North Canterbury Vets are a mixed practice which deals with dairy cows, beef, sheep, deer, horses and alpacas as well as companion animals. Our team has an ethical focus to assist in developing and growing our clients' businesses and providing quality health care to ensure that their livestock and pets live healthy and productive lives.
Patient Profile: Murphy's Story
Cancer is a scary word, and sadly our four-legged friends can also suffer from the same types we can. These masses can be anywhere in the body and Murphy’s owners brought him into the clinic after he became sore without knowing why. After x-rays, Murphy was diagnoses with osteosarcoma, a tumour in his back leg. This is a very fast and aggressive form of cancer, it spreads quickly and is very painful if left alone.
After an x-ray to confirm that the tumour hadn’t spread his owners were left with a tough decision, to work out what the best thing for him was. The decision was to go to surgery with Murphy to remove his affected leg, and try Chemotherapy. Unlike human Chemotherapy, with our four-legged friends it is all about improving quality of life not curing cancer.
Murphy’s surgery went smoothly as did his recovery at home aided by lots of cuddles from his youngest family member. Once he was over his surgery he came back in for chemotherapy. This is a complex treatment and must be done carefully to protect both the patient and the staff involved. Murphy’s treatments ran every 3 weeks for 4 sessions, and after each session he went home to lots of TLC from his family.
Murphy quickly became a firm favourite of the whole veterinary team, due to his happy and loving nature. Despite the puppy dog eyes he gave his owners when they dropped him off each time, he eagerly ran to every member of staff he could find before each of his treatments to make sure he could say hello first. We’ve all loved seeing the photos and videos of him happy in his own home. He’s now completed his course and is loving the extra time he has now had at home with his family. Despite making a big and scary decision his owners are very happy with how he is doing. We look forward to many more visits from Murphy in the future.
