Dog and cat owners consider their pets to be members of their families, and like with family members, they can become distraught when they find out their beloved pet is sick or has cancer.
Dr. William Ratterree and Dr. Carrie Kosarek of Fetch Specialty and Cancer Veterinary Centers in Brandon give local pet owners hope in helping their beloved furry family members live longer with an improved quality of life.
“We saw a need for a full-service specialty hospital in the Tampa Bay area that offered the latest treatments and technologies that could improve the quality of life for pets,” Ratterree said. “Fetch is a multi-specialty and emergency facility that holds five exam rooms, a full-service ICU, two surgery suites, a chemotherapy suite, a 16-slice helical CT, color flow ultrasonography, video endoscopy/bronchoscopy, digital radiography and radiation therapy.”
Cancer is the leading natural cause of death in older cats and dogs, but it is also one of the most treatable compared with diseases that can cause heart or kidney failure. Just like human medicine, there have been great advances in the treatment of cancer in animals, which can provide pets with quality of life.
“Fetch is also the only veterinary practice in the Tampa Bay area treating cancer with an advanced form of radiation therapy called stereotactic therapy,” Ratterree said. “Stereotactic therapy is a modernized, nonsurgical radiation therapy that delivers a higher dose of radiation in a fewer number of treatments to a targeted body area, mostly tumors that cannot be surgically removed.”
Examples of tumors that cannot be safely and effectively treated include brain, spinal, nasal, lung, adrenal, urogenital and bone tumors.
“Stereotactic therapy is a faster and more precise approach to destroying cancer cells with minimal damage to the surrounding healthy tissue,” Ratterree said. “This advanced form of radiation therapy results in more rapid tumor shrinkage.”
Fetch is an emergency care and specialty hospital that works in conjunction with primary veterinarians to help resolve health issues for pets in the area.
Visit www.fetchvets.com or call Dr. Ratterree or Dr. Kosarek at 603-8000. Fetch is located at 717 W. Robertson St. in Brandon. It is open seven days a week and 24 hours a day.
