Why repeat blood tests during chemotherapy for animals?
A common question: when a patient is going through a chemotherapy protocol, for example for cancer, especially in cats and dogs with lymphoma, why is blood repeated each time? It is very important, mainly for safety. Chemotherapy is tailored to the patient.
💉 In fact, repeating blood tests each time is extremely important, mainly for safety reasons. Chemotherapy should be “tailor-made” for each animal. That means we want to give the most precise drug dosage—strong enough to kill cancer cells, but without causing significant side effects to the patient.
To achieve this, we must adjust the dosage according to each animal’s condition. Every animal is different: some dogs can tolerate double the dose, while others can only handle half. Therefore, customizing the dosage is crucial.
Usually, we take into consideration various variables including:
1. Clinical examination – checking the animal’s current physical condition.
2. Owner’s report of medical history – understanding how the pet is doing at home, such as appetite, eating habits, energy level, and overall quality of life.
3. Blood test results – using blood indicators to confirm whether the drugs have caused any toxic side effects or comorbidities.
In most cases, the main concern is neutropenia (a decrease in neutrophils), though other indicators are monitored depending on the type of drug used.
In summary, we want to know whether the white blood cell count (especially neutrophils) is within the normal range. A mild drop in white blood cells due to chemotherapy is common and expected, but we must never let it fall too low.
Our goal is to attack the cancer effectively while avoiding significant side effects for the animal. To do this, blood tests must be performed before each treatment to closely monitor these key indicators❤️
