Without your input, attention and care as well as ongoing assessment, care of the cancer patient will not be optimal. Once the team is forged to include at least the veterinarian, veterinary health care staff and caregiver, and we shed ourselves of the misperceptions of cancer, then we can begin to conquer the emotional component of this disease. Once stripped of this dark emotional cloak, and as a caregiver you have built a team around you, the cancer affecting your pet becomes attackable, diagnosable, treatable, manageable and in many cases, curable. It is at this point that the care may begin. For the cancer patient and the caregiver, this must be compassionate care.
Compassionate care is the single most important operative term in cancer medicine.
It is the outward manifestation of caring with the science through the heart and is a response by the veterinary health care team based on an understanding and appreciation of the bond. As you and your beloved pet face the uncertainly, the darkness of cancer, I would urge you to break through that dark by dispelling the myths with information and knowledge. And finally, seek out compassionate care provided by people that recognize and value the magic you and your pet share. Cancer is an unrestrained growth of cells that destroy normal tissue and body parts in that growth. Like the American Cancer Society s Seven Early Signs of Cancer, the Veterinary Cancer Society and the AVMA have developed a list of 10 common signs, to educate pet owners about cancer.