Canine Cancer Symptoms
Early intervention is necessary when one notices any cancer symptoms; dog cancer can have a better prognosis when this is done. A dog with cancer will have a loss of appetite, weight loss, abnormal swellings that do not go away or continue to grow, sores that continuously ooze and do not heal, and a hard time with normal body functions. With oral cancer, dog breath can seem unbearable. When dealing with bone cancer, dog mobility will be impaired, causing a dog to limp or have a limited range of motion. In addition to bad breath, a dog with cancer can have bad smells coming from his coat, skin or sores.
Hyperthermia Treatment
Hyperthermia is when tumor or cancer cells are heated to above 42˚C, causing most of the neoplastic cells to die. Scientists are not sure why or how hyperthermia works, but have seen that heat has the special ability to limit a cancer cell's strength and ability to thrive, causes the cells to shrink and shock the proteins, has an adverse reaction to the pH of the surrounding tissues, or causes the cells to not be able to handle and repair damage done from the heat and die.
However, hyperthermia, radiation or chemotherapy alone will not kill-off all the malignant cells within a dog so radiation or chemotherapy will follow the hyperthermia treatment so the remaining cancer cells can be eliminated. Veterinary doctors have found that dogs that received hyperthermia and radiation or chemotherapy treatments have higher rates of remission and survive longer.
A veterinary oncologist that specializes in treating a canine cancer with hyperthermia acquires the heat needed with the use of microwave radiation, ultrasound waves, radio frequencies and infrared radiation. A downfall of hyperthermia therapy is that the heat administered kills both healthy and malignant cells. Hyperthermia does involve toxicity that a dog will be significantly exposed to as well.
No person wants to hear his dog has been diagnosed with cancer. This news is devastating, but the prognosis can be good for dogs with cancer as they respond well to many therapies. One's veterinarian will be able to refer a dog an oncologist that specializes in hyperthermia if it has been decided that this is the most appropriate form of cancer treatment for the family pet.