Keep Yourself and Your Dogs Safe with Palladia

Palladia is the first FDA-approved drug for dog cancer.  It is a chemotherapy medication, and as such it is a big gun.

When I say big gun, I mean that there are side effects and issues that you need to be aware of.  And some of you may have not heard this yet.  Since a goal of this blog and the Dog Cancer Survival Guide is to give you important information that you may have not yet heard, let’s look at Palladia.

When you give your dog Palladia, you should wash your hands with soap and water after handling.  Better yet, wear gloves.  This is because a small amount of Palladia could end up inside your body if you handle the medication with bear hands.  Like many chemotherapy drugs, toxicities are possible, and there is no reason to be exposed to these materials if you are not undergoing treatment yourself.

The drug insert suggest that you keep the bottle away from children.  Also remember to keep the bottle away from any other medication.  Sometimes medications can be confused by us grown-ups too, and drugs like these need to be kept in their own secure location.

If you are pregnant, I would not even handle Palladia due to the possible effects on developing babies.  The insert says that birth defects are possible if Palladia were taken during pregnancy.

Remember to never break or crush the tablets.  This is because the drug will aerosolize (become an airborne powder) and may be inhaled.

According to the manufacturer, the “waste” products of a dog taking Palladia should be put in a sealed plastic bag for disposal.  Gloves should be worn. This is fairly strait forward for feces, but I would assume urine is a waste as well.  Thus, I would consider active urinary metabolites of the drug to be possible.  Same with vomited material.

For vomit, bag it wearing gloves.  Urine would be tougher to collect in a bag, and skin contamination is a risk.  Thus I advise irrigating the urinated area well with water.  This implies that dogs on Palladia living in  homes with other dogs should be walked outside, separate from the others, for elimination of waste.  It would be considerate for others in the neighborhood for you to carry a jug of water to irrigate the appropriate areas, in addition to your ziplocks.

Whenever you embark on a treatment for dog cancer, be your dog’s number one health care advocate.  Get the full picture, weigh your options, and create an action plan.

All my best,

Dr D