Brother – it appears as though cancer is contagious these days!

The friend who housed Tazzie and me this summer following our surgery has a 4 or 5 yr old Portuguese water dog named Jake. Sadly, young Jake was diagnosed with bone cancer in his spine two days ago. (She has been taking him to vets to figure out the problem for a couple of months now.) He is having trouble getting around, dragging his limbs a bit. But he can still get outside and 'do his stuff'. My friend, Sarah, is trying to find out whether palliative radiation will ease the inflamation and therefore help his mobility and comfort. For now, Jake is on a drug called "percocet". Unfortunately, the radiation oncologist will not be back in Calgary until Thursday and Sarah is afraid that Jake might not make it that long.

Questions for you:

1) Does anyone know if there is a place with radiation not too far from Calgary: is radiation available at University of Montana?

2) I have not heard of anyone on this site having a dog with a primary tumor in the spine. Do you know any place on the web where she might find someone with a similar experience?

3) Other advice about treatment, e.g., whether radiation will help, bisphosphonates or other pain drugs?

4) Is there anything she can do to help Jake make it until Thursday?

Sarah and Jake (via messenger Tazzie)

Thanks Angel Jake – useful tips you have. I was hoping you'd respond. This Jake did have a biopsy, but I'm not sure what came of that. Sarah thinks Jake is in more pain since the biopsy.

The main hitch right now is having to wait until Thursday until the radiation oncologist gets back to town. We ALL know how frustrating it is to wait THAT long. She has seen an oncologist, just not one who does radiation. If there is anything she should get from the plain old oncologist, let her know (via this website – I assume she will read it and maybe even post).

Do dogs with spinal tumors go to a different website? I think it can be hard to search for particular cases on the bone cancer dogs site.

I bet SRS radiation would be highly appropriate for this type of tumor. Do you think???

Messenger Tazzie (for Sarah and Jake PWD – Portuguese water dog).

I have only seen one primary spinal OSA dog.  He was a very stoic Bulldog and over the course of 1-2 weeks he became neurologic and quite painful.  His xrays showed bony destruction and a trip to the neurologist and an MRI confirmed OSA.  Even with multiple pain meds we could not keep him comfortable and he started to bite his owner whenever she approached so she had to let him go after 1 month.  The neurologist told me that some of the most painful dogs he saw had primary or metastatic bone cancer and it is very hard to control the pain since it is inside the vertebrae, not just pushing on the spinal cord.  I have never forgotten that dog's intense pain, so that is why I did not hesitate to let Tazzie go when it became obvious that her tumor had spread to her spine.

Tazzie's oncologist told me that the fastest way to stop the pain was a combo of IV pamidronate (takes up to 3 days to be effective) and local radiation (can start to give immediate results).  Has your friend's dog had an MRI or CT scan yet to pinpoint the tumor location?  I would also start gabapentin at 10 mg/kg every 6-8 hours as well as amantadine 100 mg once daily to reduce nerve root pain and stop the "wind up" of pain receptors.

If the radiation helps then maybe this dog can have a few more weeks to months.  I hope they get some more time!  These dogs just seem to be getting younger and smaller (not your typical presentation for OSA).

Pam

Hey Sarah in Calgary

Glad little Jake can run away from you, even though it is too cold for him to spend the night outside!

Can the clinic begin Pamidronate today, even if radiation is not available until Thursday?

It would be horrible to see him in such pain. But it is hard to know what to do, given that radiation and pamidronate might be able to remove the pain.

Your buddy, Messenger Tazzie