Things to Consider • Create a list of goals for your pet’s care, whether it is increased mobility or pain management. Review the list with your vet to make sure goals are feasible and to keep your pet on track to reaching those goals. • If surgery is an option, consider the possibility of complications: infections, internal bleeding and the percentage of reoccurrence of the disease. Procedures related to cancer treatment — biopsies, tumor debulking, or removal of damaged tissue due to radiation therapy — may cause additional, unnecessary pain. • HHHHHMM Scale: Stands for Hurt, Hunger, Hydration, Hygiene, Happiness, Mobility, More Good Days than Bad Days. Each element is allotted 0-10 points. Ideal score above 35 for quality of life. Learn more at veterinarypracticenews.com.
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Coping with Terminal Diseases Managing Pain, Reducing Anxiety Are Key By Tiffany Jane Brand
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or pets with cancer or other potentially terminal health problems, pain management and palliative care often become the main issues. Creating a cancer treatment plan for a pet requires in-depth consultation with veterinary professionals. Fortunately, there are veterinarians in Columbia who can assist owners with their needs. When considering treatment for cancer, such as radiation therapy and chemotherapy, keep the pet’s long-term health goals and quality of life in mind. “Our main goals of treating cancer in dogs and cats are to improve their prognosis but more importantly to maintain a good quality of life,” says Becky Brown, an oncology specialist at South Carolina Veterinary Associates.
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If you are considering surgery, chemotherapy or any cancer-specific treatments, keep both the pet’s emotional and physical health in mind and choose a path that minimizes your pet’s pain and anxiety. Drug-assisted pain management can help your pet cope, but it should be undertaken carefully and with strict monitoring by a veterinarian. “We strongly advise against owners using any of their [human] medications in
their pets,” Brown says. “Medications are dosed differently in dogs and cats, and are often metabolized differently by the body. Using human medications in pets without guidance from a veterinarian can lead to overdoses or severe toxicities.” Brown says doctors at the practice will work with owners to find the correct dosage for medication that is a veterinary equivalent to pain relievers used by humans. If a pet is showing adverse symptoms to medication, call your veterinarian in order to have medication dosage corrected
assess, so it is important for pet owners to communicate with veterinary staff and not self-diagnose animals. If you are considering integrating natural or holistic treatments into your pet’s cancer management plan, make sure to consult your veterinarian in order to make sure that the treatments will not cause negative reactions in your pet. Due to a lack of professional literature on the benefits of holistic treatments in pets with cancer, Brown is reluctant to recommend an allholistic approach, but she says that some such treatments, such as milk thistle for liver disease, may alleviate symptoms. “The one natural approach we strongly advise against is a raw food diet,” Brown says. “Pets receiving cancer care can become immunosuppressed, thus we like to limit their exposure to raw food, which can be contaminated with bacteria and be
“Our main goals of treating cancer in dogs and cats are to improve their prognosis but more importantly to maintain a good quality of life.” — Becky Brown, an oncology specialist at South Carolina Veterinary Associates or an alternate medication prescribed. For successful pain management, a good vet will decide on the drugs used to treat a pet based on that pet’s medical history, pain intensity and usefulness of disease-specific drugs. “If at any time we think that any treatment may lead to nausea or other side effects, we do our best to warn the owners and sometimes even start medications to prevent [those symptoms],” Brown says. Physical and behavioral changes — enlarged pupils, slowed reflexes, reduced appetite — are symptoms that may signal that your pet is experiencing complications due to its illness. Symptoms are often difficult to
dangerous in animals with immune systems not able to handle this exposure.” There are many local animal clinics, but it’s important to choose one that will meet your needs. Location, hours and services offered are important considerations, and you can learn a lot by asking family, friends and neighbors about their own experiences with different clinics. If full accreditation is important to you, check with the American Animal Hospital Association at healthypet. com; only about 17 percent of small animal veterinary hospitals in the U.S. are accredited AAHA members. Let us know what you think: Email editor@free-times.com.
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