19 Ryde Road, Pymble, NSW 2073
Joey’s Pet of the Week
By Scott Lackenby | Dated August 29, 2014
It’s hard work being me!!
Are you going to go to the Gordon Community PreSchool Fun Day on Sunday? I would, but I will be too busy helping Maureen with her dog training. It’s hard work helping out with puppy preschool! But you should go, there will be all sorts of fun family activities. And Nurse Layne will be there, and she would love to see you! It’s on from 10am-2pm at the Gordon Community PreSchool in Park St.
My star this week is the handsome Boston, an almost 13year old Kelpie cross. Boston thought he was coming in for a routine vaccination, but during his exam, Dr Scott Lackenby discovered that Boston had an approx. 4cm lump around his thyroid area in his neck. Boston’s Dad also said that Boston had been drinking a lot and always seemed hungry but had lost some weight. Dr Scott was worried that the lump was a thyroid cancer, so instead of having his vaccination, Boston was booked in to have the lump biopsied. When the results came back from the lab, it was confirmed that Boston did indeed have Thyroid Gland Neoplasia. Boston’s family now had a tough decision to make. They could either monitor his quality of life and keep Boston happy or they could remove Boston’s thyroid, consult a Veterinary Oncologist and start Boston on chemo. Chemo in animals is very different to chemo in you humans. We animals rarely suffer from the nasty side effects that you do, and while in most cases it doesn’t cure our cancer, it can significantly improve our quality of life and delay the cancer from being fatal. Boston’s family decided to first see of the cancer had spread, so Boston had some Xrays and an Ultrasound and some blood work. While his thyroid parameters were elevated, the scans showed that at this stage the cancer hadn’t spread. This was great news! So on the advice of the Oncologist, Boston was booked in to have his Thyroid removed. This is a tricky surgery as there a lot of vital structures in the neck, but Boston’s surgery went well. We sent the thyroid off to have the cancer more closely looked at, and it turns out that Boston’s cancer is extremely rare, the Oncologist had only ever seen it 5 times before and all the other patients had cancer in other parts of their body! He recommended that Boston have a CT to have a more in depth look for other possible tumours, that he start a radioactive iodine treatment and also chemo. But Boston was a little under the weather after his surgery, removing the thyroid gland can affect your calcium levels, and given his age, we will wait a few weeks for Boston to bounce back before we put him through more procedures.
Well, I had better go. It’s time for dinner and I’m not normally allowed on the computer this late, but I had to get this done.
Written by Scott Lackenby
Scott joined the team at Gordon Vets in 1999, where he was immediately impressed with the high standard of customer service. Scott is very popular amongst clients for his kind hearted approach to pet care and his great sense of humour. His particular areas of interest are endocrinology and dermatology.
