Tens of thousands of dollars spent, multiple vet visits and countless tears.
That was the result after Melbourne woman Caroline Schmidt's dog London was diagnosed with cancer.
In the past three years Ms Schmidt has spent more than $40,000 on treatment for the 10-year-old Northern Inuit — including the cost of bringing him back from England when she moved home — and even had to get a new credit card to pay for one of his operations.
"When your heart is involved you don't even think about the money," she told ninemsn.
"It was priceless".
London had very aggressive cancer and had a combination of surgery and chemotherapy to treat his tumours — which Ms Schmidt found on three occasions.
Vets were previously forced to rely on human oncology treatments without specific guidance on how safe or effective it may be on animals.
But now scientists have developed a new oncology treatment specifically for dogs diagnosed with mast cell tumours — the second most common cancer in dogs, after lymphosarcoma.
The medicine, which cannot be named according to obligations under the Poisons Standard 2011, is given to the sick dog orally every two days, minimising the added stress of surgery and vet visits.
It works by killing cancer cells and cutting the blood supply to skin-based mast cell tumours.
Professor Cheryl London, who has headed the research on the treatment, reacted to popular demand for canine oncology.
"The demand for cancer treatment for dogs has increased significantly over the past 10 years," she told ninemsn.
"As cancer therapies advance in human medicine, dog owners are expecting a similar level of care for their best friends."
Brisbane-based vet Dr Rod Straw, said the new treatment was "really exciting" for oncologists.
"These dogs are just like these people's kids. To go from facing certain death to 'Oh look the cancer's gone away'," he said.
"Words can't describe how happy these people are."
This new medicine has been used by Australian oncology specialists, such as Dr Straw, who could access the medicine using individual permits on a case-by-case basis.
This new medicine was approved by the APVMA in early February 2012, and is the first registered veterinary oncology treatment for dogs in Australia.
The cost of the medicine will vary with each individual dog but Dr Straw said it will be "affordable" and similar to other canine cancer treatments.
ninemsn
Ive actually spent a few thousand on an operation for one of my dogs, cant blame them really, your animals do become family members, sometimes they are even better than your own family members
than with any of the family members I have lost, honestly.