A cancer diagnosis in your pet can be overwhelming and terrifying. It can often be difficult to determine the right path of treatment for your dog and your family as a whole. Not only is every individual dog different, but every family is different as well. A Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) takes commitment and resilience, not only from the dog themselves, but from the entire family. It is important to know where to find trusted resources to make an informed decision about whether BMT is right for your dog and your family.
Consult Your Oncologist
After the shock of a lymphoma or leukemia diagnosis, it’s important to have a Medical Oncologist in your corner to help navigate a treatment plan going forward. If a BMT is something you may be interested in, let your oncologist know so that we can work as a cohesive team.
Dr. Gareau and Dr. Suter are always happy to discuss specific cases with referring oncologists to ensure that your dog’s care team is on the same page.
Schedule a Consult with a CTAC Oncologist
After submitting an online submission form, you’ll be contacted for an initial conversation about your dog’s specific case. Following this conversation, we’ll schedule a one-hour consultation. Our aim with the consultation is to make you feel as comfortable and confident in your decision as possible. Anything can be discussed during these consultations, from potential side effects of the procedure to the differences between allogeneic and autologous transplants.
Our most important responsibility is to ensure you have all the information you need to make a decision about what is best for both your dog and family.
Remission Status
The most important factor determining the success of a BMT is remission status. A dog is more likely to benefit from a BMT if they are in their first clinical remission. This is when the disease burden is undetectable, making it more likely for BMT to eliminate the residual cancer cells. Although it’s not impossible to attempt BMT with a dog who is not in clinical remission, or has relapsed from a previous chemotherapy protocol, published cure rates tend to be lower in these cases. CTAC works closely with your local oncology team while a clinical remission is pursued to determine when might be the best time for your dog to undergo a BMT.
Feasibility of Travel
As a specialized treatment, it is required that dogs undergoing BMT travel to CTAC in Chattanooga, TN. This includes the matched donor dog, if an allogeneic BMT is pursued. The apheresis procedure associated with BMT requires a specialized machine and the expertise of the CTAC team to ensure a successful collection. We understand traveling to Chattanooga may be difficult depending on where you live and may not be feasible for every family.
Temperament of Your Pet
Although fighting cancer and achieving a positive outcome is our primary goal at CTAC, we always take into consideration the temperament of the dog when we determine treatment candidacy. We take all possible measures to ensure your dog’s comfort with us, and often we form tight bonds with them. Since most dogs stay with us for ~3 - 4 weeks, there’s plenty of time for them to acclimate to the hospital and our caring staff. However, it’s important to remember that we are a veterinary hospital, and we perform exams, venipuncture, and intensive monitoring throughout their stay with us. Some dogs can be quite fearful or resistant to handling at the vet’s office, and this should be taken into consideration when deciding if this procedure is right for your dog.
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