Six months after Brachytherapy family dog cancer.
66 year old male. My recovery has gone well since this procedure with my numbers being less than half of what they were. I live alone and had a 4 year German Shepperd dog, I was worried about him and the radiation after the procedure so I purchased a X-ray tech lead apron, which I wore when I was close to him for almost 3 months. I used the guidelines for small children for the time period and confirmed that with my doctor when that date came around. After that things seemed to be fine with me and the dog. Last week I had to put this dog down for what was suspected (because of how bad he was we never got a 100% conformation) as cancer. My question, has any members here that have had the brachytherapy had any health issue with a family pet afterwards? Obviously my fear here is my dog got cancer from the radiation I received during this treatment. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi
I am so sorry for your loss. Losing a pet is heartbreaking. I recently lost my dog due to cancer a couple months ago. The pain is still very much present. It sounds like you did everything you could as a precaution. I couldn't find any information about radiation on a human to affect a pet. I am wondering if the vet would know? Please keep us posted on how you are doing. Sending you strength. Jill (Team Member) Thank you Jill. Yeah it's the second one I have had in the last five years that I have lost to cancer and it seems to get harder with each. I like to think I did my homework on this guy for possible prevention however. I spoke with two vets and they both said there is no data on a connection between the radiation effecting pets after this procedure. They did agree on the apron as a precaution however and like the rule of keeping children at a distance they did suggest that also (which I did). I was considering boarding him before the procedure but my friends at the rescue where I foster all said you will need him with you after this for support, and they were all very correct about that. He very much helped me. But I still would like to know if I caused this since I have dogs around me 24/7 from our rescue. Would like to prevent this for anyone going through this procedure in the future if possible. If, (again) that actually had anything to do with it. Thank you again for the reply. losing two dogs to cancer in such a short period of time, is a lot. I am sure this has been really hard on you. It sounds like you did your homework and took every precaution. I can understand why you would want to know answers, especially since you are around dogs all the time. I would keep asking questions to your doctors. But as of now, it doesn't sound like there is a link. Please keep us posted on how you are doing. Jill (Team Member)
