to home. He had to take many stops.
He is getting tired and tired. Every time he looks at me I just say “its OK BOscar. Everything will be alright?” I am so scared.
Today he vommitted entire thing.
I DO NOT WANT TO PUT HIM TO SLEEP. Who am I to take his life ? After all, he was with us all these years, taught us to love walking, enjoy
things, got sad when me and my husband fought, was always protective
of me.Never let a stranger come near me.
I Hope Boscar feels OK. I pray GOD to make sure my baby do not suffer
much. He is such a good boy. Not a single mean bone in his body.
OH !! Boscar, Do you know how much I love you?
Cindy, have your vet contact the nearest veterinary oncologist. Print out the blog post/links for reference for him/her so your vet knows what you are speaking of. Good luck,
D
I wish you the very best tonight. I can see how much you love Boscar. You might want to get my coping guide, which has helped people in similar situations. It is okay for you to follow what you feel is right for your dog, you are allowed to be his primary health advocate, nobody else. Tell him his life story, from start to finish. Tell him everything you are thankful for that he has given to you over all these years.
Now is the time for you to give back to him. Make sure you take the time to do it.
D
Tonight (Feb.05.2009), beloved dog Boscar died. He is such a good dog that he did not let me choose any option. He loves his daddy so much that he died in daddy arm. (I think he had a heart failure). Took his last sip/food from daddy and Even though it was very difficult to walk,just before collapsing he was searching for daddy who was in the living room.
LAst two days were very difficult for him. He was very tired to walk,
did not eat well/drink. Even though daddy was forcing mommy for “Putting him to sleep”, mommy resisted. Boscar was such a good boy that once he knew, daddy doesnot want him, he died the same night
around 11:45 PM.
Both Mommy/daddy/and his brother Bharath (the Cat) miss very VERy VERY much. Undiscriebable. Mommy sees everywhere his stuff: His blankie, toys, bowls, beds, sprays, cloths, even the new kids wagon mommy got for him today. Since it was very difficult to walk, i thought I can take him to walk in that.
Finally, I am not very fortunate to spend some more time with him.
He was only 9 years old. Why he should die so young. I saw lot of
dogs live upto to 17 years. Why should he get deadly form of cancer?
I don’t know.
I do not know what i am going to do tomorrow.
Love you Boscar. Love you so very much
-Savi
I am so sorry for your loss. I am crying my eyes out reading your story. We just found out last month that Our Oscar 10 year old Schnauzer has mouth cancer. We love him so much. I wouldn’t leave him with anyone over the past 10 years. If he couldn’t go with us we didn’t go. We have 2 schnauzer’s. the other is 7 yrs old and in good health. Oscar is our baby. We can’t imagine life without him. It’s so hard accepting this. I don’t know how we will.
May God be with you.
We have a 13 yr old choc lab with oral melanoma. He had 1 tumor removed from his mouth, and we started him on the oral melanoma vaccine as well as various supplements. The cancer had spread to his lungs – but at a 3-month checkup/xray – that has shrunk. His tumor has come back again – and again – we had it removed.
The vet oncologist wanted to do a series of radiation treatments – but we aren’t sure if this is best since they put them under anesthesia to do the radiation.
Considering his age – and the fact that he has quite a large mass of fatty tumors that can’t be removed in his chest (he also weighs 115lbs – a lot of it tumors) – and has difficulty walking – we think it would be best to just continue to have the tumor removed if it comes back again instead of putting him through a course of radiation treatments.
Has anyone else faced this decision – and helpful thoughts?
Thanks
I have a 131/2 y/o Chessie, Lucy, whom I found an oral tumor on last Feb. 3 days later it was excised-unfortunately the vet did not get clean margins. We did the 4 vaccine transdermals and said no to radiation. I was treatment director in a lymphedema center for 10 years and no matter what anyone tells you radiation is VERY stressful to the body-it irrevocably changes it in a negative way. Can you imagine what would happen if you do this to a retreiver breed’s soft mouth? She is still with us and will have another ultrasound to check for mets in August. I am financially lucky in that I am the canine rehabilitation director at a great veterinary referral hospital in Maine so I get a break on medical services for Lucy. She eats Bravo raw turkey and vegetables and all her treats are non-carb and she gets a great field run daily where she rolls around in puddles and skips home looking like Pigpen! She has developed uveitis, which can be connedted with malignant melanoma. Therefore she cannot sleep in a truly dark house at night due to the risk of falling because she does not see well at all. So far, that is our story and her quality of life is all that matters. She knows we will not let her suffer-she will let us know when she is ready to run inthose endless fields beyond.
My dog,Buddy, is almost 12 years old. Approx 1.5 months ago we found out he has the agressive form of oral melanoma. They wanted to do a partial jaw removal and then radiation treatments. In my research tho I found that this is a pretty harsh surgery and the radiation costs I could not afford. Plus the quality of life may not be very good after these 2 procedures. It has broken my heart. My Buddy is my baby and I do not know what I will do when he passes. But in reading these articles about this new vaccine I was wondering if it would benefit Buddy to receive them even tho he has not had the surgery? Does anyone know? I would do this if it would slow the progression and give us more time with our angel dog as long as HIS quality of life remains good. Can anyone tell me if they will give the vaccine without the dog having the surgery 1st? Time is off the essence.
Thank you so much!
Joanie,
the melanoma vaccine is a good idea with or without surgery. You should pursue it. I will address this question more in this month’s webinar, which will be recorded so you can listen later (www.mydogvet.com).
Best,
Dr D
Joanie, here is a useful link for you about the melanoma vaccine:
http://www.dogcancerblog.com/new-treatment-for-dogs-with-melanoma/
Best,
Dr D
My dog was diagnosed with what pathologists believe is amelanotic malignant melanoma which was located on the side of her trunk. To the best of my memory it was pigmented in color. I have had melanoma so it caught my attention. The oncolgist said it did not make sense that the growth was pigmented but diagnosed amelanotic. The pathologists are not sure of the diagnosis but that it was most consistant with amelanotic melanoma, even after further stains. I did some research and found a study that used TRP-2 staining to diagnose amelanotic melanoma but the pathologists were not familiar with the stain. I am desperate to find out if there is a lab to perform this stain before I spend thousands of dollars on the melanoma vaccine when she may not have melanoma.Has anyone heard of the TRP-2 stain? Thank you!
Hi Dr. D !
I wrote to you before about my dog Buddy. He has the melanoma in his mouth. I was wondering if there is anything I could maybe gently flush out that area with to remove any debris and help with the bad odor. The mass is getting bigger but he is still able to eat well but I am thinking that possibly some food may be staying up there caught between his lip and gum. The mass is on the upper jaw (gum) and is covering 3 teeth now. I do not want to make it any worse or cause him any pain… but if there were something I could flush that out with I would appreciate knowing about it. My vet told me to just use warm water but I thot maybe you had a better idea.
Thank you so much!!
Joanie
hi Dr.D
i was told my dog has amelanotic melanoma. i dicided that i did not want my dog to suffer by dealing with all the side effects that chemo and other conventional medicines would cause. i started to give her some natural medicine and after a bit mor ethan a month the mass which was in front of upper mouth starting to grown i nhe rnose completely went away. but a couple weeks later another mass started to develop and it has increased in size (near the back of her mouth).
i am aware that cancers can metastisize but should it not keep on growing in the initial spot. the initial mass has no signs of regrowth so it seems a bit weird to me. if the natural medicine worked for one why not the other area and if its working that might be why the other mass has not reappeared. also other than the noticeable mas sin her mouth she seems to be doing quite well . no loss of weight. before she was given the natural med her coat was dry and she really lokkeed her age 10yrs but after the natural med was given her coat is very shiny not opaque looking like before. she is still very playful and i see no sigs of debilitation
could this be something else Dr. D.. it is too bad that for some reason the vet or the pathologist do not keep the samples otherwise i would have them rechech it again. do you recommend i do another aspiration to determine if is or not amelanotic malignant melanoma. i will ask that they keep sample. thanks
Jose,
it would be good if the pathologist made a mistake. Frankly speaking, although not zero, it is pretty rare for a real screw up to happen. Cancers often expand along planes of “least resistance”, and many times will “dissect” along or between natural potential spaces in the body. I worry that you are seeing spread of a tumor, but you are only seeing the tip (or the top) of a deeper iceberg.
It is pretty rare for natural medicines to create a true remission of a melanoma statistically. Not impossible, but not common. I would increase your efforts and expand your horizons, or alternatively focus on life quality and increasing the joys of life with your dear one. A choice should be made in this regard, and either one is the right one. You might want to look into high dose Vitamin C injections as a compromise…
Best,
D
Dear Dr. D,
I second Joanie’s question from October 11th, 2009 at 11:55 am regarding what to use to flush a dog’s mouth to help with the bad odor? Or is there anything that can be done other than surgery, such as having a vet give him a sedative so he can clean the area? My dog Otto is doing great (other than the big melanoma) but the bad odor repels people and therefore decreases his quality of life.
Thank you in advance for your help!
Rachael
Dear Rachael,
One idea to consider is the use of ozone water. This is water that has been treated in a little machine, which can be purchased on line (either the water itself or the unit that converts normal water to ozone water). Do a search for “Amazon buy ozone water” and you will find some options. Dentists use it for bacterial infections in the mouth (for periodontitis, gum recession and so on), and it has some interesting anti cancer effects. It is a pro-oxidant, and increases the amounts of free radicals in cells. Cancer cells already have a lot of free radicals in them, and the extra load tends to make them commit suicide. Although I am not (yet) at the point where I advise it to be taken internally, I think a daily mouthwash might help.
Hope this helps,
Dr D
PS Racheal,
you can use a turkey baster or a large syringe with the needle removed (from your vet) to help administer ozone water into the mouth of your dog.
D
Dr. D
Hello. My dog has been diagnosed with amelanotic melanoma, she is only 3 1/2. we noticed the lump on her tongue over Christmas. I took her to the vet Wed, Dec 30th, they did a biopsy and sent of for results. The results came back w/2 diff possible kinds of cancer on Tuesday the 5th, so staining was ordered…we have yet to receive the staining results. In the meantime, we visited a second vet for “second” opinion, they send pictures off to an oncologist who suggested surgery. We went in for surgery Monday the 11th, the mass looked larger than it was…when the surgeon got in there she said there were 3 tumors no bigger than a marble each…much smaller than they appeared from the outside. B/c of this and b/c my puppy is only 3 1/2 she wasn’t convinced it was a melanoma…so she saved her tongue and “cleaned out” the tumors with a laser…she send off her biopsy which came back today as amelanotic melanoma.
( She had chest x-rays done last week which look clear with no sign of metastasis, seeing as she didn’t actually cut out a chunk of her tongue she didn’t get clean margins, we are going to the oncologist to start the vaccine on Monday, so far we are assuming the cancer is stage one…the dr. said possibly stage 0 after removing what we did…is there any holistic meds we can try as well? And is it possible that she can live the rest of her life (not just another 6months or a year) or are we just trying to prolong the inevitable? Is there a “cure” for this type of cancer? I can’t find very much info on the internet for dogs with “stage I”…
Oh…in may of 2008 she had a lump in the same spot…we took her in and the dr. drained it…he said it looked like an infection, it was all liquid, he didn’t sent it of for a pathology report, but said as far as he could tell under a microscope it was non cancerous. Thanks for all your help.
that happy face was supposed to be a sad face…huh.
Hi,
Im from Colombia and the veterinarian found in my golden retriever (11 years old) a melanoma. We did him surgery but i still want to give him the vaccines but in my country The Merial Labs does not sell it. is there any way that i can get it in the US and bring it to Colombia? I dont care the price
Thanks
My beloved 15 year old shih-tzu, Kiki has oral melonoma. We had it removed 2 weeks ago and was referred to an animal cancer clinic. I brought her in to inquire about the canine melonoma vaccine. I do not want her to undergo partial jaw removal, radiation or chemotherapy. I just about fell over when they gave me the estimate for the vaccine, $2200 for only the first 4 doses. I read where another reader paid $1800 but found the doses cost about $250 each on the internet. This makes me very upset that they would more than double the actual cost of the vaccine, knowing that as pet lovers we would do nearly anything for our beloved pets and taking advantage of us financially. I can’t afford the $2200 unfortunately, they’re lack of sincere compassion just infuriates me to no end.