Monster shrunk!

The Secretary read about Connie's plea for help at Dog-tracker.com, an online forum for dog lovers (where she met the Animal Doctor). Connie, a school teacher from Valenzuela City, didn't know what to do with her dog, Buba. Poor Buba was captured by Animal Control when she escaped from her house one day. Connie pleaded at the Animal Control people to release her dog, but they took Buba to the Pound anyway.

Connie bailed Buba out but when Buba returned home, something- a monster maybe, thought Moymoy- started to grow in her rear. For six months, it kept growing and growing like it had a life of its own. Connie sent a picture of the "monster, maybe" and it sure looked scary! Buba would bleed all over their house and antibiotic treatment did not help her. There were only two veterinary clinics in their place, and none of them were interested in Buba's case. Someone even suggested at Connie to just surrender her dog at the Pound where Buba could be put to sleep forever.

The Secretary immediately told the Animal Doctor about Buba, and after working her ingenious ploy to persuade the Animal Doctor, the Secretary replied to Connie's post at Dog-tracker. The Animal Doctor had agreed to offer his professional service and the clinic's facilities for free, but Buba must come over to our clinic so the Animal Doctor could personally examine the "monster, maybe" growing in her rear, determine what it was, and how to kill it.

Connie was overjoyed. The difficulty of transporting Buba all the way from Valenzuela City to our veterinary clinic in Greenwoods Executive Village in Pasig City, did not dampen her resolve to have Buba treated. It would take them three hours, on a rented vehicle, to reach us. Connie managed to get her whole family's support. They trooped to our clinic to bring Buba and to visit her during her confinement.

Finally, the Animal Doctor found out what was growing in Buba's rear- Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor, click on the link if you want to know more about what is also called "TVT". Buba must have gotten it during her imprisonment at the at the Pound because it can be transmitted through mating, sniffing, any form of touch!

The Animal Doctor's choice of treatment was Vincristine, a chemotherapy agent that "exerts its antineoplastic effect by binding to the tubulin, thus blocking mitosis." ( These are very big words, thanks for the help, Mr. Google)


The Animal Doctor carefully administers the Vincristine, if it accidentally spills and touches the vein, it will cause serious chemical burns.

Buba had good appetite, and was a very brave girl during her stay at Greenwoods Pet Clinic.

She stayed with us for almost a month because she had to undergo chemotherapy weekly for three weeks.

Finally, Vicristine shrunk the TVT monster.

Buba is now home where she is being taken good care of by her mom.

Picture taken by Buba's Mom

During her confinement, Buba underwent several blood tests and the results made us all sad. She had elevated Creatinine and BUN even before she was treated with Vincristine. The figures even went up after her chemotherapy. She took home medicines to treat her kidneys, but it would be difficult to monitor her condition now that she is far from us.

Connie, sent us a text message to report that while Buba is still not as active as she used to be, she is eating well. Connie is happy for the time she has with Buba, even though she does not know how many weeks or months it will last.

She shared this beautiful prayer for Buba:

Lord, I entrust all who are dear to me
to Your never-failing care and love,
for this life and the life to come,
knowing that You are doing for them better things
that I can desire or pray for.
Amen

Note from the Animal Doctor: Not all cases of TVT have happy endings. One dog developed anorexia, persistent vomiting and became recumbent on the sixth week of treatment with Vincristine. Despite being effective in the regression of TVT, Vincristine has toxic effects. The cumulative adverse effects of Vincristine and the long standing duration of TVT on the dog may have led to his death. The study concluded that there is a need for effective management of the patient during and after Vincristine treatment to avoid death from toxicosis or other causes.

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