Hi everyone.  I'm new to these boards and the Tripawds community but wow, have they been a God send! 

My almost 9 year old German Shepherd\Border Collie, Tasha, is going in for a bone biopsy tomorrow to determine what cancer she has after a limp in her front leg led to the discovery.  The x-rays show what they believe is cancer above her wrist.  I feel like I have a million questions and my regular vet hasn't answered any of them.  She is going to a Tufts for the biopsy and ultimate Oncology where I am hoping they can address my questions.  I have been scouring the internet as well as these boards gathering information. 

I am wondering if anyone did the limb sparing surgery and if so, how it turned out?  Maybe I am being niave but I would love for her to be able to keep her leg if possible.  If amputation is the only answer then I am prepared to go that route along with chemo.  Whatever it takes!  I just feel like my regular vet wants to amputate her leg then perform a biopsy afterwards.  She had x-rays and no visible mets in her lungs so far.  I think that we should biopsy first before we just take her leg off…it's not like you can put it back on!

Any thoughts or advice is greatly appreciated!

Hi, Tasha is gorgeouss! We think our Abby is shepherd/collie mix as well.

We did a bone biopsy, but Abby was so young (only 15 months) that our vet thought it might not be bone cancer (it turned out it was). What I've learned since is that in most cases a bone biopsy isn't necessary as the bone cancer generally has a very distinctive look on the xray. However – I can totally understand it being scary to contemplate the amp without a definite diagnosis! We weren't in that situation – we already knew it was cancer.

Our onc. talked to us about the option to do limb spare for Abby. He was not really keen on the idea for 3 reasons – (1) he said many dogs end up having infection or other complications afterward; (2) Abby was only 15 mo and VERY energetic and the limb spare recovery time was ~2 months v. amp ~2 weeks (he said we would have to crate her for 2 months and I just couldn't see doing that to such a hyper dog – if your dog is older/more mellow, that might not be a problem); and(3) he said we might end up in the end having to amp anyway. It was scary to do to the amp, but that's what we decided to do. She has done very well. We are almost 14 months post-amp and have no regrets. I never once wished we had done the limb spare instead.

Having said all that – you know your dog best and know what she can handle. There are no wrong decisions. You just gotta go with your gut cuz there's no guarantee that one way is better than another.

Hang in there – come here and ask lots of questions! We're here to help!
All the best to you and Tasha,
Jackie, Abby's mom

Hi Tasha's mom, I'd be glad to share with you our experience with Limb Sparing surgery on our 2 year old Lab Misty. She was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma from an xray at our vets office. Within 4 days we had the confirming biopsy results of Osteosarcoma and amputation was highly recommended. But we went to UC Davis Vet Hospital for a second and third opinion and they told us that Misty was a good candidate for limb sparing surgery. That is what we wanted to hear. We did not in any way want her to lose her leg at such a young age. With that surgery also comes radiation for 4 weeks to kill any cancer cells, but only after a 2 week recuperation period from the surgery. So now that puts us at 6 weeks post limb sparing surgery and allot of time spent traveling to and from the hospital. After 4 chemo treatments the cancer grew back on the tissue just adjacent to the removed bone tumor. The radiation didn't slow down or stop the cancer at all. What I'm saying is that at the time I don't think I would have done anything different for Misty, but now knowing the realities of bone cancer we probably wouldn't have done the limb sparing surgery and just opted for the amputation if that was presented to us now. It would have avoided 4 weeks of radiation treatments and it would have taken the original tumor site out of her body. Who knows maybe the mets wouldn't have spread so fast if we had done it that way. We will never know, but know that we did what ever we could for our precious girl.