Understanding your dog’s current condition is critical to get ahead of fast moving cancers in order to determine whether you need to pivot treatments, foods or medicines. You must get ahead of the cancer because cancer, if I recall correctly, is the fastest multiplying cell in existence. But remember, the frequency of testing should not be so excessive as to over-stress your dog.
"Obtaining sufficient information about your dog's condition to expeditiously guide your next move (ie. frequency of testing and the type of testing) must be balanced against the limits of what your dog can mentally/emotionally take."What is the right amount of testing? The appropriate frequency and type of testing provides you sufficient information about whether pivoting your approach is necessary or if you ought to continue on the current path of treatments and foods. Because Mochi initially received weekly chemo treatments for two weeks (2 total chemo treatments, 1 chemo per week), testing was required minutes prior to receiving chemotherapy. I admitted him to the hospital, they perform a complete blood count test which if I recall correctly only requires 2 CCs of blood which is not too strenuous for our beloved dogs (please don’t quote me on the amount of blood; the point is, CBC tests do not require a lot of blood especially compared to full panel blood tests).
Mochi had weekly CBC tests performed for approximately 2 months with monthly testing for his ALT levels (a critical liver value since it was believed the cancer started at his liver), and then monthly full-panel blood tests thereafter, ceasing weekly CBC tests after 2 months. This timeline made sense to me because his cancer was not only rare but also aggressive which means I must understand his current condition on a weekly basis (especially with a prognosis of only 4 weeks), so that I know how whether specific changes to his treatments/food/medicines were necessary, and also what the extent or intensity level of these modifications were.
You will have to be aware and sensitive of how often and what type of testing is necessary for your dog’s specific condition. For any type of cancer particularly blood cancers, I cannot see how weekly CBC testing isn’t appropriate but again, I am not a veterinarian or in any related field (please use your own discretion and consult with a veterinarian).
What was I looking for in the blood test results?
Because Mochi had 3 major conditions, namely anemia, liver damage, and cancer, I
was looking at the below values and comparing them to the previous test results:
- Hematocrit values (RBC group) for his anemia, checked weekly
- Reticulocytes values (RBC group) for his anemia, checked weekly
- ALT levels for his liver, checked monthly
- Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, and Monocytes (white blood cells) for cancer, checked weekly
Blood test result documents will be uploaded soon.
By doing the comparison against the previous tests and identifying what methods/medicines or foods were introduced during the period of time in-between tests, I was able to understand what was working and what wasn’t. This guided my next steps. What did work, I continued using it. What did not work, I knew I would have to do further investigation and ask doctors more questions about an alternative solution.
What did each of the above blood values tell me? Coming soon…
