Vienna Veterinary Center Helps Sheriff's Office Dog Recover From Cancer
VIENNA, VA — After a cancer battle, 8-year-old bloodhound Ranger was back at his Pittsburgh area sheriff’s office ready to return to duty. The sheriff’s office is giving credit to a Vienna veterinary center and other officers that helped him recover.
Ranger, a bloodhound based at the Allegheny County, Pennsylvania sheriff’s office, had been diagnosed with the oral cancer hard palate melanoma in April. Sheriff’s Deputy Jeff Belback, Ranger’s handler, first noticed a small growth in the dog’s mouth.
Sheriff’s office spokesperson Mike Manko told Patch that the cancer diagnosis showed it had not spread to Ranger’s lymph nodes, which would have presented a grimmer outlook. Through an aggressive treatment plan with surgery, most or all of Ranger’s cancer was removed.
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Part of that treatment plan involved two rounds of electrochemotherapy at Vienna’s Hope Advanced Veterinary Center.
“The reason that Hope Advanced Vet Center is paramount to the story and to Ranger’s recovery is because they offer an electrochemotherapy treatment that is not available anywhere in western Pennsylvania,” Manko shared. “Deputy Jeff Belback, who is Ranger’s handler and has had Ranger since he was 2 months old, drove Ranger to Virginia on 2 separate occasions for this treatment.”
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According to the veterinary center’s website, electrochemotherapy involves electric pulses given with chemotherapy to make holes in cancer cells. While the treatment’s effectiveness may vary by tumor type and size, the center says it can help control many kinds of cancerous tumors that haven’t spread to other parts of the body.
Belback would drive Ranger from Pittsburgh to Vienna from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. and leave the same day after the treatments. The sheriff’s office credits Dr. Sarah McMillan, a veterinary oncologist at Hope Advanced Veterinary Center, with helping Ranger.
Other veterinarians credited with helping Ranger are Dr. Delancey of Werntz Memorial Hospital in Verona area of Pittsburgh and Dr. Urie of BluePearl Pet Hospital in the North Hills area of Pittsburgh.
Ranger is now able to continue doing what he does best: tracking to help law enforcement. Last week, Ranger was cleared to return to duty at the sheriff’s office. The bloodhound will continue receiving a vaccine to combat oral melanoma at regular intervals for the rest of his life.
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