Veterinary oncologists: which hospital, what are wait times for appts like these days?

[Anonymous]

If you've gone to a veterinary oncologist at one of the area referral vets recently, can you report on your experience (I mean, in addition to the sad experience of having a pet with cancer)? Interested in both whole practices and specific docs, for those who have multiple vets in the specialty.

And do you have a sense of how long it's taking to get an initial appointment these days?

Expecting some preliminary test results back this week for my senior doggie and want to prioritize whom to call, assuming we need to take the next steps.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

I haven’t been through this, so I can’t offer any information, but I thought I’d bump this for you because I hope someone can tell you something useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I haven’t been through this, so I can’t offer any information, but I thought I’d bump this for you because I hope someone can tell you something useful.

Thank you, PP!

[Anonymous]

Dr Foskett at Friendship is really great.

FWIW I’ve been through this 3x and the only time I feel like I got right was a young dog with a mast cell tumor. The older guys, I think I let my not wanting to let them go cloud my judgment even though I was trying not to do anything that would make them suffer.

[Anonymous]

OP adding a little more: A big priority for me is finding a specialist with really good communications skills, and preferably somewhere that's now letting owners inside. I have a dog who's terrified of going to the vet and I have trouble at the best of times getting all the information I need by phone during a curbside phone call. (My hearing problems.) When I'm talking to vets who already know me and my dogs, doing everything my phone is one thing, but for something like this with a new specialist, I want to be able to talk to a vet face to face about all the options to digest everything properly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dr Foskett at Friendship is really great.

FWIW I’ve been through this 3x and the only time I feel like I got right was a young dog with a mast cell tumor. The older guys, I think I let my not wanting to let them go cloud my judgment even though I was trying not to do anything that would make them suffer.

This is so helpful! Thanks. We go to Friendship for pretty much everything else, so there's a lot to be said for that.

And I hear you on those decisions. I've been there, even if not with cancer specifically.

Thanks again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dr Foskett at Friendship is really great.

FWIW I’ve been through this 3x and the only time I feel like I got right was a young dog with a mast cell tumor. The older guys, I think I let my not wanting to let them go cloud my judgment even though I was trying not to do anything that would make them suffer.

This is so helpful! Thanks. We go to Friendship for pretty much everything else, so there's a lot to be said for that.

And I hear you on those decisions. I've been there, even if not with cancer specifically.

Thanks again!

She’s a very good communicator but idk what they are doing re:covid.

[Anonymous]

We had a good experience at Blue Pearl in Rockville recently. We learned our dog had a mast cell tumor on a Friday and were able to call and get an appt with a surgeon for the next Monday--tumor was removed the next day. Our initial consultation with the surgeon was inside the hospital. After the first appt, they usually sent a tech out to get our dog, but I imagine they would have let us bring her in if that were easier. The surgeon also came out to our car after one of our follow-up appts to discuss next steps and additional test results.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We had a good experience at Blue Pearl in Rockville recently. We learned our dog had a mast cell tumor on a Friday and were able to call and get an appt with a surgeon for the next Monday--tumor was removed the next day. Our initial consultation with the surgeon was inside the hospital. After the first appt, they usually sent a tech out to get our dog, but I imagine they would have let us bring her in if that were easier. The surgeon also came out to our car after one of our follow-up appts to discuss next steps and additional test results.

Thanks for this!

[Anonymous]

SouthPaws lets clients inside. They have top notch doctors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:SouthPaws lets clients inside. They have top notch doctors.

Thank you, PP! I went to SouthPaws many years ago with previous generations of dogs and had good experiences. Good to know they are letting clients inside.

[Anonymous]

Seconding Blue Pearl. Our oncologist there is really good- she is easy to communicate with. We got in for an appointment in about a week and a half. First visit was in person. After that we’ve dropped off our dog for chemo- they come out to the car. Our dog LOVES going to the vet, so YMMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Seconding Blue Pearl. Our oncologist there is really good- she is easy to communicate with. We got in for an appointment in about a week and a half. First visit was in person. After that we’ve dropped off our dog for chemo- they come out to the car. Our dog LOVES going to the vet, so YMMV.

Thanks! Is that Dr. Rasmussen? I have heard good things about her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Seconding Blue Pearl. Our oncologist there is really good- she is easy to communicate with. We got in for an appointment in about a week and a half. First visit was in person. After that we’ve dropped off our dog for chemo- they come out to the car. Our dog LOVES going to the vet, so YMMV.

Thanks! Is that Dr. Rasmussen? I have heard good things about her.

Yes! We think she’s wonderful

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:SouthPaws lets clients inside. They have top notch doctors.

Thank you, PP! I went to SouthPaws many years ago with previous generations of dogs and had good experiences. Good to know they are letting clients inside.

We had an excellent experience at Southpaws. Our 4 year old lab had a mast cell tumor removed and had follow-up chemotherapy. Three years later, we found another mast cell tumor. Southpaws did the surgery for that one, but follow-up chemo was not needed this time. Our dog died of old age at 14. He received such excellent care there that he was excited every time he got out of the car.