holy smokes! 5k.... my gf is a vet tech and anyone says 5k we think chemo cause that one round (twice a week over 6 weeks)
and thats unfortunate that your boa got cancer.... and ya vet medicine is load of crap IMO. Very little research, slow advancements, and most of the advancements piggy backs human advancements while most of human advancements cannot even transfer over to animals....