November is Pet Cancer Awareness Month. Each year, millions of dogs and cats are diagnosed with cancer. Cancer is the leading cause of death in pets beyond middle age. Knowing what to look for can help with early detection, and as with people, make a difference. Following are the top 10 warning signs of cancer […]
With technology borrowed from human medicine, the radiation oncology team at the Flint Animal Cancer Center recently treated its first pet patient using superficial radiation therapy. The new radiation machine, originally acquired through a collaboration with the James L. Voss Teaching Hospital’s ophthalmology service to treat squamous cell carcinomas on the eyelids of horses, is […]
On New Year’s Day 2017 we loaded our three dogs into the car to go for a walk in Garden of the Gods, near where we live in Colorado Springs. Later that evening our golden retriever began to limp and favor his right hind leg. I suspected he may have injured it getting out of […]
It got too hard. We were supposed to travel to Maine on August 21 for a week with the family on Damariscotta Lake but the days without eating started getting longer and the good days were dwindling in numbers, so we cancelled our trip and headed to the mountains. Otis had a great week up […]
I’d like to think my career as an oncology technician at the Flint Animal Cancer Center has prepared me for my own dogs’ cancer stories. I’d love to believe that I’ve been able to think through the entire process in a rational and cerebral manner, never waffling through decision-making, only entertaining realistic thoughts, and certainly […]
One of the most common cancers in dogs is osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Typical treatment includes amputation, but for some patients, amputation is not an option due to neurologic or orthopedic issues, such as arthritis. The limb-spare technique developed by Flint Animal Cancer Center’s founding director Dr. Steve Withrow provided a solution for those patients (and human […]