Louie from New Zealand

After Louie had been with us for a couple of years, he had knee issues and had to have both cruciate ligaments operated on. When he was 9 years old, he got sick at Christmas time and ended up having a benign growth and his spleen removed.

In June 2022, we took him to see our local vet as we found some lumps in his neck. Louie was diagnosed with lymphoma and given 4-8 weeks to live.

We were given a couple of treatment options including chemotherapy or steroids. Chemo wasn’t an option for us, and we didn’t like the sound of the side effects of large doses of steroids. For one thing, making a Beagle even more hungry than usual would have been a challenge.

Our vet told us about a drug trial that would possibly suit Louie if we were interested. An appointment was made to take Louie to Veterinary Specialists Aotearoa (VSA) in Auckland for an initial assessment. At the end of the initial visit, we were given an initial prescription of Monepantel and an appointment for a follow up visit in 2 weeks.

Louie took the Monepantel tablets for those 2 weeks with no side effects and just carried on with the normal life of a 12-year-old Beagle. At the 2-week check-up, it was found that Louie’s lymph nodes had shrunk 20% and there were no side effects from the drug.

Louie has had several follow up visits to VSA and at the last check-up, the size of his lymph nodes that can be easily measured have hardly changed since the 2-week measurements were taken.

Louie has continued taking the Monepantel; we are now 9 months on from the initial diagnosis and Louie is still going strong. He’s still enjoying a good quality of life and fingers crossed he still has a little while left yet.

The Monepantel has been a great treatment for Louie as it has extended his life well beyond the initial prognosis with no side-effects and has maintained his quality of life.

 

Iain, New Zealand