This generally includes looking at local tumor size, lymph node involvement, and whether or not the cancer has spread to other sites in the body. Stage 1 is small and localized. Metastasis is the spread of cancer to one or more distant sites in the body such as lungs, lymph nodes, or bone. Surgery can be used to remove tumors completely or to debulk them to make other modes of therapy more effective. Surgery is also used to obtain biopsy samples to help identify the type of cancer your pet may have.
Chemotherapy simply means treating disease with medication.
The term is most commonly used to refer to treating cancer with medication. Most chemotherapy drugs are given directly into a vein, but others are given orally or by injection into a muscle. Chemotherapy alone is effective against some forms of cancer such as lymphoma, but is often used in combination with other treatments such as surgery. The side effects seen in veterinary chemotherapy, although not entirely absent, are usually significantly less severe than those seen in human medicine because lower dosages of medication are often used. The side effects vary for each drug and for each dosage used.