Learn more about the innovative cancer treatment for dogs called, "immunotherapy" offered at Westside Animal Hospital by watching the video below.

More information about Immunotherapy courtesy of MediVet Biologics is available below.

K9-ACV

Treat Cancer in Dogs with Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is a new ground-breaking treatment option for dogs with cancer. Cancer cells normally grow and spread because the immune system fails to recognize them as abnormal, allowing them to continue to metastasize. K9-ACV is an immunotherapy vaccine used to help the dog’s immune system recognize the cancer cells as detrimental and attack them.

K9-ACV Immunotherapy offers an affordable alternative to other canine cancer treatments

What Canine Cancers Can Immunotherapy Treat?

K9-ACV is a cancer treatment vaccine that can be used to treat any cancer in dogs that is removable by surgery.

The following are common cancers that are treatable with the immunotherapy cancer treatment vaccine.

• lymphoma in dogs
• mast cell tumor in dogs
• sarcoma in dogs
• osteosarcoma in dogs
• melanoma in dogs
• hemangiosarcoma in dogs (spleen or liver)
• dog skin tumors
• mammary tumors in dogs
• oral melanoma in dogs

What is cancer in dogs?

Just like humans, dogs can develop cancer. Cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs. Sadly, over fifty percent of dogs over the age of ten will eventually develop cancer. Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells in the dog’s body. Cancer develops when the body’s normal control mechanism stops working. Old cells do not die and cells grow out of control, forming new, abnormal cells. These extra cells may form a mass of tissue, called a tumor. The immune system fails to recognize these abnormal cells as dangerous or foreign and lets them continue to grow, sometimes rapidly, and spread throughout the body.

How Immunotherapy fights canine cancer

Immunotherapy is one of the latest and safest ways to treat cancer. If the dog has a tumor that can be removed, a vaccine can be created for that patient. First, the tumor is removed and shipped to medivet labs where the tumor and the cancerous cells are used to create a vaccine that alerts the body that those specific cancer cells are harmful. The personalized cancer vaccine is administered to the dog which “wakes-up” the immune system and helps it to recognize the dangerous cancer cells within the dog’s body. The immune system then naturally starts killing the cancer cells and potentially helps prevent them from spreading further. The immunotherapy vaccine is created in our lab using your dog’s own specific cancer cells. Your local vet will then be able to administer the vaccine. We create three vaccines, which are given 4 weeks apart.