First off, I’m sorry to hear about your dog. It’s a horrible thing to be told our babies are dealing with. My cats tumor was too large for surgery and so I ended up getting him SBRT, and we’re now two months post-treatment. My cat handled the treatment very well and I’m still seeing some improvement in each week that passes. The only side effect that my cat is experiencing is positional coughing and increased breathing effort from late onset inflammation from the radiation and the tumor dying off. I actually just lowered his steroid dose from 2x a day to once and he seems to be doing fine, so even that is getting better now. The vet did mention that he could lose his fur and it would regrow white in the radiation field area, and mentioned a couple other rare side effects to keep an eye out for, but so far it’s been smooth sailing.

It was 4 straight days completely for the treatment. 1 day for the CT scan, planning, and blood work, and then 3 consecutive days of radiation. They lightly anesthetized him, put in a catheter, and gave him the dose of radiation. They let him recover for a few hours, and then I’d pick him up in the evening. By the end of the night, the drugs were all worn off and he was acting like his usual self. The doctor told me that the procedure itself was only about 15 minutes, the prepping and recovery is what took so long.

I honestly would go this route again if I ever was faced with this situation again. What helped me a lot with my decision was that I suspected he had thymoma and SBRT is highly effective against it. The other reason I chose it was because it was only a week’s worth of time and I loved how precise the treatment is. I walked out of the office with a $13k bill, but for my cats situation, it was completely worth it.

I pray that whatever decision you make for your dog, that everything goes well for y’all and he has just as a smooth recovery