Winston Jenkins

Animal Chemotherapy: Important Treatment for Veterinary Cancer

Animal chemotherapy involves the use of certain individual drugs or a combination of drugs to control tumor growth. It is the most frequently used treatment for veterinary cancer. Currently, all the drugs given to animals for treatment of any type of cancer are human anti cancer drugs. And the best thing is that many of the negative consequences of the usage of anti cancer drugs in humans are not witnessed in animals. The necessary medicines for chemotherapy treatment in cases of cancer in animals can be easily purchased through the various online veterinary medicine distributors.

Animal Chemotherapy versus Human Chemotherapy

Although there are quite a few similarities between human and veterinary cancer treatments, some important differences are also there. Cancer is a leading cause of death in cats and dogs, and its causes are as yet unknown. Cancer refers to persistent, excessive and disorganized cell growth that is uncontrollable by normal control mechanisms.

Most of the current available cancer treatments for animals result in good remission time (the time in which the tumor is under control). Surgical removal of tumors is very common and generally used in the case of solid tissue tumors, soft tissue and bone tumors. Radiotherapy or use of radioactive agents to kill malignant cells in a localized area is another technique that is widely used to treat cancers in animals. However, animal chemotherapy is one of the most important methods used in veterinary cancer treatment. The basic aim of animal chemotherapy is to preserve good quality of life for the affected animal, eliminate pain and provide as long a remission time as is possible.

One basic difference between the chemotherapy treatment for humans and animals is that the dosages of chemotherapy agents used in animals are much smaller than that for humans. The general quality of life for patients receiving animal chemotherapy is much better and quite near normal as compared to humans who have to be hospitalized for long. Hair loss, which is one of the most common side effects of chemotherapy in humans, is absent in the case of animals like dogs and cats.

Animal Chemotherapy: Drug Dosages

Animal chemotherapy has been found to be very effective in killing tumor cells. The goal of this therapy is to kill the maximum malignant cells, while leaving adequate normal cells to recover normal functioning of the body. The dosage of the various chemotherapy agents is decided keeping in view the tolerance level of the patient animal.

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