Premier Veterinary Oncology and Advanced Pet Cancer Care in Ventura, CA

Hope Veterinary Oncology Introduce

For pet owners across Southern California, receiving a cancer diagnosis for a beloved Dogs & Cats can be an overwhelming and terrifying experience. In the Ventura region, Hope Veterinary Oncology stands as a specialized Animal hospital dedicated exclusively to providing expert and compassionate Oncology Services and advanced Pet Cancer Diagnosis and treatment. Led by a Board-Certified Veterinary Oncologist, this is not a general practice, but a focused center for advanced care where the mission is to help pets with cancer live longer, better lives with a high quality of life.

The core of the center's philosophy is a commitment to Personalized Care. They understand that every cancer, and every pet, is unique. This means moving beyond standard protocols to create treatment plans tailored to the individual patient, the specific type of tumor, and the family's goals. This detailed approach is what sets the clinic apart, ensuring that even in the most difficult and rare cases—such as a young dog developing a one-in-a-million cancer—the care provided is characterized by great comfort and Palliative Care.

The facility is equipped with state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment tools, allowing for comprehensive care under one roof. Advanced capabilities include high-level Imaging And Diagnostics like Digital Radiography (x-ray) and Ultrasound, with access to sophisticated resources like CT (CAT Scan) when needed for detailed staging or surgical planning. Treatment options are equally advanced, encompassing traditional Chemotherapy, innovative Targeted Therapeutics, and novel Cancer Immunotherapy approaches. A key specialization is Tumor-Specific Electroporation (TSE), an advanced technique that enhances the effectiveness of local tumor treatment while sparing healthy tissue.

Beyond the advanced medical technology, the team, led by Dr. Cesario, is frequently praised by California clients for their knowledgeable, supportive, and absolutely wonderful demeanor. They are dedicated to treating both the pet and the owner with exceptional empathy, clarity, and respect, making a stressful journey more manageable. This holistic approach and the warm, professional support offered to owners grappling with difficult news truly solidify Hope Veterinary Oncology's standing as a premier specialist center in the region.

Location and Accessibility for the Ventura Community

Hope Veterinary Oncology is conveniently located in Ventura, California, making it a critical regional resource for specialized veterinary care for clients traveling from Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Thousand Oaks, and beyond in Southern California.

Address: 1885 Knoll Dr, Ventura, CA 93003, USA

The clinic is committed to ensuring that all clients and their pets can access their life-saving care without undue physical stress. The facility's commitment to accessibility and inclusion is a cornerstone of their client experience:

Accessibility Features: The premises are designed to be fully accessible, including a Wheelchair accessible entrance, a designated Wheelchair accessible parking lot, a Wheelchair accessible restroom, and Wheelchair accessible seating in the waiting areas.
Amenities and Crowd: The center features comfortable and inclusive amenities, including a Restroom and a Gender-neutral restroom. They are proud to be an LGBTQ+ friendly establishment, ensuring a welcoming environment for all members of the community.
Planning a Visit: Due to the highly specialized nature of the care, appointments are necessary to ensure the oncologist can dedicate the necessary time to each complex case. Appointment required and Appointments recommended are standard policy.

Advanced Veterinary Oncology Services Offered

As a highly specialized center, Hope Veterinary Oncology offers a suite of advanced services focusing on the entire cancer journey—from accurate Cancer Diagnosis and innovative treatment to managing pain and supporting overall quality of life. The treatments listed below represent a comprehensive, cutting-edge approach to pet cancer care for Dogs & Cats.

Advanced Diagnostics and Imaging:
- Specialized Diagnostic Tests for cancer staging and treatment planning.
- Advanced Imaging And Diagnostics including in-house Digital Radiography (x-ray) and Ultrasound.
- Access to detailed cross-sectional imaging, such as CT (CAT Scan), often critical for pre-surgical planning.
- Cytological procedures like Fine Needle Aspiration and Aspirates & Cytology for rapid tumor assessment.
Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatment:
- Traditional and metronomic Chemotherapy protocols.
- Innovative Cancer Treatment options including Targeted Therapeutics.
- Advanced biological therapies such as Cancer Immunotherapy.
- Minimally invasive local tumor treatment using Tumor-Specific Electroporation (TSE).
Integrative and Supportive Care:
- Integrative Oncology services, combining traditional and complementary therapies.
- Pain Management strategies tailored for oncology patients.
- Supportive care including Palliative Care for comfort and quality of life.
- Nutritional support through Diet/Food Therapy and personalized Food Therapy plans.
- Alternative therapies like Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine *Coming Soon* to complement medical treatments.

Key Features and Compassionate Highlights

Hope Veterinary Oncology’s distinction comes from its specific focus and the deeply caring approach of its team, making them a pillar of specialized care in the California pet community.

Board-Certified Expertise: The center is led by a Veterinary Oncologist who is a board-certified specialist, ensuring the highest level of expert medical knowledge and access to the latest therapies for Cancer Care.
Advanced Electroporation Technology: Offering Tumor-Specific Electroporation (TSE) provides a critical treatment option for tumors that may be surgically challenging or non-responsive to other treatments, offering a powerful, minimally invasive tool for local disease control.
Integrative Treatment Philosophy: The holistic view of Integrative Oncology, which includes Acupuncture and Food Therapy, focuses on the pet's entire well-being, not just the tumor, thereby maximizing quality of life throughout the treatment process.
Exceptional Emotional Support: Client reviews consistently highlight the staff’s loving care, great comfort, and wonderful treatment of both pet and family. Even when a prognosis is dire, the team is dedicated to providing the best possible emotional and medical support.
Inclusion and Community: The clinic identifies as women-owned and is explicitly LGBTQ+ friendly, creating a professional and welcoming environment that prioritizes respect and understanding for all clients in the diverse California community.

Contact Information and Scheduling

If your pet has received a cancer diagnosis or requires a second opinion on Oncology Treatment, reaching out to the specialized team at Hope Veterinary Oncology is the first critical step in exploring advanced options.

Address: 1885 Knoll Dr, Ventura, CA 93003, USA
Phone: (805) 626-6551
Mobile Phone: +1 805-626-6551

As a specialist center, all consultations and procedures are by appointment. Please call the main line to coordinate a visit, ensuring the team can gather all necessary records and dedicate the appropriate time for a thorough, personalized consultation regarding your pet’s Cancer Diagnosis and treatment plan.

What is Worth Choosing Hope Veterinary Oncology

For pet owners in California facing a cancer diagnosis, choosing Hope Veterinary Oncology means securing a rare and valuable combination of world-class, specialized expertise and profound compassion. What is truly worth choosing here is the Board-Certified Veterinary Oncologist who applies the latest scientific advancements—including Cancer Immunotherapy and Tumor-Specific Electroporation (TSE)—within an Integrative Oncology framework. This ensures that while the disease is aggressively treated with cutting-edge Chemotherapy and Targeted Therapeutics, the pet’s comfort and quality of life are simultaneously maximized through therapies like Acupuncture and Pain Management. The center's dedication to treating every client and pet with unwavering kindness and respect, even during life's hardest moments, makes this specialist Animal hospital the definitive choice for advanced Pet Cancer Diagnosis and care in the Ventura area.

Hope Veterinary Oncology Services

Veterinarian
Acupuncture
Acupuncture can reduce symptoms from cancer (pain, weakness, inappetence, diarrhea, etc.) and can help prevent or reduce potential treatment-related side effects. Acupuncture can also improve quality of life for our older patients with chronic conditions (ex. arthritis, IVDD, kidney disease).
Aspirates & Cytology
Many types of cancer can be diagnosed using cytology. This is involves briefly placing a small needle into a mass and extracting cells (called an aspirate). We provide scratches/treats/distraction so our patient is unaware of the process. A pathologist finalizes their report in 1-2 business days.
CT (CAT Scan)
CT allows us to look at the body in 2-dimensional "slices" (if you picture a slice of bread vs a loaf). Each slice is 1-2mm thick. This allows for detailed evaluation of each organ. It is better than x-ray at finding cancer in the lungs and is often used to help a surgeon plan for surgery.
Cancer Care
Cancer Diagnosis
Cancer Immunotherapy
Cancer Treatment
Chemotherapy
When treating with chemotherapy, our goal is to provide effective treatment without compromising quality of life. This can be a delicate balance (killing as many cancer cells as possible & keeping your dog happy), but it's critical. It's also why we use both traditional and integrative approaches.
Diagnostic Tests
Diet/Food Therapy
A healthy, complete, and balanced diet is essential for a patient with cancer. We work with Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists to create a custom diet for your pet. In the near future, we also make recommendations from a TCVM Food Therapy standpoint, which is part of an Integrative approach.
Digital Radiography
Digital Radiography (x-ray)
In oncology, we most often use x-ray to assess a patient's heart and lungs, especially when a patient has a type of cancer known to spread to the lungs. This is important because treatment options (and expected lifespan) are often different if cancer has spread.
Dogs & Cats
Fine Needle Aspiration
Food Therapy
Herbal Medicine *Coming Soon*
TCVM (Traditional Chinese Veterinary Medicine) uses herbal medicine (in addition to acupuncture & food therapy) to correct imbalances in the body to restore/improve health and prevent additional disease conditions. To ensure safety, efficacy, and potency, we only use prescription herbal formulas.
Imaging And Diagnostics
Immunotherapy
Cancer immunotherapy (vaccines) can be used to stimulate a patient's immune system to kill cancer cells. Vaccines are combined with other treatments for the best outcome. We offer the Oncept Melanoma Vaccine and the Yale (cEGFR/HER2) Cancer Vaccine (clinical trial).
Integrative Oncology
Integrative Oncology combines Western medicine with evidence-based integrative or complementary treatments. This approach takes into account the whole patient (not just their cancer) and aims to improve quality of life using Western treatment as well as diet, exercise, acupuncture, herbal medicine.
Oncology Services
Oncology Treatment
Pain Management
Palliative Care
Palliative care aims to improve quality of life by decreasing symptoms (from cancer, arthritis, etc) using various types of treatment. If we are successful, patients usually live longer. Our goal is always to help patients feel better, whether we are directly treating their cancer or not.
Personalized Care
Pet Cancer Diagnosis
Targeted Therapeutics
Targeted therapeutics can be extremely effective in treating cancer in our patients. They are 'oral chemotherapy' pills, administered at home daily to every 3 days. Treatment targets a specific mutation in a pet's tumor or a receptor on the cancer cell surface and are usually well-tolerated.
Tumor-Specific Electroporation (TSE)
We are the only practice in Southern CA to offer this advanced treatment. TSE is a great alternative to radiation to help prevent incompletely or narrowly removed tumors from returning and for treating cancer in locations that are difficult to treat with surgery (eyelid, tip of nose, etc).
Ultrasound
We frequently perform abdominal ultrasound in oncology. The patient lays on their back in a padded trough. The ultrasound probe glides over their abdomen as we document "normal" vs "abnormal" for each organ. This test helps assess a patient's overall health & if cancer has spread or not.
Veterinary Oncologist

Hope Veterinary Oncology Details

From the business
Identifies as women-owned

Accessibility
Wheelchair accessible entrance
Wheelchair accessible parking lot
Wheelchair accessible restroom
Wheelchair accessible seating

Amenities
Gender-neutral restroom
Restroom

Crowd
LGBTQ+ friendly

Planning
Appointment required
Appointments recommended

Hope Veterinary Oncology Photos

Hope Veterinary Oncology Location

Hope Veterinary Oncology

California Ventura County Ventura Knoll Drive

1885 Knoll Dr, Ventura, CA 93003, USA

Hope Veterinary Oncology Reviews

An average rating of ★4.6 from 8 user reviews.★ 5★ 4★ 3★ 2★ 1

I can’t say enough about Dr. Cesario and her team at Hope.My wife and I adopted two puppies from the same litter 18 months ago. The male developed cancer in a one in a million situation.We were told by multiple vets there was no way our young dog had cancer and by the time we found our way to the clinic it was clearly too late to do anything but make him comfortable and wait out the inevitable. Horrible news.As bad as things were for us in that situation the entire Hope oncology team provided the best loving care to our dog and great comfort to me and my wife.If you ever have to face a similar situation with your pet I cannot more highly recommend the team at Hope.
October 10 · Patrick Stuver
Dr. Cesario and her staff are the most wonderful people I have ever met. They treat you and your dog absolutely wonderfully. Dr. Cesario is very knowledgeable about all aspects of taking care of your dog and you. I cannot speak highly enough about Dr. Cesario and Hope Veterinary Oncology.
January 29 · Teri Avakian
From the very first phone call to inquire about services, the staff have been extremely kind and helpful. When we went into their clinic my dog was very calm and chill, he is usually nervous but not here. The clinic is clean and smells good. Overall had a very positive experience. The staff and doctor were very patient with us and all our questions and answered all our concerns.
June 27 · Natalia A
The team really took care of our dog he was loved by all the staff and are incredibly supportive and helpful during difficult moments I couldn't thank them enough
January 13 · Travis Day
April 16 · Kevin Vigue