Hi Jane and Zuku,

Welcome , and your boy is beautiful, man i thought Malamutes could smile.

You have come to the right place for advice and direction to the info you will need to make the decisions before you. Everyone here knows where you are at right now and we all feel your pain. For most of us dogs have a special place in our lives, often above some of the people we meet.

We started our journey about 10 months ago, { Tripawds Blog " Dogs Rule"} , our 8yr old Alaskan Malamute Mya started limping, quickly progressed to non weight bearing. After trying some arthritis meds we had a broader X-Ray done that showed the Osteosarcoma in her right front leg. Honestly it was far harder for us to get over even the thought of amputation, but she breezed through the surgery and even the IV chemo (5 rounds). We actually had a hard time slowing her down, we also have another Mal, a 9yr old male Macleod, that she would keep up with. Stopping on the other hand was needing some adjustment. Did a lot of face plants before she got it right. Some minor unrelated infections were the only thing that really troubled her durring the IV chemo. She licked the shaved patches from the IV and developed an infection from it that bumped that weeks chemo for an extra week, same thing with a chipped rear toe nail . Be careful of the incision and stitches / staples. for the first few days at least, Mya would land hard on the amp side when she would roll over had nothing to stop her once she passed high center...  The Vet suggested an old T-shirt, sized for Mya, that we could slip one leg through to help keep it on that would protect the incision area. Thought about padding a T-shirt on that side but the extra weight would sag and padding would make it too warm.  Although a T-shirt may fit poorly for a rear leg, maybe a long skinny shirt, someone with rear leg history will likely have a remedy . The cone of shame might be the answer, we used an Elisibithian style cone {fabric with stiffeners} that will flex a bit so its not so cumbersome. Staying ahead of the pain with meds was KEY in her comfort. We used Tramadol but with that constipation was another issue. Adding plane pumpkin, canned but not spiced, pie filling that worked quite well. Our dogs are long hair with a crazy under coat so over heating was a big issue specially last summer { AC all day long }. Even now in winter if the furnace fires up she will start getting chatty a few minuets later. I saw her shivering last week out on the deck one cold day so I put a small blanket on her and she quickly stopped shivering, but shortly wiggled out from under the blanket because she was now too warm. It turned out she had a slight fever.  Her chemo was finished at the end of Nov and she seemed to be in the clear. We had a follow-up X-Ray in early Jan and it revealed 2 small nodes forming in her lungs and we started her on an oral regime witch sadly for us did not do anything for the cancer, in fact we did a CT scan next visit and it showed there were actually 5 growths and one of the first ones seen was now 5x8 cm. { 3 times its size 5 weeks earlier } We have stopped chemo for Mya now and are on palliative care for the passed few weeks. CT scan is a lot more costly but it shows a lot more detail.

At that point i asked my vet if there was any other non clinical products that might have some benefit and she told me about a holistic vet in town that could answer some of my questions. Then I researched the hell out of the Idea. I have been taking a cannabinoid produce for pain called CBD. For me it works, like night and day, for pain and inflammation. I took Mya down to the holistic vet and he did an exam and thought CBD could help with her pain and gave me a prescription. She has been taking 20mg. caps 2x daily and we recently upped it to 3x daily. when we ran low one week we could see her getting stiff and soar. there is a company out of the US that makes and ships a CBD infused doggy treat called Treatibles. They love them, we give them to Macleod now as well. Turns out he has cancer as well. Last month our family vet messaged me with a name of a herb made from sweet worm wood ??? It's and old Chinese medicine that's has been used for centuries called Artemisinin . I believe its was used to fight malaria and some doctors have done some lab test that claim to show reduction in cancer cells in as little a 16 hours. At this point we have nothing to loose with Mya and now that Macleod has Metastasise in his lungs before we have even confirmed the Osteosarcoma in his leg we are giving it to him as well { 400mg. 1xdaily for both dogs}. they have had no ill affects that we can see, and like the CBD when we ran out { shipping from out of country is a bugger sometimes} she began to get worse. until we find an adverse affect from either of the herbs we will keep giving it to them.

With Macleod we are planning to go ahead with the amputation when it gets to painful for him, but in light of the spread to the lungs already we may not go forward with the chemo. We are sort of clinging to the hope that the anecdotal remarks about the benefits of cannabinoids and this new herb we came across may actually have some merit. I wish big money and political gain would just stay out of the saving lives business.

A lot of research ahead of you hope I didn't ramble too much , lots hugs and tail wags your way

Terry

Allison

Mya

Macleod

Our oncologist said to put Murphy on a grain-free dog food, so we switched him.  We just buy what's available at the pet store.  If he's not on that already, make sure to switch slowly because it can cause diarrhea (we found this out the hard way!  lol).

Murphy also had a front leg removed, so we did the t-shirt thing to cover his incision, but what many people do for real leg surgeries is to put on a pair of boxer shorts with their tail through the fly.

Murphy came home on Tramadol, Rimadyl & Gabapentin for pain.  Some come home with a Fentanyl patch and some have antibiotics.  Make sure that you space out his pain meds a little bit for adequate coverage (you don't want to give everything at the same time).  You can also apply an ice pack wrapped in a cloth to the incision for 10-15 minutes a couple of times a day. 

The first 2-3 weeks will be the hardest, but you will get through it, and we'll be here to help.

Donna

Hi Jane and Zuko!  I'm new to Tripawds too.  My dog Bella had her front left leg amputated on Wednesday.  Post op day 4 and she is doing quite well.  She'll be 10 next month.  We took Bella home the same day and when we went to pick her up she got up on her 3 legs like it was second nature.  This site has so much to share and such helpful information and advice. Read as much as you can - and then read it again.  I actually cancelled Bella's first appointment for the surgery.  Then realized it wasn't about me.  Hope and love are the best forces of energy to put out in the universe for your pup.  Sending both your way.