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Hi there,
As a pet owner, I've heard that dreaded word from my vet: Cancer.
We won't know how far along it is until the tumor is removed and sent for biopsy which will be in a few days. But I'm anticipating having to do further treatment at this point.
I saw that NC state's vet school offers radiation treatment. Has anyone had experiences there? And also, if you can give me any idea at home much its going to cost I'd be appreciative. I'll starve before I let my dog go without care but I have no idea where the range is even at for radiation treatment. is it in the hundreds or thousands, ya know?
Can't help you with most of your concerns but I did want to express my sympathies about your dog and I know the stress and worries you are facing. Hope it all has a great outcome for you both.
If you post to the Dog Forum, you definitely will get some encouraging words and perhaps hear from somebody who has used the N.C. Vet School. They enjoy a great reputation and I feel lucky to be so close to them and even luckier I haven't had to use them yet.
We lost an English Mastiff to Lymphoma a little over 2 years ago. He was diagnosed in December of '08 and we were referred to the NCSU vet school for treatment. At the time, he had just turned 7 years old and were told that with proper treatment, he could live 1.5-2 more years (or more) with a good quality of life. Giant breed dogs usually don't live much beyond 10 years, so we felt we owed it to him to at least try. We were quoted around $6-8k for the full treatment, which would span several months. We got about 3 or so weeks into it and he had a severe reaction to the chemotherapy drug Vincristine. His body was too weak to recover and we lost him shortly after that, it was really sad. Unfortunately, the emergency vet care, in addition to chemotherapy treatments left us with about a $6k bill.
I know that it wasn't their fault that he had a reaction to the Vincristine drug, but I guess I was a little soured through the whole experience as they kept telling us that the type of cancer he had was the most common and most treatable of canine lymphoma. They told us there was a risk of complications, of course, but it still didn't make things any easier to accept. It would be nice if they could offer some type of guarantee or maybe a partial refund if the treatment was unsuccessful.
After all this, though, I would have to say that the NCSU vet school is probably the best place you can take your dog for treatment. You didn't mention the type of cancer, but the type of treatment my Mastiff had is probably similar to what yours will need. So, you probably are looking anywhere from $5-10k.
My mother's cat just had a low grade soft tissue sarcoma removed from near her salivary glands. They've recommend her for treatment at NCSU and estimated it would be about $5,000-6,000 for a month of treatments.
The cat is 12, so she's wrestling with what to do. She can do nothing and the cancer is likely to recur, but since it's low grade there's little risk of spreading. The surgeon (her local specialist, not here at NCSU) said this particular cancer is rare in cats in this form, so they're not terribly experienced in treating it. They said radiation was the best course to follow, but that's a LOT of money for her.
There were other options for chemo which cut the price in half, but the chemo could have lasted years, from what I understood.
My dog had issues that our vet (we have since changed to a different vet) couldn't diagnose. Vet recommended NCSU vet school.
When we walked in the door, the first vet told us that based on dog's symptoms, the tests necessary would run about $4,000. I was shocked. I told vet that we'd be willing for them to do $1500 in tests and we'd go from there. They actually have you sign a form that specifies this. Had I not read the form, I may have missed the $4,000!
While I was speaking with that vet, an elderly lady was speaking with another vet and crying. Her dog (looked like it was about 20 years old) and had LOTS of issues. She told the vet that she didn't care how much it cost, she wanted more tests run. I felt really bad for her. The vet was giving her a list of tests they could run and the cost associated with each. However, the vet was telling her, it would not prolong the life of her pet.
After they ran the $1500 worth of tests, they gave us a diagnosis. They then wanted another $2,000 to do further tests to find out WHY this had happened (she had some nerve damage, much like a stroke in a person). Since the "why" wasn't going to help her, I asked why they needed to do this. I was told that since this is a teaching hospital, they like to run these tests to learn. I have no problem with them learning but not for my $2,000. I told them they could run their tests for "learning" but I was NOT going to spend the $2,000 for them to learn.
Don't misunderstand. I really like the Vet School. I just think they are very expensive and although our pets are loved, sometimes you have to draw the line. Our dog is 12 years old.
My mother's cat just had a low grade soft tissue sarcoma removed from near her salivary glands. They've recommend her for treatment at NCSU and estimated it would be about $5,000-6,000 for a month of treatments.
The cat is 12, so she's wrestling with what to do. She can do nothing and the cancer is likely to recur, but since it's low grade there's little risk of spreading. The surgeon (her local specialist, not here at NCSU) said this particular cancer is rare in cats in this form, so they're not terribly experienced in treating it. They said radiation was the best course to follow, but that's a LOT of money for her.
There were other options for chemo which cut the price in half, but the chemo could have lasted years, from what I understood.
We used our vet for a 10 year old cat. great, caring doctor.
Looked good but she couldn't survive the chemo.
Will NEVER treat cancer again. Say goodbye without putting the cat through torture for only a small life extension.
meandmygsp: Sorry to hear about your dog. We lost our dog to hemangiosarcoma last year. We did not do the chemo route for her, mainly because it didn't make sense with this type of cancer. I have, however, taken my cat to the NCSU vet school. It's really, really expensive there and as Vicki said, they tend to run a lot of tests for "teaching." The only reason I am going there is because my vet said their cardiology dept. was the best and that she couldn't do what they could do there.
For cancer, I'd really recommend going to Southpoint Animal Hospital in Durham if you can. We've had friends use Dr. Lapham for their dog's cancer and they have been really, really happy. Their dog is back to normal (despite being an amputee) and is doing wonderfully.
I think they are a great bunch of people at the NC State Vet School and my dog really loved being dropped off there once a week for her treatments, but unfortunately the Cancer came back within a month. We tried another drug and it came back a month later. She wound up living only 3 months after the first day we noticed her Lymphoma.
It was bad for our dog (Border Collie) as the cancer started in her tongue and mouth. We noticed it right away, but Lymphoma is such a rapid growing cancer that she would have been dead within weeks if we didn't do anything.
The staff was great and like I said our dog fell in love with them, but for the $3k we spent I probably would not do it again. The odds of a dog living for an extra 1-2 years are not good. The treatment they gave her got rid of her cancer literally overnight and was simply amazing, but when the cancer comes back so soon, reality really hits you.
It was on of the toughest decisions I've had to make, but I don't think I would do it again, simply because most dogs don't live much longer, even if their quality of life greatly improves for the last couple/few months.
Not really pertinent to the OP, but I was talking about the $5-6,000 for radiation treatment with a respected friend of mine at work and I thought he offered a great perspective on the idea, given the age of my mom's cat.
He said for $5,000, there are tons of cats and dogs in perfectly good health who desperately need loving homes. $5K is a lot of pet food.
Despite feeling like my pets are my children, I couldn't argue with him.
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