The Toxicity of Potent Dog Chemo Drug Doxorubicin
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Updated: January 4th, 2021
Summary
Is your dog on doxorubicin? Here’s what you need to know about this potent, common chemotherapy agent.
Vets and veterinary oncologists use Doxorubicin (also called Adriamycin) in many different chemotherapy plans.
Common dog cancers treated with this drug include lymphosarcoma, hemangiosarcoma, other sarcomas, and carcinomas.
This is not a mickey-mouse drug. It is one of the main players in conventional dog cancer chemo treatments. It also has corresponding side effects that, from time to time, are heavy duty and should be taken into account.
NOTE: The reader should be advised that the purpose of this content is not to crucify doxorubicin. It has helped many dogs. Rather, this is information that should be in your head as an informed advocate of your dog’s health.
How Doxorubicin Is Given
Doxorubicin is given as an injection in the vein at the vet hospital. If the tip of the catheter used to deliver the drug is not in the vein (but still under the skin), the drug will end up in the tissues around the vein.
Doxorubicin is very toxic to living tissue when given in this way and will cause this tissue around the vein to die.
Doxorubicin Side Effects
In addition to injuries caused by bad injection technique — which are NOT common, but can occur — doxorubicin may also cause stomach upset, inflammation of the colon, and delay the regrowth of hair. Some dogs will develop allergic reactions during doxorubicin injections. It can also cause bone marrow suppression (anemia and low white blood cell and platelet counts).
It is known to cause damage to the muscle in the heart, in some dogs, which can be quite serious. Check out this abstract for more info on doxorubicin toxicity.
How to Mitigate Side Effects
In the next post, I will discuss the use of common, over-the counter-supplements that should be considered to help alleviate a big toxicity with this drug: heart damage…
And of course, you can find out more about this drug and every other chemo agent, in The Dog Cancer Survival Guide. Dr. Ettinger and I also cover multiple ways to support your dog with and without chemotherapy.
Best to all,
Dr D
Dr. Demian Dressler is internationally recognized as “the dog cancer vet” because of his innovations in the field of dog cancer management, and the popularity of his blog here at Dog Cancer Blog. The owner of South Shore Veterinary Care, a full-service veterinary hospital in Maui, Hawaii, Dr. Dressler studied Animal Physiology and received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California at Davis before earning his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University. After practicing at Killewald Animal Hospital in Amherst, New York, he returned to his home state, Hawaii, to practice at the East Honolulu Pet Hospital before heading home to Maui to open his own hospital. Dr. Dressler consults both dog lovers and veterinary professionals, and is sought after as a speaker on topics ranging from the links between lifestyle choices and disease, nutrition and cancer, and animal ethics. His television appearances include “Ask the Vet” segments on local news programs. He is the author of The Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog’s Life Quality and Longevity. He is a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Hawaii Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association of Avian Veterinarians, the National Animal Supplement Council and CORE (Comparative Orthopedic Research Evaluation). He is also an advisory board member for Pacific Primate Sanctuary.
Our dog Nigel is in treatment for a splenic stromal sarcoma. He has just had his 4th chemo tx. Up until now he seems to have tolerated things. After treatment today he bled a good bit longer than usual. I am not sure I want to keep putting him through the treatments. Reading about the different side effects scare me. They have him on a probiotic. What other supplements might help him?
Respectfully ,
Wanda L. McGinnis
Our dog was just switched from CCNU to Doxorubicin. He’s a 20 lb shih tzu maltese mix with histiocystic sarcoma. He had a splenectomy on 4/29/19 and now it has spread to his liver. We have been following the diet plan, Apocaps, and K9 Immunity from the onset. Is it still safe to give the Apocaps with Doxorubicin? I’ve searched the blog and could not find anything on it.
Hello Melodie, thanks for writing. The best thing to do of course is to ask your veterinarian about specifics for your dog. However, in general the diet and Apocaps and the other supplements you mention are safe to give with any chemo agent, including doxorubicin. You might want to ask about something to protect the heart, too, Dr. D usually recommends COQ10 with doxorubicin for its known heart-toxicity side effects. https://www.dogcancerblog.com/articles/book-excerpt/the-most-important-supplements-for-dogs-with-cancer/ https://www.dogcancerblog.com/articles/full-spectrum-cancer-care/conventional/support-chemotherapy-and-radiation-with-botanicals/ https://www.dogcancerblog.com/articles/full-spectrum-cancer-care/conventional/chemotherapy/the-toxicity-of-potent-dog-chemo-drug-doxorubicin/
My dog has anal gland adenocarcinoma with metastasis to the liver. After surgery to remove the tumors we started 5 treatments of Carboplatin which failed to stop the growth and he now has progressive disease. We’re 3 days into a new round of Doxorubicin and he hasn’t wanted food for the last 2 days. Keenly looking forward to your next post about supplements to protect the heart muscle, thank you for covering these topics.
Hello, my 9yr old Labrador is undergoing CHOP chemo for lymphoma and has had 2 treatments of Dox. Both times he has become so weak/drunk like he stops walking. Out vet doesn’t have any answers for us. Anyone else experience this?