Human cancer treatment goes to the dogs

I was very pleased to see this news story about a vaccine to treat melanoma in dogs. Melanoma is one of the most aggressive cancers in dogs and despite equally aggressive treatment, once diagnosed, often leads to death. This vaccine holds hope for the future and reinforces the fact that human medicine and veterinary medicine are very similar. This idea is central to the Protect the Pets movement. The pet owning public believes when they go to their veterinarian they will get the same level of care and variety of treatment options offered to people. Although true in some instances, this is not the industry standard. Protect the Pets is all about driving the changes necessary to improve veterinary medicine to bring it closer to the standards available for people. I believe this can be accomplished by informing the public, and with the help of the like-minded veterinarians who have joined the movement.