Thanks so much for your comment! These are the questions we grapple with every day at dogcancer.com, for sure. It's why we always say: every dog and every cancer is unique, and no one should ever judge someone for their treatment choices. The amount of money, emotional bandwidth, time, and personal energy that goes into caring for a dog with cancer is tremendous, whether you use chemotherapy or just change the diet. And because we have "non-verbal patients" we can never be sure what the dog is thinking or feeling. That's why their human is the "X factor" in treatment. You know your dog best, and can judge best what is working/not working and what you and your dog can handle. As for how dogs react to chemo, the reason that veterinarians say they don't suffer the same is because they never give the cancer-killing doses that we think of in human medicine. A dog would never be able to consent to weeks of nausea, vomiting, losing hair, and all the other misery we know comes with maximum-tolerated doses. Instead, veterinary oncologists use more of a minimally-biological effective dose, which means it has an effect but doesn't cause side effects. This is why Dr. Dressler calls chemo "palliative" -- because in veterinary medicine, it's used to delay the cancer, not to kill it. Veterinary oncologists do strive to keep side effects down, and those who choose it for their dogs usually see them feeling better, not worse, on it. And side effects are watched like a hawk, and doses or strategies are changed if they show up. Are the dogs suffering inside even while they run around and seem to be OK? It's hard to say. But if a dog is vomiting or has other GI upset, that is considered a bad problem in veterinary oncology, and courses are changed. That all said, thank goodness there are so many other ways to help dogs with cancer, especially now! From dietary changes to supplements to comfort care to massage and acupuncture and all sorts of other used-to-be-alternative treatments ... and the right attitude ... most folks can help their dogs with a cancer diagnosis life a high quality life for as long as they physically are able to.

@@DogCancer thank you so much for answering and educating me on this subject. My Shih tzu was Squamous cell carcinoma in her mouth and has lost part of her upper jaw bone. The tumor is now palpable on her left cheek -and her eye is bulging a little bit. Could you give me some words of encouragement with regards of treating it with Trametinib pills at home? There’s a new clinical study being held by Dr Peralta in NYC with this medication and I’m not sure how many dogs they have accepted in the study yet. I have the medication at home and ready to start. I’m just very afraid of a bone marrow effect… Kind regards!

The advantage of being in a clinical study is that you're getting NEW treatments. The disadvantage is that they don't necessarily know what to expect! We don't have an article in this med, which is as you know just now starting to be used in dogs. But we do have this article on chemotherapy: www.dogcancer.com/articles/drugs/dog-chemotherapy/ and it covers bone marrow suppression as a possible side effect. The routine blood work that the study almost certainly covers will uncover any problems if they develop. Here's our article on mouth cancers, including scc, which might help you get context for how it's normally treated and what the general prognosis is. www.dogcancer.com/articles/types-of-dog-cancer/mouth-cancer-in-dogs/ As for whether you should go ahead with the medication or not, that's really only something you can decide. It sounds like you have a good team on board already, so we suggest you ask them some questions -- it sounds like you are most afraid of the bone marrow suppression, so a possible question could be: how will I know if bone marrow is suppressed, and how is that treated? (Our article tells you that, but it could help to hear it from your own vet.) Remember, no cancer is treated in a straightforward way. We try something, see if it works, change or tweak, and see how that works. Repeat, repeat, repeat. If your dog doesn't tolerate the meds, or if they don't seem to make a difference, you can always stop them. You are the one in charge, and giving one dose of chemo and stopping is perfectly acceptable!