Many thanks to everyone who sent in their responses for Part I of our 2010 Tripawds Treatment and Recovery Survey about Canine Amputation and Cancer Care. Now, here’s Part II, which focuses on canine bone cancer and alternative medicine.

Please be sure to complete the 2010 Tripawds Care Survey Part 1. You will be redirected here to part 2 upon submission.

Once again, Tripawds is holding an incentive drawing for another $10 Café Cash gift certificate. One lucky winner can use it toward anything from the new Tripawds Gift Shop.

To be entered in the drawing, just fill out Part II of the survey below (and Part I if you haven’t already done so), no later than Monday, March 22 at 12 midnight, Pacific Time.

We’ll continue taking responses indefinitely. Stay tuned for our findings from your answers, here in Jerry’s blog and his three legged dog discussion forums. Thanks for taking time out to help us with this impawtant research.

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Wyatt Ray Dawg was busy today picking a name out of his paw’s hat.

While he didn’t quite understand what all the excitement was about, he randomly selected the first winner of our 2010 Tripawds Amputation and Cancer Care Treatment Survey drawing.

And, we are hoppy to announce, the winner is …

Randy B. & his Tripawd, Ginger

Ginger will be receiving $10 in Café Cash to spend toward anything she wants in the all new – and much improved – Tripawds Gift Shop!

Thank you to everyone who submitted answers! We’ve received 62 responses so far, but we’d love more, so remember you can submit your answers anytime you’d like.

Meanwhile, Admin is working on Part II of this impawtant survey, which focuses on cancer care, holistic therapies and metastasis. When it goes live soon, we’ll have a second drawing for another $10 winner for the new Tripawds Gift Shop.

Stay tuned for preliminary findings from the Part 1 survey results, and new questions coming soon in Part 2. And be sure to drop by Ginger’s blog to leave a comment with congratulations for Ginger & Randy!

In our previous discussions with canine rehabilitation specialists from California Animal Rehabilitation Center (CARE) we discussed fitness and conditioning, and coping with amputation recovery. In this final installment, we hear the doctors discuss pain indicators, post-surgery advice for pain medications and how to choose quality supplements.

Here are some of CARE’s post-surgery tips to remember:

• Keep an eye out for pain medication side effects; if you’re concerned, stop the medication.
• Use supplements only when they are needed
• Choose supplements that have been third party tested by unbiased organizations such as ConsumerLab.com.

Many thanks to the pawesome staff at California Animal Rehabilitation Center in Southern California for helping us bring this series to you. If you are lucky enough to live nearby, be sure to visit this incredible facility and see how they can help your Tripawd stay strong and live hoppy!

Catch Part I: Canine Rehabilitation: Exercises and Stretches with CARE

Catch Part II: Canine Rehabilitation: Amputation Recovery Advice with CARE

In this second of our three part series with Drs. Jessica Waldman and Amy Kramer from California Animal Rehabilitation Center (CARE), the good doctors answer popular questions Tripawd pawrents want answers to:

• Who has it harder: front, or rear leg amputees?
• Do dogs get depressed?
• How can we help our dogs heal faster from surgery?

While rehab is great for Tripawds, Dr. Waldman says she wishes she could see all of her rehab clients before they have surgery; when they are still young, healthy puppies. If she could, she would warn pawrents about seemingly harmless fun that could result in injuries later on.

She would tell pawrents not to let their dogs jump in and out of trucks, or play Frisbee without warming up and cooling down. She would also tell them to use a ramp instead of jumping into trucks or on furniture. Because if pawrents wait until their dog is injured to take her advice, that’s when things get complicated. Changing a dog’s behavior patterns is another hurdle to add on top of recovery.

In the next and final discussion we have with Drs. Kramer and Waldman, we’ll address concerns about supplements and pain medication.

Many thanks to the pawesome staff at California Animal Rehabilitation Center in Southern California for helping us bring this series to you. If you are lucky enough to live nearby, be sure to visit this incredible facility and see how they can help your Tripawd stay strong and live hoppy!

Catch Part 1: Canine Rehabilitation: Exercises and Stretches with CARE

Catch Part III: Canine Rehabilitation: Pain Meds and Supplement Tips from CARE

What a great time it is to be a Tripawd. With the increasing number of animal rehabilitation practitioners, or what humans call “physical therapists,” three legged dogs can now take advantage of the same life-changing therapies that humans do.

Tripawds recently visited Southern California, and were lucky enough to spend the afternoon with one of the most respected animal rehabilitation centers in the region, California Animal Rehabilitation (CARE).

The founders of CARE, veterinarian Jessica Waldman, VMD, CVA, CCRT, and physical therapist Amy L. Kramer, PT, DPT, CCRT, are partners at one of the few  rehabilitation centers in the country that has a vet and a physical therapist on staff, both certified in canine rehabilitation.

Drs. Waldman and Kramer were kind enough to spend time with us to answer Tripawd member’s questions about rehabilitation. And here in part 1, “Stretching and Exercises with Happy Face,” they demo conditioning exercises on this two year old pup who was hit by car. Happy Face is just a few weeks post op and is in therapy because he has neck, lower back, pelvic pain and phantom pain caused by the accident.

CARE’s Exercise Tips to Remember:

• Be creative and find new activities to do together, such as creating homemade obstacle courses and playing new games that can help with mobility.
• Create body awareness by doing things like playing with your Tripawd’s paws to help her connect her leg movements with her brain.
• Research canine physical therapy to show you different activities that are both fun and rehabilitative.

Many thanks to everyone at California Animal Rehabilitation Center in Los Angeles for helping us bring this series to you. If you are lucky enough to live nearby, be sure to visit this incredible facility and see how their staff can help your dog stay strong and live hoppy!

Catch Part II: Canine Rehabilitation: Amputation Recovery Advice with CARE

Catch Part III: Canine Rehabilitation: Pain Meds and Supplement Tips from CARE

Here at last, the first ever comprehensive treatment and recovery survey about canine amputation and cancer care. Many thanks to our Tripawds members who contributed to the creation of this important ongoing project.

Please take a moment to complete Part One below. Submit it by midnight on Sunday, February 21st and you’ll be entered into a drawing where one lucky pawrent will get a $10 Café Cash gift certificate valid for any Café Press items including Tripawds apparel and gifts!

Upon submission of the 2010 Tripawds Care Survey below will be redirected to Part 2, which covers cancer-specific concerns. Stay tuned for regular updates with interesting findings from this ongoing survey, here in Jerry’s blog and his three legged dog discussion forums.

Update, 3/7/10: Please be sure to take Part II of this very impawtant survey too! 2010 Tripawds Care Survey, Part II

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A fellow Tripawds member told us about this site in our Discussion Forums a while back, and we want to make sure you know about it.

DogFoodAdvisor.com, is a compilation of all of the latest dog food ratings, reviews and recall information. You can also learn about feeding tips and tools, red flag ingredients, and more helpful nutrition articles about dogs and diets.

Founded by Dr. Mike Sageman, a former chemist and Doctor of Dental Surgery, DogFoodAdvisor.com is an unbiased resource for all of us who are confused about what commercial pet foods are right for our companion animals.

The site was started after Mike lost his own beloved companion, Penny, in 2007, as a result of eating tainted pet food. Mike has turned Penny’s tragic death into a pawesome resource that is helping many pawrents make healthier choices for their dogs.

Stay tuned in the Tripawds Nutrition Blog for an upcoming interview with Dr. Sageman.

When pawrents learn that their dog has bone cancer, they often second guess their decisions leading up to the diagnosis. They find themselves wondering “Why didn’t we see it? Maybe we should’ve done this…or that…” Many wonder; if we knew he had cancer sooner, would things be better?

Sarah was one of those pawrents. She and her 5 year old Portuguese water dog, Jake, recently came to us through Tazzie, a mutual friend in Canada. Sarah posted in the forums, looking for advice when Jake’s spinal bone cancer became dramatically worse.

She and Jake had walked a long road up to the bone cancer diagnosis. His behaviors exhibited possible diagnoses ranging from a ruptured disc  to arthritis. When cancer was finally discovered, Jake wasn’t an amputation candidate because the cancer (later inconclusively diagnosed as chondrosarcoma) was in his spine.

Sarah found little information online about bone cancer in the spine, and unfortunately we too made the same discovery. Sadly, in just eight weeks, Jake’s health rapidly declined and the intense pain was too much to bear. After a bone biopsy was taken, he could hardly walk and suffered from bouts of intense pain. Sarah released him from his pain on December 12th, just two days later.

Afterward, Sarah told us that she was completely unprepared for the way in which bone cancer in the spine presents itself in dogs. It was distressing not to find even an ounce of hope or ways to cope.

But Jake’s death will not be in vain. Sarah wrote the following summary of her experience, to help anyone else who might find themselves with a dog suspected of having spinal bone cancer. We are grateful for the time she took to help others in this way.

Please read on to learn about the symptoms, behaviors and progression of this devastating presentation of bone cancer.

Swim on, Jake, you will never be forgotten . . .

Primary Chondrosarcoma of the spine – Jake’s Story

by Sarah Crook

Written in the hope that reading it you will be more prepared to cope with this awful disease than I was. The progress of the disease from no symptoms to death took 8 weeks. The cancer was located in the C7 vertebra (lower neck).

Early signs (first two weeks):

• A stiffness that developed after 15 to 20 minutes walking. Jake woke up in the morning seemingly fine – the stiffness was only obvious with exercise and occurred even with moderate exercise, like leash walking. Round the house Jake’s activity seemed normal and the stiffness was not apparent (this pattern seems unlike what I have read about arthritis where the dog wakes stiff, then it gradually wears off).
• A reluctance to go up/downhill that I noticed when walking Jake off-leash. Jake still followed but lagged behind.
• A cautious approach to going up/down stairs especially after a walk when he had stiffened up
• Cautious approach to getting in and out of car – fairly subtle. Just a hesitation before jumping and a preference to climb in rather than jump..
• A reluctance to stretch his head down to eat or drink. Backed off and barked at his food bowl until I raised it up.
• Very subtle – I only thought of this in retrospect – sometimes a slight unsteadiness when he cocked his leg for a pee.

Middle period (middle four weeks):

• After 2 weeks Jake was seen by a vet who physically examined him and found stiffness in his neck and a reaction (growl/snap) when upper back was pressed hard. Soft tissue injury was suspected and Jake put on Metacam and restricted exercise.
• On Metacam he seemed livelier around the house and more playful – but the stiffness and stiff-legged gait still continued when exercised and as things progressed, would start after only 5mins. A video clip taken at this time shows his normal walk when setting out, then the stiff-legged ‘walking on eggshells’ gait that he would suddenly adopt; and his cautious approach to going down a step.
• After 14 days of Metacam and no obvious improvement, Jake was put on Robaxin – a muscle relaxant. Robaxin made him much WORSE. He was clearly uncomfortable in the house – standing looking miserable, seemingly afraid of sitting or lying down (as if he thought it would hurt – which it probably did). His back legs became noticeably weak and he hard difficulty climbing upstairs (ataxia). I was especially aware of him being restless through the night (prior to this he slept well) – he would sleep for a few hours then wake apparently in discomfort and take 5 or 10 minutes to lever himself up and settle into a new position. Later, I found out from the oncologist that this was not unexpected – Jake’s muscles would have been protecting the painful part of his spine, and with the muscle relaxant they could no longer do this.
• After 5 days took him off Robaxin and the vet put him back on Metacam. Ataxia lessened, slept well again, things seemed to improve – but in retrospect he did not recover to pre-Robaxin level. Jake started doing ‘girlie’ pees and if he tried to cock his leg consistently lost his balance. I later learned the weakness in his back legs and the uncoordinated gait (‘ataxia’) that developed were the result of the tumour and/or associated inflamed tissue compressing the spinal cord.

End Phase (last two weeks):

• Increasing unsteadiness of back legs so took Jake once more back to his vet. Same stiffness in neck and sore place on upper back. Blood samples were taken to rule out the slight chance of a tick born disease and vet referred Jake to a surgical specialist and a neurologist.
• Surgeon examined Jake and suspected ruptured disc – recommended MRI.
• Neurologist examined Jake and suspected lesion in lower neck and upper back (either two separate ones or one big one) Recommended CAT scan.
• Cat scan showed tumour in C7 vertebra about 2×2cm in size, and a biopsy was taken. I met with an oncologist and decided to have one radiation treatment to see if it would reduce the pain and inflammation. If not, I would have him put to sleep.

Last Two Days:

Jake came home on a Thursday afternoon after having the CAT scan and bone biopsy the previous night. He was on Perkocet but a couple of hours after getting home had a bout of severe pain – later I thought this episode must be similar to ‘breakthrough’ pain suffered by human cancer victims.

He had two more of these attacks on Friday night and then early Saturday morning, in spite of having started on stronger pain relief (morphine and Gabapentin – and more Metacam, although he deteriorated so fast I never got around to adding this to the cocktail) and they all followed the same pattern – 5 to 10 minutes of increasingly fast panting, signs of acute pain (groaning and struggling to his feet to stand hunched over, head hanging, tongue lolling) lasting 10 – 15 minutes; 20 – 40 minutes of gradually winding down (I could get him to sit on my lap and would rub him and try to calm him). On Saturday I decided enough was enough, it was too late to try radiation therapy, and I had him put to sleep that afternoon…

In retrospect

• I am not sure if I wish I had asked for an X-ray early on and found the tumor sooner. Early diagnosis would have meant when he could still run around I would not have been limiting his exercise and keeping him on-leash all the time… and there would have been time to plan treatment such as radiation therapy. However, the bone biopsy would also have been done sooner and maybe even early on the consequences (huge increase in pain and decrease in mobility) would have been the same as below – see next point.
• I would not have had the bone biopsy done without much more careful consideration – I blame this for the rapid deterioration in Jake’s condition at the end – hugely increasing the pain and causing increased inflammation that severely impacted his mobility and comfort level: he could hardly walk when he came home his back-end was so uncoordinated and weak.
• I would have asked the oncologist for pain meds. to deal with the ‘breakthrough’ pain (if indeed that was what it was). If there aren’t any effective drugs to deal with it, I would have at least discussed what I could/should do if these attacks happened.
• I would have had the consulting oncologist leave a prescription for stronger pain medication with an 24hr animal clinic in case Jake suddenly got worse in the night or at the weekend when she could not be contacted.
• I would have got the contact details of a call-out vet who could come and put Jake to sleep when Jake’s own vet clinic was closed….

Jake’s own vet and the specialists he referred me to were consistently caring and conscientious. Both contacted me this week after I wrote to them raising some of the issues I mention above. They spent nearly an hour going through things with me, so I think they deserve credit for this, especially my vet, as he must have known the length of time in getting to a diagnosis would be a tricky subject to discuss.

Not a happy end to a bright and loving creature. If you are facing the same I know reading the above will be distressing – but I hope it will help you make the right choices for your pet.

Best wishes, Sarah

Jerry was our first dog, and even after his leg amputation in 2006, we knew zilch about canine rehabilitation (known as “physical therapy” in the human world). It’s only recently that we’ve become aware of this life-changing therapy, and we want to start sharing what we are learning with all of you.

Connecticut-based “Wizard of Paws,” Dr. Debbie Gross Saunders was brought to our attention by our friend, renowned dog behaviorist and trainer Sarah Wilson.

Dr. Saunders is a certified canine rehabilitation practitioner who is well regarded in the performance sports dog world. She is one of the founders of the first and only university based program in canine rehabilitation – University of Tennessee’s Canine Physical Rehabilitation Program. Along with her therapy services, she teaches  and has a variety of DVDs to help dog parents practice safe and effective therapy at home.

Dr. Saunders was kind enough to send us a copy of her newest video, “Osteoarthritis and Your Dog” for review.

Osteoarthritis and Your Dog: What it is, and How to Help

Osteoarthritis is a painful, degenerative condition that affects dogs of all ages. When one of these arthritic dogs is told that a spare leg  has to be amputated, pawrents agonize over the amputation decision more than others. They wonder:

Can a three legged, arthritic dog have a good life?

After watching Debbie’s video, we think that for most dogs, consistent therapy exercises like the one in Dr. Saunder’s video will go a long way in providing a great quality of life as a Tripawd.

The first half of the video will hit you with a lot of information. Be sure to have a notepad ready to take notes. Although we wished it had informational graphics to study, Dr. Saunders does a fantastic job conveying what we need to know about osteoarthritis if your dog receives an osteoarthritis diagnosis.

The rest of the video is an awesome instructional guide to performing canine massage and range-of-motion exercises at home. Dr. Saunders discusses why these exercises are important, and how to tell if you’re working your dog too hard.

She also gives tips to great therapy products that we like, such as Bella’s Pain Pack. Lastly, she kindly provides cost-saving ideas for making your own therapy exercise tools at home.

Catch a glimpse of “Osteoarthrits and Your Dog,” here on the Wizard of Paws You Tube Channel.

Tracy Snow-Cormier, pawrent to Tripawd Maggie, and Tripawds Supporter, is a fan of Dr. Saunders, and loves this DVD. Tracy says that  “I had an interest in Debbie’s new DVD because I have one of my dogs with start of arthritis in her wrists. I wanted to have a safe way to exercise and strengthen her, and know that I wasn’t going to do further damage to her wrists.”

About the DVD, Tracy says that

“The low cost to do most of her exercises for the dogs is great. From doing basic obedience flatwork to doing theraball work, to low cavaletti work. It is easy for someone to do the exercises with your arthritic dog with very little cost…with the exception of the treadmills!”

We think you’ll find “Osteoarthritis and Your Dog” just as informative and useful. If you order it on Debbie’s website, let us know what you think!

Tripawd Codie Rae told us about a huge Federal Drug Administration (FDA) recall for the veterinary surgery drugs “ketamine” and another rumored recall for the drug “butorphanol.”

Ketamine is used for everything from teeth cleaning, to amputation.

As many as five cats have died as a direct result of contaminated ketamine, but thus far, the ketamine recall has been completely botched by the FDA.

Much like the pet food recalls of previous years, this mishandling has resulted in mass confusion in the veterinary world over what specific dates, lots numbers, etc., are actually being recalled.

Thousands of vets might unknowingly have the contaminated versions in their practices.

The Veterinary Information Network, a resource for vets, wrote this article about the poor job the FDA has done with the recall.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the drug butorphanol is also rumored to be on the recall list, but the FDA hasn’t released anything about it.

For more details, you can read this article in the Pet Connections Blog. Also, this article in the San Francisco Chronicle discusses the recall, and specifics about the broken link of trust between veterinarians and the FDA. These reporters know more about it than we do, so be sure to read these articles.

Remember, anytime your animal companion is going to be anesthetized, always know what drugs will be used. When we read the book “Vet Confidential,” we learned some nasty things about ketamine:

“This drug, which is similar to PCP (also known as Angel Dust), causes allucinations, which I worry may be an alarming axperience to the animal.”

The author, Louise Murray DVM, says she limits the use of ketamine in all procedures, for this reason.

We encourage you to become informed by reading books like Vet Confidential, and getting the specifics about all aspects of your pet’s surgical treatments.