Once a diagnosis of cancer has been established, the decision of whether to treat it must be made in consultation with the owners, based on the prognosis and the how comfortable the animal's life will be. The goal is to provide as much healing as possible and to be palliative if the desire is simply to prolong the animal's life in good conditions.
There are several means to treat cancer in dogs: surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. The choice of treatment depends on the histological nature of the tumor and where it is located (for example, radiation is recommended for inoperable brain tumors and chemotherapy is recommended for systematic cancer such as lymphosarcoma).
Chemotherapy entails administering substances that alter cell growth and functions and therefore, directly attack the tumor. However, these substances will also have side effects on replicating cells in the body (such as bone marrow, which produces red corpuscles for example. The resulting side effect is anemia).
Radiation relies on the physical effects of radiation on matter. These physical effects cause biological effects, which kill the cells. The goal of radiation is twofold: to kill cancerous cells and to protect surrounding healthy cells.
The different treatments may be combined for increased effectiveness.
Contrary to common thought, chemotherapy will not cause the dog to lose all its hair and will not systematically make him sick. In fact, dogs tolerate chemotherapy better than humans.
Veterinarian medicine is not ill-equipped to deal with cancer in dogs, especially since the fields of human and veterinarian medicine are working together in specialized centers to develop new treatments in the fight against cancer.
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