Things You Need To Know About Radiation for Dog Cancer
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: November 27th, 2018
This is a continuation of the previous blog topic, radiation therapy in dog cancer.
We looked at some benefits of radiation previously, both in terms of life quality and lifespan.
This time, I would like to look at some of the downsides. I am not interested in painting a darker picture than is necessary. This is a treatment where a rationale approach in needed, where good and bad are evaluated. As an owner and guardian of your dog, you should be advised of things so you can make educated decisions.
Radiation therapy is no joke. Each treatment requires general anesthesia, and protocols for designed for cancer remissions involve multiple treatments each week, sometimes even daily. Multiple rounds of general anesthesia should be taken into account when making a decision about radiation, especially in senior dogs. Most vets would agree that an aged canine and 30 rounds of general anesthesia may not be a good mix.
Palliative treatment, radiation designed for the comfort (pain control) of the dog, is less frequent, perhaps weekly for a month or so. This seems a bit “easier on the system” overall.
The radiation in the beam, if it contacts other living tissue, will damage it as well. Sometimes there is radiation scatter, which is where the beam directed at the tumor actually ends up hitting a bit of normal (non cancerous) body tissue.
There can be some side effects that may be seen immediately following treatment, when the beam contacts normal body parts.
The skin can get a little inflamed, similar to a sunburn. There may be nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. If radiation contacts the mouth, irritation and sores may occur within mucus membranes lining the mouth. This can be painful and require care. If the beam or scatter contacts the gland that makes tears to lubricate the eye, injury can occur to the glands. This requires lifetime lubricating ointment to be put in the eyes. Similarly, the lining of the lungs can become damaged if they are exposed to radiation.
All of these effects can occur within days or weeks of radiation treatment and examples of acute toxicity.
Get a copy of the Dog Cancer Survival Guide to learn more about Dog Cancer and Radiation
Radiation consequences can occur years later…delayed radiation toxicity. This can include injury to kidneys, nerves or spinal cord, and ligament damage.
A bizarre delayed toxicity form is the development of new cancers, as a consequence of the radiation. This is documented with cases of osteosarcoma (bone cancer), bladder tumors, and connective tissue tumors.
Take home message? Radiation is not a minor therapy. Consider it carefully. Be advised if you have a young dog that you are considering radiation for, you may see delayed toxicity, years later but during the dog’s lifespan, even in the form of new cancers.
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.
my dog , husky, name is Ice. diagnosed with three seperate types of cancer. One growth removed twice. They can’t get it all because it has entered her chest cavity. It came back really fast this time and is growing rapidly. The other type is a tumor on her wrist. Third one in her mouth. A melianoma. Worried it will get into lymph nodes. It hasn’t yet. She is twelve. palliative radiation treatment has been recomended by one vet. Another surgery first. then radiation. She is otherwise healthy. If you can call it that. Looking for a non bias thought. Someone with experience in this area. Teatment for radiation this Thursday. Scared I’m I making the right decision.
Shonica, would you email me. My doggy is at UF and diagnosed today with nasal cancer spread to brain. Any feedback would be appreciated. Hdamron@bellsouth.net
Dr. Dressler,
I will first admit that I am about 25% of the way through the Guide, but I am in a situation now that will require action fairly quickly. Last week, my 9 year old Rottweiler/lab mix, King, was diagnosed with a nasal carcinoma with left submandibular lymph node metastasis. In addition to his CT and biopsies, he had a chest X-ray which showed no metastasis to his chest, thank God. Anyway, I have seen two oncologists. Our first oncologist recommended palliative radiation and Palladia, but the second oncologist’s clinic is doing a study with a two-week course of accelerated radiation in combination with Palladia. Unfortunately for us, my baby isn’t a candidate for the study because of the lymph node involvement, but both oncologists simply raved about the outcomes they have seen in their practice with Palladia. I went to see the second oncologist just after I had read about the use of Cyber Knife at UF in your book, so I asked her if she thought my dog would be a good candidate. She agreed with me that he may, and personally knows the head honcho at UF that does CyberKnife so she sent all of our records over to him. He said King is a good candidate. I have a consultation with him this coming week. It is just a really difficult decision to make with all of the expenses involved. I am leaning towards CyberKnife and Palladia, but I wanted to ask if you had any advice? Thanks for your time!
our male German Shepherd Rain was diagnosed with bone cancer, and he did have radiation five years ago for another cancer. Now our next step is to see if it spread to his lungs. There’s no sign that he was even sick, but the leg he had the cancer in was basically getting worse. He was just checked last year for cancer, because we were going to do stem cell for him. Everything was o.k. less than 1 yr. ago. and he did have the stem cell, but it didn’t help. we know his leg will have to go this time we are just not sure about doing chemo we lost another Shepherd to that.
Dear Gloria,
have you read the treatment plan analysis section of the Guide? If not, it would be well worth your time and is an easy read. You need to get data right now. How old is your dog? What is the life expectancy without treatment? With treatment? Looking at this gives you your added life expectancy with the treatments. Side effects are certainly important, but they do not happen in all dogs, and even though you have had a bad experience it may be that the next one is not bad. You should also consider the gentler supportive strategies in the Guide: diet, apocaps, artemisinin, immune stimulation, and so on. I hope this helps,
Dr D
I have a 10 yr old akita mix(she is eplieptic and on medication since she was under a year old) who has another “neurofibrosarcoma” on her right leg…she had one before in 2009..which I let get too big before I took her to the vet and she literally chewed the mass off her own leg (about the size of a hamburger)..needless to say the kitchen looked like a war zone that morning..emergency surgery was done to have the wound taken care of and the mass biopsied to find out what it was…she now has another one growing and according to my vet “it is about 4-5 cm over the lateral aspect and total length is close to 10 cm” he is saying that since this would be surgery #2 it would be hard to close the skin over and that the surgery would not be curative”…he has spoken to me of options of radiation,amputation and having her put down because of her age.Do you have any advice as to what can be done for this situatio?
Dear Deb,
We need to address diet, apoptogens, other supplements, and advances in conventional care. Have you read The Guide?? This is an easy read and is very useful for the topics I mentioned. Download the Dog Cancer Diet pdf at the top of this website at no charge. I use Apocaps for my patients. Consider Matrix 3 and Neoplasine. Please make sure health care steps are done under veterinarian supervision.
Best, Dr D
My 4 year old Malamute had cyberknife radiaion in February for a very rare form of bone cancer, with excellent results. In October, she developed a delayed reaction at the site and has a painful sore that is not healing well. The veterinary specialists have been wonderful and are checking her regularly, but I am concerned about her lack of significant progress in healing. Is there any type of additional nutritional support we could provide to help the healing process? We change the bandage 2 – 3 times a day and keep the leg wrapped at all times.
Dear Dr. Dressler,
Ben was diagnosed with osteosarcom on April 14th, amputation was discussed but lung mets were already visible. Due to my knowledge of the pain associated with osteosarcoma I have decided to take a 12 hour trip to my nearest oncologist center and have radiation therapy done. Ben is 7 and in good health otherwise, he has also started pamidronate infusions 1 week ago. The oncologist indicated that due to Ben’s age and health he would be a great candidate for radiation therapy and side effects would be minimal. The first treatment was 2 days ago and last night he had quite an episode, really heavy panting and restlessness all night, I gave him a dose of tramadol but It did not work so I doubled the dose. (Still within his range) I am wondering if this could be a side effect of radiation therapy or just a coincidence. I hate to see him suffer like that… Thanks
Dear Nichelle,
it is possible that it is from the treatment, but it is very hard to say without laying hands on the dog. I would definitely have the oncologist’s direct input on this one and recheck Ben directly. You are doing a very good job being your dog’s guardian, by the way 🙂
Best,
Dr D
Dr. Dressler,
Dr. Dressler,
I didn’t realize these comments/questions were going to you directly. Please read above email comment about radiation. I have read where the combination of chemo and 1/2 1/2 body radiation can increase Lymphoma remission up to 2 years or more. I can’t remember the book but I read it at the book store and it was Complete Guide to Canine Health (I think it was something like that). It was a huge technical book. I was looking up supplement information.
Bobby Bidwell
Our dog was diagnosed with Stage V a Lymphosarcoma 9/28/98 (Chemo started 9/29/09). She has completed chemo at MSU Vet School and went into remission within the first two weeks. We have a consultation in a week to discuss a recommended radiation program to prolong her remission. I believe it is a 1/2 body at a time treatment at a low dose level of radiation. It is not a long term radiation program. I don’t see this type of radiation program discussed in Dr. Dressler’s book. Have any of you been through this type of program and if so what were the side effects?
Thank you,
Bobby Bidwell
does anyone have the absolute on hemangiosarcoma? my dogs mast was on the left chest outside the ribcage. I am unclear before our next consult as to the malignancy having been derived from the vascular endothelial cells. I am guessing that something bad invaded the dogs body broke down the immune system and developed this mast (we just had removed). thanks for any input