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Your pet has cancer, and questions whirl around your brain. How dangerous is it? Are treatments available? How long will they take? How costly will they be? Your first visit to the vetarinary oncologist at CARE will give you an idea of how to cope with the disease.
Though CARE doctors can diagnose cancer, they generally see patients whose primary care veterinarians have already made that call. That means they’re ready to give you some answers the day you walk through the door.
Preparing for Your Oncology Visit
At the first visit to the veterinary oncologist, CARE asks owners to compile a list of their pet’s non-cancer medications. This list allows doctors to assess how cancer drugs might interact with other treatments. An owner may want to give a dog or cat gabapentin or another anti-anxiety medication beforehand to reduce stress during the visit, because those won’t throw off measurements an oncologist might make (CARE does not treat cancers in exotic pets, though doctors once administered medication in the parking lot to a horse with lymphoma.).
Behind the scenes, veterinary technicians look over the history sent in by a primary care vet. They make sure there’s recent bloodwork, a cytology (the microscopic examination of cells collected from one part of the body) or a histopathology (examining abnormalities of a mass removed during a prior surgery). They confirm that imaging, such as X-rays or soft-tissue ultrasounds, are current to the last month or so.
When You Arrive at CARE
At the beginning of your first visit to the veterinary oncologist, the vet tech will take you to a private room. They will get the history of your pet and talk with you about symptoms you’ve observed. The technician will take your pet to check vital signs, and the oncologist will perform an exam. The typical visit takes about an hour.
If the animal hasn’t had a recent ultrasound, CARE can do one. The same is true for blood work. The clinic may also take chest X-rays from multiple views to check the spread of the disease through the body. This all involves dropping the pet off for a couple of hours and coming back to pick it up.
On the rare occasions when there is not yet a diagnosis of the type of cancer, CARE can conduct tests to determine that. Those may not provide same-day answers, because they may have to be sent to a research team (such as the lab at N.C. State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine).
Getting Answers on the First Visit to the Veterinary Oncologist
The oncologist will lay out treatment and prognosis options and explain how the pet may need attention from other departments at the clinic, such as an echocardiogram to assess the heart. Vet techs then explain treatment costs and outline protocols, including frequency and duration of the chemotherapy regimen.
Prices vary widely, depending on the nature and severity of the cancer. CARE works with owners to provide affordable treatments; for example, someone who can’t pay for a long series of chemotherapy treatments may be offered steroids to reduce inflammation (CARE does not handle radiation treatments but can refer patients to clinics that do.).
CARE doesn’t generally keep pets, unless they’re very sick; frequently, those animals have already been admitted and transferred to the oncologist from CARE’s emergency room or intensive care unit.
Most of the time, owners can go home after the first visit with full knowledge of the nature of their pet’s cancer, the treatment options that should work best and the cost of the process. You may go in with a head full of questions, but you’ll come out with a handful of answers.
Charlotte Animal Referral and Emergency (CARE) functions as the pet version of a medical center for humans. It’s open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And it offers a wide range of treatment, from emergency room care to board-certified specialty work after a referral from a primary care veterinarian. You can check out the practice at carecharlotte.com/tour.
