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We strive to ensure that our cancer treatment is kind,
gentle, and with very few side effects. During all phases of treatment, our focus is on improving your pet's quality of life. Newer chemotherapy protocols are multi-agent. Using these protocols allows our patients to maintain a higher quality of life and experience less drug resistance. We will work with you to design protocols that are effective against your pet's cancer, but that work with your lifestyle.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy is the use of drugs or chemical agents to kill cancer. This treatment works by attacking rapidly growing cancerous cells in the body. Each individual chemotherapy drug works through different mechanisms and has different side effects.
Cryosurgery
Cryosurgery (also know as cryotherapy) is the use of extreme cold produced by liquid nitrogen to destroy abnormal tissue. The cold temperature freezes tissue and causes cellular death.
Radiation
Radiation therapy is used for long-term control and and/or cure of some tumor types. It can be used alone or in combination with surgery, and local or systemic chemotherapy. The combination of surgery and radiation therapy is one of the most effective cancer treatment options available to veterinarians. VCC is proud to offer state-of-the-art radiation therapy to our patients at a human facility. Our partnership with Colorado State University Radiation Therapy Services and The Cancer Institute of New Mexico make this possible.
Canine Melanoma Vaccine
Veterinary Cancer Care is proud to have the Canine Melanoma Vaccine for all stages of K9 melanoma that have local tumor control. Because this vaccine has been granted conditional licensure, it will only be distributed to board certified veterinary oncologists. The treatment involves one injection every other week for the first four injections. Then boosters at 6 months intervals for life. Canine Melanoma Vaccine is produced with a human gene of tyrosinase inserted into a small ring of DNA. When used in conjunction with surgery and/or radiation therapy to treat the local tumor cells, this type of vaccine has been shown to extend the survival time for dogs with advanced stages of melanoma from 5 months to 389 days.
Clinical Trials Treatment
Intralesional (Local) chemotherapy
Intralesional chemotherapy is also referred to as intratumoral or local chemotherapy and is the administration of cancer fighting drugs directly into the tumor, tumor site, or adjacent tissues. The goal of intralesional chemotherapy is to improve local tumor control by achieving high local chemotherapeutic drug concentrations while maintaining low plasma concentrations thus decreasing systemic side effects.
Feline Injection site sarcoma
Veterinary Cancer Care wants to help cats with injection site sarcoma. Local chemotherapy has shown promising results, but more patients need to be treated to understand its potential. The trial is non-funded but we offer a 25% discount on all services provided. Please call our office if you are interested.
Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors
Veterinary Cancer Care offers three different tyrosine kinase inhibitors: Gleevec, Kinavet (now pending FDA approval), and Palladia. Palladia is the first FDA approved drug for treating canine cancer. We use these medications to treat mast cell tumors in dogs, but preclinical research shows that they may be effective in treating other cancer types as well.
