Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives
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I see there is already a famous Tazzie on this website. Here is another Tazzie, this one a boy (but everyone seems to think he is a she, probably because of his long blond hair), spending winters in Winnipeg Manitoba and summers in southern Alberta. Tazzie is a 8 yr old (8 going on 1 until this happened) great pyrenees x collie cross, tending to be lean at about 80 lbs.
Like many of you, Tazzie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the right fore leg, just this weekend and is scheduled for amputation this Wednesday. He has limped off and on for a few months, but it only became bad and obviously painful last week. I only noticed a swelling last Tuesday and it seems to be growing quickly. Poor guy - he had stomach torsion just a month ago but at least I caught that one early. In any case, he is rapidly losing his beautiful hair to various operations this summer. But that is a bit misleading - he is generally really healthy which is why the vet recommends treatment.
Although amputation is scheduled, I have questions like most of you do or did. I am still curious about whether a prosthetic leg is a reasonable option. He is not as big as some of your dogs, but has a very long back and deep chest, so I imagine this will be a strain on his remaining front leg. He also likes to walk slowly and smell things, but I figure now he will have to move at a rapid pace or else he would fall. Does anyone have information on prosthetics ?
He is a bit more sedate than usual the last two days (we put him on metacam and another pain drug this week), eats like a horse, poops like an elephant (has anyone else seen that?), and has lost a lot of weight. I had assumed the weight loss was due to the restricted diet following his stomach surgery, but am a bit concerned it is related to the cancer. I don't want to go through with difficult treatment if it has already spread (his three lung x-rays were clean and the vets seem Excellent - he is going to a Cancer Care Centre for dogs).
Like all of you, I don't want to choose options that end up resulting in a lot of poor-quality or downtime with whatever time he has left. But it is hard to know in advance how things will turn out.
The videos really help. Amazing recovery in Samwise the retriever.
Any thoughts you have are appreciated,
Susan
4:42 pm
17 February 2008
Offline
Hi Tazzie No. 2, so you live in Alberta too!
Is the vet going to remove Tazzie's scapula as well? Without the humerus, I think prosthetic leg wouldn't work as good. Genie was very deep-chested, she handled it well with a slight adjustment to her activities.
Good luck on Wednesday and wish Tazzie a speedy recovery! Please keep us posted.
Hugs.
4:44 pm
Team Tripawds
Administrators
25 September 2009
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Hi Susan! Welcome and thanks for joining.
There's been a lot of discussion in the forums about dog prosthetics. And we published this blog post about prosthetics for dogs. Personally, I believe dogs adapt much better to life on three legs than they would trying to live with a strange implement attached to their limb. Location of the tumor is also important for a prosthesis. The only successful prosthetics I have ever heard of were on dogs with most of the limb remaining.
Prostheics, limb sparing and radiation therapy are all options to consider. But far too many times we hear of people putting their pups through multiple painful expensive surgeries only to end up amputating the limb anyway.
Being healthy at 80 pounds, Tazzie should recuperate well and regain her strength quickly. Don't forget to check out our blog posts answering the top ten amputation questions and concerns we have received. There's also this good discussion going about mushroom therapries including the K9 Immunity from Aloha Medicinals Jerry took as part of his canine cancer treatment plan.
Best wishes for a complete speedy recovery!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks for the replies. I can see this website will be an enormous help during the next few hours, days, weeks, months and hopefully year or two or who knows. The last 'chat group' I belonged to was K-9 kidneys in 2001, shortly after I adopted Tazzie, because he was a counter surfer and ended up finding a large bottle of Advil that he ingested. oh my. Anyway, until this month no more serious vet attention has been required and he did survive that acute renal failure and then stomach torsion 4 weeks ago (7 yrs after the Advil event). Let's make it three biggies by surviving cancer!
The vet intends to amputate the scapula because he says it is prone to less injury (which seems to be true from what I have read) and cosmetically better (which also seems true). The cancer itself is at the distal end (lower end) of the radius - so he could leave a stump but he does not think that is the best method for amputation alone. He does not feel enough of the radius will remain to allow some of the limb-sparing methods. I wouldn't really think twice about the amputation vs. prosthetic issue if the dog was smaller, but he already appears to have a lot of weight foisted on those two front pads - that is, he is already a bit flat-footed which can only get worse when there is only one foot. I suppose he will adjust the way most tripawds do. I am amazed at the way they can balance. I would have thought it would be hard to stand still!
Yes, the best option is probably the simplest, which is a great point that one of you made. I didn't know a prosthesis would require additional surgeries, but I suppose he would always be prone to rubbing and infections and getting such a thing fitted.
The idea of a dog whining and crying for two days after surgery is disturbing. Tazzie has never shown that kind of response to pain, and hope the pain is not as bad as that. I kind of hope the vet clinic will keep him for 2 or 3 nights to help him get up on his feet, although they might send him home one after one night. I don't know if I am up to the challenge of helping him if he is in extremely rough shape.
Susan
Hi Susan:
I understand what you must be feeling, we went through every option with our surgeon, oncologist and regular vet when we found out our diagnosis. They all said, the success rate and possible complications (not to mention $$$$) would be far harder on all of us than the actual amputation.
Not to say that THE DAY is going to be easy. My husband about had to sedate me (slapstick comedy style, think of the old Airplane movies) I was bawling, hyperventilating, I just wanted to take my baby and run far far away. We had a bad week last week when we found out that Tika has lung mets starting.
However, 7 months post amp. I have <a title="Without Regret: A Handbook for Owners of Canine Amputees" href="