About Cancer

Dr. Nancy Gustafson, DVM, MS, DACVR of Regional Veterinary Referral Center

Cancer has been reported to be the cause of death in 23 to 45% of our pets. Other reports have noted 47% of dogs and 32% of cats. If it seems that more pets are getting cancer today, it’s true. There are many contributing factors, but is largely due to the fact that pets are living longer. This longer life span may be due to better nutrition, better preventative, diagnostic and therapeutic medicine and largely due to a deeper human-animal bond.

The human-animal bond has elevated the importance of pets beyond the status of “property”, quite often equaling the importance of some human-human contacts. Evidence of this is the emergence of established training facilities for guide dogs, pets being used in rescue and policing situations and the existence of pet insurance. This human-animal bond is the foundation for the desire to fight cancer.

One of the major differences between veterinary medicine and human medicine is cost. The cost of human medicine is often unappreciated because of the widespread use of medical insurance. For instance, reconstructive knee surgery can easily exceed $15,000.00. We don’t realize this because our co-pay may be only a few hundred dollars. It is surprising to a pet owner, however, to be given an estimate of $2,000.00 for an equivalent surgery in their dog. Additionally, as we expand and improve our medical capabilities, such as the incorporation of MRI and radiation therapy, the bill to the owner increases.

The treatment of cancer in veterinary medicine can be challenging as in human medicine. A variety of cancers can be cured while others remain maddening. Some cancers progress so rapidly that death occurs in days to weeks. The “maddening” ones are not those that progress quickly, but rather those cancers that can be controlled for a year and those that can be cured, but at a high dollar amount. In most cases, with available resources, any pet owner can have the chance to spend more time with their best friend, whether that time is months or years.