Here at Mayne Vets we never shy away from a challenge and Freddie has certainly given us one recently. Back in October 2018, Freddie presented to us as he just wasn’t himself. This normally bouncy, happy boy was lethargic with a cough as well as an increase in thirst and urination. Initial investigations of Freddie’s urine and blood gave our vets enough suspicion to go looking for a problem internally.
Following a series of x-rays and ultrasounds, a mass was identified in Freddie’s mediastinum, which is an area of the chest. Biopsies were taken which unfortunately confirmed a high-grade T cell lymphoma. Freddie had aggressive cancer.
For all owners, the news that their beloved pet has cancer is absolutely devastating. We counselled Freddie’s family and discussed all options available to them. Given that Freddie had been so well until recently, his cheerful attitude and lovely nature his family decided to proceed with a chemotherapy course to try to get him into remission. With the advice from our colleagues in the Oncology department at Dick White Referrals, we began a special chemotherapy protocol for T cell lymphoma called LOPP. As with all chemotherapy protocols used in veterinary medicine, they are designed to have low toxicity with minimal side effects yet still achieving a good response. The general rule of thumb at Mayne Vets when it comes to chemotherapy is that our patients should feel better whilst receiving the prescribed medications and have an improved quality of life. This particular protocol gave Freddie his best shot at getting cancer free for the longest time with the best survival rate.
Freddie began a 6-month course back in November 2018, since then we have been seeing him weekly for health checks and blood tests to assess how his body was coping with the medication. We’ve all developed a close bond with both Freddie and his family during this time. Freddie has been a pleasure to treat throughout and loves nothing more than having a cuddle and biscuit! A couple of times we had to postpone his treatment as his white blood cells had dropped too low but you could never tell that to look at him as he was always wagging his tail! Freddie coped really well with everything we threw at him.
Freddie has been a superstar patient and has won a little bit of everyone’s heart here at Mayne. We are also really pleased to say that a couple of weeks ago he had another series of x-rays and ultrasounds which confirmed there is no evidence remaining of the mass in his chest. Freddie is officially in remission. Hooray!!
Going forward Freddie will remain on maintenance drugs and will be regularly checked by our team for any signs of relapse. As sad as we are not to see Freddie so frequently, we are super happy for him and his family. Well done Freddie you Kicked Cancers Butt!!!