Northwest Veterinary Specialists Oncology Department

17/04/2025

🥰Everyone meet Rosie!🥰

💖Rosie is the cutest little bean who first came to visit Team Onco mid February 2025 following a diagnosis of lymphoma🧬.

💉We started her on a chemotherapy protocol involving alternating two different medications every 3 weeks!💉

🤔Rosie's mum and dad adore her, and were understandably really quite concerned about starting chemotherapy with Rosie, mainly due to this possibility of side effects and complications following treatment that would affect her quality of life.🥴

🤝They had a good long chat with us, and a neighbour whos doggo had also had chemotherapy, about starting treatment and opted to move forward.🥳

🥳And they are so happy that they did! Rosie is kicking cancers butt right now AND having the best time!🥳

⚽️Just you all look at these videos of Rosie! The one with the football was taken the same day she had had chemotherapy three weeks ago!!⚽️ (videos in the comments)

🌳The one with the sticks, was taken a few days later!🌳

🧘‍♀️And that last one, you know, the one where shes sat on the sofa🧘‍♀️, in the sun eating a little snacky snack was taken last week, a few hours after she had had her third dose of chemotherapy!! 🌞

💖Now doesn't she look like she's having the best time! 💖

🫶Quality of life for our patients is the number one thing for us!!🫶

🤝And if that means we have to tweak protocols or doses to make sure that can happen we will!🤝

💖We love you Rosie and look forward to seeing you in a few weeks for your next treatment! 💖

11/03/2025

Everyone meet Rufus!!

Dear sweet Rufus came in initially to see Oncology Specialist Jess, and Team Oncology, before heading off to surgery.

Rufus is 100% living his best (spoilt 💖) life after surgery and we love it!!

Introducing Rufus, a remarkable patient who has shown incredible strength and resilience. 🐾

In February 2024, Rufus was referred to our skilled oncologist, Jess Grant, after an uneven ulcerated lesion was found on his gum near his back tooth. 🦷

Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with Squamous Cell Carcinoma. 😔 Following a thorough CT and Ultrasound scan to ensure the disease hadn't spread, Rufus was referred to our expert surgery team. 🏥

Under the care of EBVS European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery, Matt Smith, Rufus underwent a hemi mandiblectomy to remove the tumour, with all cancerous cells successfully excised. ✂️

Throughout his procedure and recovery, our dedicated team of Registered Veterinary Nurses and Anaesthetists provided exceptional care during his general anaesthesia and immediate recovery phase. 🩺💉

Rufus spent four days in our High Dependency Unit, where our inpatient care nurses supported him throughout his recovery. They helped him regain the ability to eat and drink independently while ensuring he remained comfortable before returning home to continue his healing process. 🛏️💚

A year on, Rufus is thriving! He's back to his active, happy self and is now enjoying life to the fullest, celebrating his 9th birthday with a hike in the Peak District. 🎉🥾🎂 We are incredibly proud of his journey. 🙌

Rufus's case highlights the importance of the collaborative efforts between our dedicated teams, working together to provide the highest standard of care. 🤝🐾

22/01/2025

🎊Massive congratulations to oncologist Mary for becoming our new clinical director!🎊

Congratulations to Mary Marrington, who has been appointed as our new Clinical Director! 👋

Mary graduated from Cambridge University in 2002 before working at the RSPCA Greater Manchester Animal Hospital for five years, before completing a residency in oncology at the University of Liverpool.

After spending six years as a senior lecturer in oncology at the University of Liverpool, Mary joined us as an Oncology Specialist here at NWVS and set up our dedicated oncology service.

She was appointed Head of Oncology in 2018 and Head of Oncology and Internal Medicine in 2024. She also set up our oncology residency programme, where she has trained four residents to date.

Mary is excited to support our team of outstanding and dedicated clinicians in fostering a culture of collaboration, excellence, and innovation, ensuring the highest standards of patient care and client experience.

Outside of work, Mary is married with two children 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 four horses (Dolly, Clover, Mia, Thai) 🐎 two dogs (excitable Labrador x Skye and cheeky beagle Bingo) 🐶 and three barn cats (Ted, Roy, Keeley).

Congratulations, Mary!

22/01/2025

🥰Everyone meet Vinny!! 🥰

🥰Vinny is the bestest boy!🥰

🤕Vinny was first refered to our Oncology Service in July 2024 with suspected lymphoma. He had enlarged lymphnodes and a pleural effusion (fluid in the chest around the lungs)🧪

🧬Lab tests showed that it was lymphoma and we started a 25 week chemo protocol for him🧬

💖Vinny has done so well during the protocol and has totally stolen our hearts with his puppy dog eyes!💖

💊Today Vinny recieved his 16th and final treatment in this protocol! 💉

🎊Yay Vinny!🎊

🎊Here he is showing off his certificate🎊

💖We look forward to seeing Vinny soon for his check ups!💖

18/11/2024

❤️Everyone meet Henry ❤️

🥳Henry is a very special boy who was rescued from a life on the streets in Bulgaria.🥳

He took over his owners life in December 2023.

😕But sadly in January he started to have some bloody discharge collecting around his prepuce and a firm mass was also discovered around the body of the pen*s.😒

🧬He was referred to our soft tissue surgery department for further investigation and a diagnosis of transmissible venereal tumour (TVT) was made.🧬

🌍TVT is pretty much unheard of in the UK, but is unfortunately very common in many south eastern European countries.🌍

💉Henry received six injections of vincristine over 6 weeks and he was amazing for it!💉

❤️Henry is the sweetest and happiest little bean, and we love getting to see him!❤️ Plus he also likes biscuits - it's all part of the treatment plan I promise 😁

🥳At the end of the six treatments we re-examined Henry and found the lesion/masses had resolved.🎉

🧐Henry has had two further check ups since completing the treatment and thankfully there was no evidence of the mass reoccurring.🧐

🎉Here's Henry back in April showing off his certificate, and also then on his beach holiday this summer!🎉

We look forward to seeing him very soon for his next check up!😍

08/08/2024

🥰Everyone meet AJ 🥰

😔AJ became lame on his right hind leg in early April this year. He had no history of an injury or overexerting himself.😔

☢️His vets took some xrays of both of his hind legs, so they could compare the normal left leg to his lame right leg, and his pelvis.☢️

🦴The xray showed some bone changes to the right femur and AJ was sore when the leg was palpated.🦴

🎗The vets were concerned that AJ had a bone tumour.🎗

🧐AJ was then refered to team oncology for further investigation.🧐

☢️AJ had a CT scan of his hind legs, thorax and abdomen. This was to allow us to assess the right leg, plus check for any evidence of tumour spread to the lungs and abdominal organs (this is called metastasis).☢️

🦴The CT showed an aggressive bony lesion on the distal part of the right femur.🦴

✂️Amputation of the right hind leg was advised. ✂️

😷The limb ampuation surgery was carried out by one of our soft tissue surgeons and AJ recovered well.😷

💉Once the wound had healed AJ started with a course of carboplatin chemotherapy.💉

💉AJ recieved four treatments of an injectable chemotherapy agent called carboplatin and he tolerated the treatment like a champ 🥰

🥰Here is AJ showing off his certificate and bandana - we are so proud of him! 🥰

🙌Well done AJ 🙌

💖Team Onc love you lots💖

04/04/2024

🤩 Everyone meet Kayla 👑

🧬Kayla first came to us early February 2024 following a diagnosis of lymphoma🧬

💉We started Kayla on the 25-week multi chemotherapy drug protocol right away.💊

💊The dose and frequency of chemotherapy medications administerd to our cat and dog patients is much much lower than used in human oncology.💉

💜Quality of life for these guys is so so important💜

💊Kayla is still recieving chemotherapy - we just administered her 7th treatment which is week 8 out of 25. 💉

🔥Kayla is doing great!🔥

✴️Things Kayla has been up to DURING her chemotherapy protocol....✴️

✅️Enjoying icecream🍦
✅️Running around forests🌲
✅️Laying in streams/swimming in swamps🙈
✅️Sitting in patches of flowers - looking as pretty as the flowers🪻
✅️Wondering where her next treat is coming from while on a walk up a hill🍪
✅️Demanding to be the center of attention - both at home and in the hospital (she has the most perfect little woooof, just to gently remind you she is there)👑👑👑👑👑

🤩Team Onc love you Kayla!🤩

15/03/2024

💖Everyone meet Pippa💖

🧬Pippa first came to visit Team Onco in November 2022 and a diagnosis of lymphoma was made.🧬

💉We started Pippa on the 25 week CHOP chemotherapy protocol - this incorporates three different medications given over 16 treatments over the course of 25 weeks.💊

🌟Pip completed the protocol in May 2023! Whoop Whoop!🌟

Sadly, in September 2023, Pippa relapsed her lymphoma so we immediatly restarted the chemo protocol again!

🔥Pip has rocked her chemo protocol from the very beginning!🔥

😠We did have a very small inconvenient bit of lameness that tried to throw a spanner in the works - it tried! 💪

🌟🌟Pippa completed her SECOND chemo protocol last week - which is fantastic!🌟🌟

🏞And we are so pleased she been able to continue her amazing hiking all over the hills and mountains of England and Scotland during her treatment!🏕

😇😇Pip is a sweet perfect angel... even when she's shouting at us for more treats and to voice her displeasure at being in a kennel! 😇😇

🥰We love you Pip!! 🥰

We look forward to seeing Pippa for her check.ups which we schedule every 4 weeks

04/11/2023

The wonderful Classic FM are playing calming classical music to help our pets over the next few nights 💞

Tune in to Pet Classics 🐾 on 📻 Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 November, 5-9pm.

Pets scared by the fireworks? Come and join us for two nights of calming classical music, in the musical sanctuary we call Pet Classics. 🐾

📻 Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 November, 5-9pm.

07/06/2023

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/northwest-veterinary-specialistss-giving-page

Team Oncology is joining up with Cancer Research UK and participating in June's challenge!

The challenge is .........

100 skips per day!

If you would like to sponsor us with all funds going towards Cancer Research UK please click on the link.

and what would be even better is if you would like to join us - you can sign up by clicking on this link - they'll even send you a skipping rope if you need one https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/get-involved/find-an-event/skipping-challenge?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social_organic&utm_campaign=clayton_organic&fbclid=IwAR2g-FMY8uWDzpNoTH26LAmosjmLVMK6yUQnLfmFeW2jJhdkViYUrbTuVBs

Dogs and cats are welcome to also participate 🐱🐶 and yes we do want to see videos🤩

Find support and motivation throughout the month, alongside skipping top tips and fundraising inspiration in our Skipping Facebook group.

05/05/2023

🥰Everyone meet Archie!🥰

🧐Archie was referred to Team Onc in November 2022 following a diagnosis of lymphoma by his primary care vet.🧐

🩸At his first appointment we performed some blood tests and took further samples from his lymphnodes to determine which type of lymphoma we were dealing with. 🧬

🧬Knowing if the lympgoma is B or T cell helps us plan treatments.🔬

💊We also started the 25 week CHOP chemotherapy protocol while we waited for the results.💊

💉Archie recieved 16 chemotherapy treatments over the course of 25 weeks.💊

😎Archie kicked butt during his treatments and he is such a sweet boy.🥰

🥳He completwd his protocol in April 2023!🥳

🤠As you can see from his first picture, Archie is a very handsome Bichon Frise - with his treadmark beautiful bichon hair.😎

😳But chemotherapy can cause some changes with the coat - texture change and slow regrowth, and even some colour changes!🤔

🤩Can you see that gorgeous Archie is now tan and white! Yep - I promise he's the same dog!🥰

❤️Now Archie has finished his treatment we are looking forward to seeing if his coat changes back.❤️

🥰We still think he's super handsome!🥰

🥳Here he is with his owners showing off his certificate!🥳

🎊Well done Archie🎊

21/04/2023

Everyone.....

🤩This is RONNIE🤩

🧬Ronnie was diagnosed with lymphoma by his primary vets in October 2022.🩻

💉He was then referred to team oncology to start chemotherapy.💊

💉We started Ronnie with the 25 week CHOP protocol.💉

This protocol involves:
🌟16 treatments spaced out over 25 weeks.
⭐️There are 3 different medications used on a rotating basis
🌟Napping reeeeeaally well during treatments!

😴Yep, Ronnie would be super chilled with us, especially during the longer infusions of chemotherapy, and he would fall asleep😴.... and yes there was some snoring but it's ok as it was really cute.😴

😎Ronnie rocked the protocol!😎

🥳And he completed his treatment just 2 weeks ago!🥳

🎨Now, some dogs and cats do have coat changes over the course of the protocol due to the chemotherapy. ✨️

🧐As you can see Ronnie is black and white, his black fluff remained pretty much unchanged, where as his white fluff was affected! We expect his white fur to grow back to normal now the chemotherapy has stopped.🥸

🤩We look forward to seeing this gorgeous boy soon for his check up!🤩

19/04/2023

Here she is!

🌞Here's SKYE!🌞

👑Skye is oncology royalty as she has been through not one, not two but THREE chemotherapy protocols! 👑

💃And clearly she had aced it!💃

🧬Skye was diagnosed with lymphoma in Ocober 2021 and we immediatly started the 25 week CHOP protocol🧬

🩸We also performed a MDR1 genetic test as Skye is a border collie. Dogs that have this gene mutation can be really sensitive to some medications, including some chemotherapy agents. For dog who are positive, medication doses have to be altered to avoid conplications.🧬

💊Thankfully Skye was negative and we could proceed as normal with the protocol.💉

🥳She completed CHOP protocol #1 in March 2022.🥳

😐Skye relapsed in June 2022 and we started the 25 week protocol again! Which she completed in November 2022!🥳

😐Unfortunatly Skye relapsed again in December 2022.
As she relaped so close to finishing the previous protocol we needed a change of tactic.🧐

💊We opted to start Skye on Tanovea which is single agent protocol and administered every 3 weeks.💉

✈️Tanovea is not easy to get hold of, so we have to import it from America! ✈️

💉Skye had five treatments with Tanovea and completed the protocol in March 2023! 💉

🥳Here she is looking amazing and showing off her certificate!🥳

💖 You're such a good girl Skye 💖

19/04/2023

18/04/2023

Everyone meet TJ

💖TJ is the sweetest boy🥰

🩺He was first referred to Team Oncology in March 2021 following a diagnosis of lymphoma by his primary vet.🧬

🧐He had some xrays 🩻 taken and an ultrasound was performed to allow us to obtain the samples we needed.🔬

💊We then started him on a 25 week CHOP Chemotherapy protocol which he completed in August 2021.🥳

😅TJ did amazing! He had over 1 year off treatment/chemotherapy following the protocol completion. 🥳

🧬His lymphoma relapsed in September 2022 and as he had done so well with the first CHOP protocol we started all over again!🧬

🤺And TJ rocked it! He kicked lymphoma's butt for another 25 week protocol!🤺

🍪He is such a sweet boy who does love a biscuit... or two... which is allowed as its part of the protocol 😉🍪

He then completed his second protocol in March 2023

🥳Here he is with his dad celebrating!🥳

🥰TJ we love you and we look forward to seeing you fpr check ups!🥰

09/04/2023

🐰Team Oncology wish you all a very happy Easter.🍫

🐶 Remember to keep your pets away from the sweet treats, such as hot cross buns and chocolate for dogs, and flowers, especially lillies for cats.🐱

We're here for emergency cases referred over the Easter holiday weekend, and our Client Care team will be on hand during the following:
📆 Easter Sunday: 10am - 2pm
📆 Easter Monday: 9am -1pm

Happy Easter to all of our team, referring vets and clients! 🍫 🐣

With chocolate and Easter egg hunts taking place, we wanted to remind pet owners to keep their pets away from these sweet treats!

We hope you all have a very happy and relaxing weekend.

31/03/2023

🤩Everyone meet Flo!!🥰

🥰🥰Flo is the sweetest girl who came to see team oncology in November 2022 following her diagnosis of a mast cell tumor.🧬

🔬Flo had an ultrasound and some samples taken so we can get a full picture of what was going on.🩺

✂️She then had surgery which was performed by super surgeon Rachel.✂️

💉We then started a course of chemotherapy with Flo - and this involved eight treatments of vinblastine over 12 weeks💊

🥳And yesterday Flo completed her chemotherapy!! 🥳 Yay Flo! 🥳

We will be seeing Flo again in a month to perform another ultrasound and sampling. We cant wait to see Flo

🥳Here are some pictures of Flo with her certificate - which she proudly displayed as she strutted down the hospital corridors!🥳

🎁And a few pictures of her with her brother Bob, today is Bobs birthday so they have double the reason to celebrate and wear spectacular hats!🎉

🎉We look forward to seeing you soon Flo🎉

24/12/2022

🎄Happy Christmas Eve Everyone🎄

✨️We have wonderful news✨️

🩺Dr. Lori Teller, president of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) recently flew to the North Pole to examine Santa's reindeer and they all passed their health checks🩺

✨️Meaning they are fit to fly/travel TONIGHT! ✨️

🧐For more information on the health checks please visit https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/pet-owners/yourvet/even-santas-reindeer-need-veterinarian🩺

🎅There is even a Santa tracker!🎅

🎄✨️Team Northwest Veterinary Specialists are here during the festive period for your lovely pets, and Santa's reindeers!, should you need us ✨️🎄

Being AVMA President has its perks, including the title of Santa's Official Veterinarian. This includes ensuring the reindeer are fit to fly around the world.