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Lookup NU author(s): Fernando Ribeiro da Mata
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Canine appendicular cancer has been reported as an increasingly important disease and osteosarcoma accounts for approximately 85% of canine bone tumours. The treatment of choice for these conditions has been described as surgical excision for limb amputation. These amputations are normally followed by chemotherapy with drugs, such as carboplatin and doxorubicin. However, these drugs have side effects like neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, anorexia and cardiomyopathy. Around 60% of the dogs diagnosed with osteosarcoma die in the first year after diagnosis with other 10 to 20% dying in the second year. In the attempt to save their loved pet from these side effects, owners impelled by compassion, evaluate alternative holistic methods of treatment. Holistic treatments include chiropractic treatments, homeopathy, herbal therapy, acupuncture, special diet and massage. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge of welfare of limb amputee dogs, namely by relating survivability with treatment methods, and therefore allowing owners and practitioners to do an informed evaluation of their options. Data was surveyed in 2010 from N=64 owners of cancer limb amputee dogs, in the blog Tripawds.com. Owners from all over the world but mainly USA answered. A Kaplan-Meier survival analysis procedure was performed, where the dependent variable "survival time after amputation" was considered and dogs still alive were censored. The independent variable considered was the treatment method (holistic treatment vs. chemotherapy). The IBM SPSS® Statistics 21 was the statistical package used in the analysis. A survival model was successfully fit after the Log Rank (Mantel-Cox) test (X2(1) = 0.5126, p<0.05), showing a survival advantage of chemotherapy (median 16.0±5.5 month) over holistic treatment (median 4.5±4.2 month).When tested against controls without treatment, chemotherapy, in single or two agent protocols, has shown to double the survivability in dogs after surgical removal of limb due to osteosarcoma. Carboplatin was the drug of choice in the sample used in this study, in single protocol or together with doxorubicin in double agent protocols. The results of the study reveal that chemotherapy with these drugs is advantageous for the survivability of the dog as compared to the holistic treatment. It is up to the owner now to weight this advantage with the disadvantage of the chemotherapeutic side effects and decide the best option for his loved pet.
Author(s): Mata F, Bhuller R
Publication type: Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstract)
Publication status: Published
Conference Name: Universities Federation for Animal Welfare Conference: Recent advances in animal welfare science IV
Year of Conference: 2014
Pages: 58-58
Publisher: UFAW
URL: http://www.ufaw.org.uk/York%202014%20Programme%20booklet.pdf
