Cancer, vacines, etc.....

[Cami]

My girl had a mass cell removed recently. It was a grade 1 with clean margins. I presently have titers run on her and she has only had her puppy shots, (soon to be 3 years old). My vet told me about titers being available for rabies that we are going to have run when the time comes.
He wasn't sure if the health dept in the county we live would accept a titers test however. Now with the cancer diagnosis I know for sure that I don't want to put any chemicals into her. I am also concerned about heartworm and give Heartguard. Since we live in an area where heartworm is prevalent in unprotected dogs I feel the lesser of two evils would be to continue giving her the Heartguard. We also use Frontline for flea and tick prevention twice per year which is far less than the manufacturer suggests.
Has anyone had titers for rabies before? If your dog were to get cancer or has had cancer what things have you avoided or would chose to avoid after diagnosis?

 

[sweetboxer]

My baby Cadence had a soft tissue sarcoma and I was not allowed to give her either her Heartguard or her Frontline while she was on treatment. She started chemo in April and lost her battle in May, so we hadn't really gotten too far into heartworm and flea season yet, so I guess it didn't really matter. She also wasn't allowed any steroids and I had to notify the oncologist if her regular vet put her on anything other than what the oncologist gave us. I would check with your oncologist and see what they recommend. They might know a holistic heartworm and flea treatment.
Sending many (((((((((((healing vibes))))))))))))) to you and your baby from Colby, Skye, and my angel Cadence.

 

[crazychopper]

if hw is prevelent in your area and you don't give heartworm preventative, your asking for trouble. Are you doing chemo? If you are then your babies Immune system is going to to be compromised if they get infected with heartworm treatment will be 1000 times hard for them. It wouldn't make sense to go through all that chemo to save your baby and then them die of hw.

 

[SuzanneC]

If my dog had a grade 1 mast cell tumor with clean margins, I would continue to vaccinate and give heartworm preventative like she had not had the tumor at all. In fact, my Cookie had a grade 2 MCT, neurofibrosarcoma, and another peripheral nerve sheath tumor, and she gets vaccinated as usual, as well as receiving monthly Heartgard and Frontline.

 

[Cami]

I am also concerned about heartworm and give Heartguard. Since we live in an area where heartworm is prevalent in unprotected dogs I feel the lesser of two evils would be to continue giving her the Heartguard.

Sorry if my post was confusing. I do give and want to continue to give heatworm preventative. My concerns were more along the lines of topical and injected chemicals....anything directly coming into contact with her skin. Chemo is not required (per our vet) for a removed MCT grade 1 with clean margins. Due to our location a flea and tick preventative is not needed year round and we have gotten by with only giving it twice per year (late spring-early fall). I know a lot of people don't give any flea/tick preventatives and use other more natural methods.

 

[sweetboxer]

You could probably do a search on holistic flea preventions. I'm sure there are some listed out there. I'm happy for you that your baby doesn't need chemo. That was one thing I had been worried about when Cadence originally started chemo b/c I didn't want her to be without her flea and heartworm treatments. Unfortunately, we never even got far enough for that to become a problem. She had a type of very advanced cancer that meant chemo was our only option to get it under control. We weren't allowed any type of topical anything. But I'm glad that you guys are in the clear in regards to that.
Good luck. I hope you find what you're looking for.