Dr. Lori Cesario: Canine cancer - early detection, body mapping & treatment
Episode description
About Dr. Lori Cesario: Dr. Lori Cesario is a Board-Certified Veterinary Oncologist who is dedicated to providing families with high quality information about dog cancer. Dr. Cesario runs the Canine Cancer Academy (https://www.caninecanceracademy.com/)
Laura and Dr. Cesario talk about what to do if you find a lump on your dog (and how frequently you should evaluate your dog to make sure everything is normal). By establishing a baseline, you’ll be able to more easily notice when something abnormal appears.
The best way to make sure you are monitoring and recording your dog’s lumps and bumps is to use a body map of your dog. Dr. Cesario explains what a body map is, and how using one is helpful for both you and your vet.
Laura asks about warts (which appear outside the skin as opposed to cancerous masses) - Dr. Cesario explains that the most important thing for your dog is to get a diagnosis for any sort of lump, whether it looks like a skin tag, a bug bite, or a wart. Fortunately, diagnosing a lump on your dog’s skin is often pretty quick.
After taking the first step of getting a diagnosis, you can then take the next steps, whether it’s treating the mass or continuing to monitor it.
Laura and Dr. Cesario discuss how treating skin tumors can work (and how an incomplete surgery can leave dangerous, cancerous cells behind). When you treat your dog for cancer, it has to be a comprehensive treatment so that the cancer doesn’t re-emerge. That’s why getting the diagnosis right in the first place is so critical to your dog’s health.
They talk about treatment options, including Dr. Cesario’s thoughts on holistic treatment. Treatment can vary for each dog’s situation, so treatment options really depend on the dog. Treating cancer often comes down to balancing health with quality of life for the dog.
Dr. Cesario gives some general cost estimates for treating canine cancer, listing cost based on the type treatment. She also goes over how much the treatment options can extend your dogs life (and how variable and unpredictable that time estimate can be).