Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat. Explore 17+ years of forum archives for stories and answers to questions about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery. Enjoy fresh discussion and connect with members in the new Tripawds Support Circle.
Join The Tripawds Community
Register your free account to join the Tripawds Support Circle. Connecting with members and getting the support you need is now easier than ever with the Circle app!
✅ Easy Photo Upload
✅ Direct Messaging
✅ Subscribe to Topics.
✅ Live Chat and much more!
Forums Locked: Search archives for answers & join Tripawds Support Circle to keep discussion going!
Log In
Members
My cat Raven was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma in her left rear leg with a fine needle aspirate test. She is scheduled for amputation on Monday, 2 Oct.
It was mentioned the cancer was likely a vaccine-associated sarcoma, which has an incidence of 1 in 10,000 vaccinated cats. Initially, the rarity of the cancer gave me extreme concern about the error rate of the diagnosis. After a little more education, I've gained more confidence in the diagnosis, but still agonize about relying on a fine needle aspirate result as the sole determinant for amputating my cat's leg. Even if the error rate is very small, it is a big concern given the radical intervention path we're on. I can't imagine a result more devastating than a post-op biopsy result that didn't agree with our fine needle aspirate diagnosis.
Like so many others on this site, I'm trying to do what's best for my pet. If there are any veterinarians reading this that could give me more confidence in proceeding with amputation based on a fine needle aspirate test alone, I sure would appreciate it. I'm left wondering how often post-amputation biopsy disconfirms fine needle aspirate results.
3:54 pm
Team Tripawds
Administrators
25 September 2009
Offline
Welcome and best wishes for Raven! Your future forum posts will not require moderation.
While you wait for comments from others, use the Advanced Search above to refine your forum search results with specific phrases, and you're sure to find lots of helpful feedback. You can also search all blogs here , and feel free to call the toll-free Tripawds Helpline anytime!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
2:20 pm
Vet Expert
Vets
Members
23 August 2008
Offline
If there are sarcoma cells on the aspirate then surgery is the best option. For vaccine induced fibrosarcoma it can be hard to get full margins without amputation so that is usually the best choice. Other sarcomas may be resected with smaller margins so it depends where the tumor is and how big it is.
Your vet could biopsy the center of the lesion to confirm the sarcoma type prior to surgery or the limb can be sent for biopsy after the amputation has been done.
If your vet thinks that amputation would remove the entire mass then I would just do that. If he thinks that the tumor might persist beyond normal surgical margins (fibrosarcoma can be quite expansive) then it is best to do a biopsy to confirm tumor type and then a CT scan prior to surgery.
Pam
1 Guest(s)
