What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 6pm Tuesday 9am - 6pm Wednesday 9am - 6pm Thursday 9am - 6pm Friday 9am - 6pm

Northwest Veterinary Specialists Oncology Department

Home
United Kingdom
Runcorn
Northwest Veterinary Specialists Oncology Department

Northwest Veterinary Specialists is part of the Linnaeus Veterinary Ltd (A Mars Company).

24/07/2026

😍Everyone meet the bestest boy Marcus😍

😞Marcus first came to Northwest Veterinary Specialists in June this year following a history of lameness of his left hind leg.😞

☢Sadly, x-rays and a CT scan revealed an aggressive lesion of the left femur which was highly suggestive of a bone tumour, such as an osteosarcoma.☢

🏥Due to the highly aggressive nature of bone tumours, the risk of the bone fracturing at the tumour location, and pain caused by the tumour, amputation was advised.🏥

🙌So Marcus had his left hind leg amputated and he recovered really well. 🙌

💊Marcus started his chemotherapy with Team Oncology two weeks after his amputation surgery and is due to return to us next week for his second treatment.💊

🤩We wanted to show you how amazing Marcus is at zooming around on three legs - he's decided that he's much more streamlined so can go faster! 👏🤩

😍Here he is at day 23 following surgery enjoying a woodland walk and then at day 31 following surgery playing with his frisbee! Isn't he amazing!🥏

🥰Team Onc love you Marcus and look forward to seeing you for the rest of your chemotherapy treatments🥰

06/06/2026

🎉Huge congratulations to Jodie and Bex, who loved presenting at the European Society of Veterinary Oncology Congress 🎉

Their talk explored a challenging case of acute undifferentiated leukaemia and highlighted how oncology nursing is so much more than treatment delivery. It’s about spotting subtle changes, supporting owners through tough decisions, and keeping quality of life at the centre.

They also showcased how tools such as quality of life scales (HHHHHMM and Lap of Love) can help guide both clinical judgement and families at home.

A proud moment for our oncology nursing team who always go above and beyond for every animal they care for.

19/05/2026

In recognition of Skin Cancer Awareness Month, our oncology team has compiled key guidance on reducing risk and identifying early signs of skin cancer in pets.

Risk Reduction Tips:

🌞Minimise sun exposure between 11am–3pm

🧴Apply pet‑safe sun cream to high‑risk areas (ears, nose, abdomen, especially in light‑coloured or thin‑coated pets)

🌳Ensure access to shaded outdoor spaces

😎 Discourage cats from resting on sunny windowsills, as UV rays pe*****te glass

Early Indicators to Watch For:

🔎New or changing masses

🤕Non‑healing ulcers or sores

🥵Dark or unusual skin pigmentation

🙀Persistent itching or irritation

🐭Alterations in existing moles or skin tags

If you observe any of these signs, prompt veterinary evaluation is crucial. Early detection significantly improves outcomes.⏲️

17/05/2026

Huge congratulations to three incredible members of our oncology team for their contributions to the second edition of Small Animal Internal Medicine for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses. We're especially proud to see oncology included for the very first time in this edition. 🎉

Caroline Boothroyd, RVN and Veterinary Technician Specialist (VTS) in Oncology and Medicine, contributed to chapters on a**l sac apocrine gland adenocarcinoma and palliative care.

Oncology diplomates Mary Marrington and Jess Grant also shared their expertise with Mary covering neoplasia of the respiratory system, including nasal adenocarcinomas, pulmonary carcinoma/adenocarcinomas and metastatic tumours, while Jess covered urogenital neoplasia, mammary neoplasia and urothelial carcinoma.

Caroline shared: "The first edition of this book was my go-to for my internal medicine VTS preparation, and this book will appeal to nurses wanting to further their knowledge in individual disciplines."

An amazing achievement and a real reflection of the knowledge, dedication and passion within our team. The book is available on Amazon for anyone wanting to add it to their collection.

17/03/2026

🤩Everyone meet Freddie🤩

🤝Freddie first came to visit us in October 2025 following a history of vomiting. Initial investigation at his primary care vets showed that there were some changes to his spleen and a stomach foreign body. 🤝

✂️During surgery to remove the foreign body it was discovered that Freddie also had an intestinal mass, this was also removed.✂️

🔬Samples of the spleen revealed normal extramedullary haematopoiesis which is production of blood cells outside of the bone marrow.🔬

🫩Unfortunatly, the intestinal mass was discovered to be histiocytic sarcoma.🫩
🧬Canine histiocytic sarcoma (HS) is a highly aggressive malignant tumour that arises from the histiocytic cells (cells that help the immune system).🧬

🤔Treatment depends on the location, extent, and stage of the disease.🤔

🩻We advised that Freddie should have full staging with a CT scan and ultrasound for sampling of organs. 🩻

🎉Thankfully all the results showed that there was no evidence of involvement of any other organs, but it is possible that there is undectable tumour remaining.🎉

💊Therefore chemotherapy was advised and we adminstered six treatments with lomustine oral chemotherapy.💊

🎉Freddie has been very well during his chemotherapy protocol and deffinatly enjoyed the tasty snacks used to administer the chemotherapy capsules.🎉

🩻We look forward to seeing Freddie in a few weeks for his restaging CT scan.🔬

🎉But for now here he is celebrating finishing his protocol with some snacks!🎉

💜We love you Freddie💜

25/02/2026

🤩Everyone meet Floyd🤩

🤝Floyd first came to NWVS in November 2025 with a history of lameness on his right hind leg. His primary care vets had treated Floyd with pain relief and reduced exercise which worked well initally for him.🛋

🩻The lameness returned and Floyd was refered to our surgery team with a suspected cruciate ligamant rupture. X-rays sadly showed a bone lesion of his right femur, close to his knee. This was highly suspicious of a bone tumour.🩻

☢️Floyd then had a CT scan of his chest, abdomen, and his hind legs, this was to assess for any metastatic spread ☢️ thankfully none was noted.🙌

🔬A biopsy of the affect bone was submitted for a**lysis, and unfortunatly showed that this bone lesion was an osteosarcoma.🔬

😟Osteosarcoma is an aggressive cancer, that is also painful due to the bone destruction. 🙁

✂️Floyd had surgery a few days later to have his right hind leg amputated. He came through the surgery and recovery really well and went home the following day.🏡

🧬As osteosarcoma is highly metastatic, it was advised that Floyd should follow up the surgery with chemotherapy.🧬

💉So once he was fully healed we started Floyd with a four treatment course of carboplatin, one treatment every three weeks.💊

🪅Floyd coped pretty well with the chemotherapy course and by the time of the third treatment Floyd was up to his old Husky antics of howling whenever he possibly could, just for fun, and was playing with his toys - he's surprising agile for a large boy with three legs!💖

🙌Floyd recently completed his chemotherapy course🙌 Well done Floyd 🙌

🩻Our plan is to recheck Floyd in one month, and to perform a CT scan to assess of there has been any progression or spread of the cancer!🩻

🥰Team Oncology loves you Floyd🥰

05/02/2026

🤩Everyone meet Bella🤩

🗓In July 2025 Bella's parents noticed that some of her lymph nodes were enlarged so sought help from her primary care vets.🤓

🧬Her vet took some biopsies of these lymphnodes, and unfortunatly the results showed that Bella had lymphoma.🧪

🤝So Bella was referred to Team Oncology immediatly after the diagnosis so we could discuss options.🤝

🧫Lymphoma is a cancer of the white blood cells and can respond very well to chemotherapy, but is usually not a cureable disease. The aim for chemotherapy is for a 'complete remission' where the lymphoma is no longer clinically detectable (lymph nodes small in size) and that Bella feels really well in herself.😎

💊We opted to start Bella with a 16 treatment, 25-week multidrug chemotherapy protocol (CHOP).💊

💊This involves the use of prednisolone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, and epirubicin on a rotation over the 25-week course. 🤝Her primary care practice were also invloved and administered four of the treatments for us.👌

💃Bella rocked her treatment from the very beginning and completed her protocol with us last week.🪅🪅

🧐Bella will have monthly check ups with her primary care vets, but knowing that we are only a phone call away!☎️

🥰🥰Team Oncology love you Bella, and in the nicest possible way,🥰 we hope not to see you soon😉🥰

04/02/2026

❤️Everyone meet Bertie❤️

🤝Bertie first came to visit Team Oncology in October 2025 after his primary care vets detected a mass associated with one of his a**l glands, and they were suspicious it could be cancer.😔

😴Bertie had a general anaesthetic for us to perform a CT scan and take some samples of the mass to get a diagnosis.🧪

🩻The CT scan allowed to to see how big the a**l gland mass was, and if the local lymph nodes within his abdomen were enlarged.📏

🔬The samples of the mass confirmed our suspicions of cancer and that the mass was an apocrine gland a**l sac adenocarcinoma. 🧬

📈Cocker spaniels are also reported to be at an increased risk of this form of cancer.📊

🙌Thankfully, the CT and further sampling (the lymph nodes close to the tumour, liver, and spleen) showed that there was no metastasis (spread) of the cancer.🙌

✂️Therefore Bertie was refered to our surgery depertment where he had the affected a**l gland removed. ✂️

🧬Due to the nature of this type of cancer, and the fact that there were narrow surgical margins the risk of recurrence is possible, and chemotherapy was advised.🧬

💉Therefore Bertie was scheduled to recieve four treatments of carboplatin, one treatment every 3 weeks.💉

🫣Bertie gave us a little scare at the time of his third treatment as a 'nodule' was felt in the area of the affected/removed a**l glad so he was sedated to have some samples taken. Thankfully these results showed no evidence that this 'nodule' was recurrance of the cancer! 🙌 Phew!!🙌

🪅🪅Bertie went on to smash his planned protocol and completed his chemotherapy course last week!!🪅🪅

❤️We look forward to seeing Bertie for his check ups.❤️

💗Well done Bertie, Team Oncology love you💗

28/01/2026

🎉Everyone meet Chester!🎉

🦸‍♂️ He's one of our super hero blood donors! 🦸‍♂️

27/01/2026

🐱Everyone meet Phoebe🐱

🧬Little Phoebe was first refered to Team Oncology in January 2025 after she had developed a lump affecting her left eye. The lump grew quickly and was starting to close over her eye.🧬

💉Samples of the lump were taken and revealed that Phoebe had lymphoma.🔬

🤕By the time Phoebe atrived to us her left eye was completly shut and was weeping. Phoebe was always a very chatty catto but she was feeling a little subdued, but thankfully she was eating well.🫩

☢️Treatment options for Phoebe were radiation therapy or chemotherapy.☢️

💉Due limited availibility of radiation treatment centres we opted for chemotherapy for her.💉

💫So at the end of January 2025, we started a COP protocol. This involved the use of two chemotherapy agents along side a steroid.💫
✅️Week 1: Vincristine and cyclophosphamide
✅️Week 2: Vincristine only
✅️Week 3: Vincristine only
✅️Week 4: Vincristine and cyclophosphamide
✅️Every three weeks: Vincristine and cyclophosphamide.

🙌Over the weeks the lump grandually reduced in size, until disappearing completly, showing she was in remission from the disease, and she is back to her super sassy and sweet self 🙌

🎉🎉Last week Phoebe completed her ONE YEAR of treatment!🎉🎉

🤩Phoebe was a little rockstar for all of her treatments, even though she was a wiggly little worm!💖

💖Well done Phoebe💖

🎉Team Oncology love you Phoebe 💖(and those little love nips you very affectionatly gave us🫶) and we look forward to seeing you soon💪

Address

Delamere House, Ashville Point
Runcorn
WA73FW

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 6pm
Tuesday	9am - 6pm
Wednesday	9am - 6pm
Thursday	9am - 6pm
Friday	9am - 6pm

Telephone

+441928711400

Website

http://www.nwspecialists.com/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Northwest Veterinary Specialists Oncology Department posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Want your business to be the top-listed Pet Store/pet Service in Runcorn?