Nikita's Story

NIKITA CONQUERS CANCER

Nikita is a female Burmese who has just turned 13yrs old; 2 years ago her owners brought her in because she had been vomiting from time to time and was now off her food. When examined, she was found to be running a very high temperature and was started initially on antibiotics.

It took several days for the temperature to decline and for her to start eating again. When we saw her a week later, it was noticed that her lymph nodes around her neck were increased in size. Further testing showed her to have lymphoma cancer. The word “cancer” is always devastating to hear and in the case of animals has often come to mean instant death.

However we have been treating animals successfully with chemotherapy for many years now, and lymphoma-type cancers are often the ones that respond to this therapy. It is still a big step for owners to embark on this choice however but Nikita’s owners thought it worth a shot.

Nikita came in weekly for her intravenous chemo and her growths began to shrink almost immediately. Her demeanour improved over the first few weeks and the cancers regressed. Chemo went for 4 months.

That was all 3 years ago. Nikita has been in remission ever since and the brave owners have had 2 more years that one would never think she had coming. So congrats to both owners and patient! Embarking on treatment can be a tough decision to make but the side effects of chemo are not as bad as for humans and the success rate is quite high.

Footnote: Nikita died near Xmas of 2010-51/2 years after her chemo- from unrelated causes of geriatric kidney disease and hypertension.

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