Newly-opened Virginia Tech Animal Cancer Care and Research Center helps local families

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Your pets can now get treatment at the newly-opened Virginia Tech Animal Cancer Care and Research Center. The center is on the Virginia Tech Carilion Campus in Roanoke, and it offers a range of services.

A 7-year-old dog named Sandy started limping this past summer. So Dwight and Sylvia Shelton’s local veterinarian referred them to the new center.

“It’s a win for us in terms of treatment and care for her,” Dwight, Sandy’s owner, said.

The center diagnosed Sandy with Osteosarcoma in August, and she had to get one of her legs amputated. Dwight was already familiar with the center, since he recently retired from Virginia Tech and was part of the team that worked with Richmond to fund this building.

“I never thought we would be here as a part of that with our dog but it is very good that that’s happened, so we’re getting to experience the results of the clinic and what it’s going to be able to do," Dwight said.

Sandy is one of many pets now being treated at the center. It offers services like advanced diagnostic imaging, medical and surgical oncology, and the region’s only radiation oncology service for pets.

“Clients unfortunately in the past had to travel great distances to seek out radiation treatment,” Joanne Tuohy, Interim Director of the Animal Cancer Care and Research Center, said.

The center also has a mission of researching how the health of animals and people are linked together. And it’s running clinical trials aimed at destroying cancers by using different types of therapies.

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