Ok... so, what is Cytoxan??
Cytoxan, also known as Cyclophosphamide, is a chemotherapy drug belonging to a group of medications called Alkylating agents. Apparently, this group of drugs have been around for a long time, being one of the first classes of drugs to treat cancer. These alkylating agents work by reacting with the proteins that link up to make the DNA double helix. The agents add an alkyl group to the proteins that bond together, preventing the normal proteins to link up like they should, causing them to break. This leads to cell death. Again, think back to high school biology...
G-C and A-T (GCAT... that's how I remembered it) |
Alkylation is a little more complex, but what we really need to know is that it causes the DNA helix to not coil or uncoil properly when replicating. It is a mutation that leads to cancer cell death by taking away the ability for cancer cells to multiply. Alkylating chemotherapy agents affect every life cycle of cancer cells, so they are quite common and effective in the treatments of many different cancers.
According to many sources that I've read, the biggest side effect in cats is inappetence, vomiting, or diarrhea (which we have been lucky not to experience). Other side effects include bone marrow suppression between 5 and 14 post dose, and sterile hemorrhagic cystitis. Some dogs may have alopecia (fur loss) and some cats may lose their whiskers.
Fingers crossed! Things are going well for Stinkeroo, lets hope it continues!