Febrile neutropenia (FN) is an important sequela in veterinary patients receiving chemotherapy. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with prolonged hospital stay and outcome in canine patients developing FN secondary to chemotherapy administration. Medical records of 70 dogs treated for FN at the University of Pennsylvania from 1997 to 2010 were retrospectively evaluated. The mean interval between chemotherapy and hospitalization was 7 days. Two-thirds of treated patients had lymphoma. The majority of patients (70%) received vincristine or doxorubicin prior to the development of FN. Tachycardia at admission, complicating medical issues, G-CSF use and decreasing neutrophil count after admission were associated with prolonged hospital stay. Hypotension and G-CSF use were significantly associated with death in-hospital. Mortality was 8.5%. Identification of factors associated with prolonged hospital stay and mortality in patients with FN may enable the development of risk-adapted treatment guidelines to minimize chemotherapy-associated morbidity and mortality.

Sixty-four dogs were treated with single-agent doxorubicin (DOX) for presumptive cardiac hemangiosarcoma (cHSA). The objective response rate (CR + PR) was 41%, and the biologic response rate (CR + PR + SD), or clinical benefit, was 68%. The median progression-free survival (PFS) for treated dogs was 66 days. The median survival time (MST) for this group was 116 days and was significantly improved compared to a MST of 12 days for untreated control dogs (P = 0.0001). Biologic response was significantly associated with improved PFS (P < 0.0001) and OS (P < 0.0001). Univariate analysis identified larger tumour size as a variable negatively associated with PFS. The high rate of clinical benefit and improved MST suggest that DOX has activity in canine cHSA.