What's a Chinchilla?

I'm often asked how we know so much about so many different animals. We are lucky that many animals are put together in a similar way, so much of our knowledge can be transferred between species. Occasionally we get caught out though.

In my first job in the UK, I saw on my consult sheet that someone was bringing in a chinchilla that was unwell. "Easy", I thought to myself, as I knew a chinchilla was a breed of cat.

I called the client through, who carried the cat cage into the consult room and put it on the table. I reached in and pulled out an animal I didn't recognise.

 

A Chinchilla Cat: What I Expected to Find in the Cage

 

A Chinchilla: What I Found in the Cage

 

 

It's hard to figure out what to do when in a situation like this, so I decided to buy myself some time and listen to its heart, because when you've got your stethescope in your ears your client can't talk to you. It gives you a good minutes thinking time. After a bit of thinking time I announced to the client "this is a really interesting case, I had better keep it in for the day so I can work it up propperly".

 

Owners seem to love having "interesting cases" so they agreed to leave it with me for the day. I went straight out the back and grabbed the books. It turns out they are a South American rodent, and after a bit of research I figured out what was wrong with it and started a treatment plan.

 

In the following eight years in the UK I treated many Chinchillas, but still found myself baffled at times with constipated snakes, lame zebras and infected fish where books and "Dr Google" still had to be used to get me through.

Is it harder to be a vet than a doctor?

My wife is a doctor, and one of our common debates is who has the hardest job. I argue my job is harder because my patients can't tell me what is wrong, while my wife argues her job is harder because people often tell her what they think she wants to hear.

I remember when I was young a local vet and a doctor used to be good friends. they had a similar argument about who's job was harder. This debate went on for years until one day the vet became unwell and went to see his doctor friend.

When the doctor asked what was wrong, the vet replied "moo". The doctor asked what he meant by that, and the vet replied "well, that's all my patients ever tell me so you figure it out!"

Even without the talking factor, I still feel that my job is more challenging but also far more interesting than being a doctor. When a GP diagnoses a patient with cancer, they refer them to an oncologist and move on the the next client. When we diagnose cancer in one of our pateints, we become the oncologist. We operate if needed, are in charge of the anaesthetic during the surgery, perform follow-up visits, administer chemotherapy if needed, and sometimes become the palliative care giver for the patient. In fact, our job is covered by over 30 human specialists. but that's why I love this job so much. We get to challenge ourselves every day,and get to know our patients really well.

Cancer Treatments in Pets

We are fortunate to live in a time where our ability to treat our beloved pets is increasing rapidly. With around half of our pets developing cancer at some point in their lives, cancer is something we are treating more and more.

When I first graduated, cancer was a death sentence. We could use some pain kilers to keep the pet comfortable, but a meaningful improvement in life expectancy and quality of life was difficult to obtain.

In 2010 I studied a Distance Education course in Medical Oncology through the university of Sydney. At the time, I realised cancer was a bit issue we were facing, but I didn't realise how many pets we could help.

The first thing I always discuss with people when we aim to treat a cancer is what are our aims. I no longer consider my job to be curing disease, but rather it is to make our pets feel well. And this is the aim of any cancer treatment.

We can cure many cancers with surgery, but how do we deal with the cases that can't be operated on? The dogs with lymphoma, sarcomas in locations we can't remove, or skin cancer that has spread still need something to help them. This is where chemotherapy becomes our main tool.

When we mention chemotherapy, many people think of the side effects such as vomiting and hair loss which can be experienced by people. these side effects come about because of the high doses of drugs used to try to cure the disease. In dogs and cats, I consider making the animal feel very unwell as an unacceptable side effect, so we use chemotherapy differently in pets.

In pets, we use chemotherapy as a tool to turn the cancer into a "chronic disease". Just the same as we can treat the symptoms of arthritis or heart failure in pets, we can treat the symptoms of the cancer. We know with arthritis or heart failure that the pet will eventually stop responding to medication, but we can give them good quality life again by using the right medications.We use similar drugs in pets as are used in people, but at a lower dose so the pet doesn't feel unwell in most cases, but the cancer is sent into remission.

A good example of how well this works is the treatment of lymphoma. Without treatment, most dogs with lymphoma will die within weeks. With the correct protocol, most dogs will live for more than a year. I most cases, people who know the animal will look at the dog and not even know it has cancer or that it is undergoing treatment. The results can be that good!

The treatment isn't cheap, with some protocols costing around $3000, but many people find the extra time they get with their beloved pet, and seeing how well the pet can be, makes it all worth while.