I know I don't want Gracie to gain weight – she's always been at a healthy weight so I don't want add'l weight to cause typical problems of too much weight along w/ the issue of carrying around more weight now on 3 legs vs 4. She's about 13 lbs

since she had her amputation due to mast cell tumor, she's on prednisone, 1 1/2 5 mg tabs per day. I know increased appetite can be a side affect, altho our vet indicates her dosage is low. She's now not as active as she was before the amputation. Once or twice a day now she seems to be ravenous. Are there suggestions for treats &/or types of food that can help her increased appetite w/out weight gain? Or feed her what she's use to eating but divide it into more frequent servings?

thanks for any info/help/advice

Long term prednisone therapy is the classic and most common medical treatment for high grade MCT. Most data suggests it induces remission in about 20% of patients

littlemanjake, did you have MCT? Or have experience w/ it w/ another dog?

Isabelle's amputation was due to OSA, but she had a Gr2 MCT resected in her remaining back leg in January.

Isabelle is not on prednisone. She has not had chemo for either of her cancers. She is on a holistic regimen. She did get benadryl and H2 blockers pre and post op for her MCT. She gets both anytime she has any manipulation or aspirations of any growths. Her MCT was a GR2, but with a low mitotic index (0 per 10hpf), with clean margins. She takes a homeopathic with antihistamine properties, Apis Mel, daily because I did not want to keep her on benadryl (it makes her restless) and a NSAID as well as other supplements.

Isabelle is over 13 years old, with severe spinal arthritis. Her mobility is dependent on her excellent peripheral muscle mass (which is also the reason she was able to have a successful resection). The benefits of long term prednisone in consideration of her tumor grade, age, arthritis  and OSA did not outweigh it's risks. It is the higher grade MCT's (2 & 3) that prednisone is now more routinely used for, most commonly for six months. While some vets do prescribe it for Gr 1 and lower risk Gr 2 tumors, if margins with these tumors are clean and mitotic index low, surgery is considered curative. When Isabelle's MCT was diagnosed, she was five months post amputation for OSA…there was quite a dilemma as to whether surgery was even warranted. None of us could predict she would be doing so well at 11 months.

If Gracie is eating a low carb diet for her cancer, you might want to be careful with vegetables like carrots and green beans, Both are high in carbs. Peanut butter also is widely thought to ilicit inflammatory responses in animals and people….something important to avoid particularly with a  MCT. Generally protein snacks…lamb lung is nice, you can break it into small pieces….will not pack on the pounds.

The Merrick lamb lung is the easiest to use for small dogs. It's thin & easy to break. Avoid the small Merrick Training Treats. The are hard, chunky and difficult to break. The Merrick beef fillets are also hard.

The puffy lamb lung tends to expand in their stomachs, especially if they are big water drinkers. Probably not such a good idea for a small dog.

Broccoli is another dog favorite vegetable to be careful with, not because of carbs, but due to it's high iodine content.

A pound of lamb lung is alot and should last a small dog like Gracie quite a while. Introduce it slowly, lamb is rich! I hope she likes them!

Rio was on prednisone as part of her chemotherapy two years ago following her MCT diagnoses, and again this spring after her amputation. She has also been on pred in the past for skin infections without any noticeable side effects. The most recent course of pred ended immediately this spring when Rio developed a nasty case of calcinosis cutis as a side effect to having Cushing's disease — basically her body was secreting too much cortisol (of which Prednisone is a synthetic derivative), and the additional pred pushed her body "over the line."

We suspected she might have Cushings at the time when she started chemo, although it hadn't been definitively diagnosed (it's a tough one to pinpoint), and at the time we were more concerned with battling the recurring cancer. Hindsight being what it is, I would have met in person with the Internist way sooner than we ended up doing. As it was, by administering the Prednisone with the chemo, Rio developed a full retinue of secondary problems that we could have probably avoided: urinary tract infections, calcinosis, muscle atrophy, loss of energy and mobility, not to mention the cosmetic: hair loss, crunchy, flaky skin. Her skin was flaking so bad, it looked like she'd gotten a super-bad sunburn.

Prior to administering the pred, I questioned the doctor thoroughly about her suspect condition, but in the end, trusted that the information she gave me was correct. In her defense, in 98% of her cases or more, it was probably the best direction. It just happened not to be in Rio's. (Apparently calcinosis cutis is so rare that our internal medicine specialist has only seen a couple of cases, although she's treated tons of Cushing's dogs.)

My point in this little rant — be ready to bombard your vet with questions if you notice ANYTHING out of the ordinary. Read the list of potential side effects, and be watchful. Especially if you have an older dog.

As to your question of low-cal treats, my pups love ICE-CUBES. Talk about low-cal! Just about any vegetables added to their food will help bulk it up without adding too many calories: canned green beans, pumpkin and sweet potatoes are a huge favorite of my girls (just make sure you buy the plain pumpkin and not the pumpkin pie mix). We buy an organic, no sugar/salt added brand. Tosca also loves berries — blueberries, blackberries, strawberries — she actually picks the blackberries right off the vines in our yard.

Good luck with Miss Gracie,

Rio's mom, Micki