Hi Debi!  Salty Dog is too cute! 

My dog, Jack, starting limping almost a year ago in October.  We would take him to the vet and they could find nothing wrong and figured it was just a shoulder strain.  Then in May we found a bump on his wrist which turned out to be osteosarcoma.  3 weeks after amputation we started him on chemo.  Our oncologist recommended 6 treatments of Adriamycin, but because of finances, we are stopping after 4.  Jack has responded well to the chemo with no side-effects (until the last round when he had a little diarrhea for a day), but Adriamycin does cause some heart damage.  I think deep down that is another reason I decided to stop after 4 treatments because it's hard to know that even though he is doing so well, we hurt his heart a little every month.  We are moving next week and will be going to a new oncologist, so I will talk different options over with her.  Welcome to you and Salty Dog!!!

<3 Laura and Jackers

Hi Debi and Salty,

Amputation recovery can be very ruff – don't be too surprised if Salty's energy drops way down after a day or two of being home.  That's about when the heavy-duty pain killers wore off for Yoda.  He wasn't in pain without them, but he was more active when those were still having an effect because they wound him up (made him whine and turn in circles alot).  Then he slept and slept and slept, and it kinda freaked me out.  Constipation and/or long periods of time between going potty is typical too.  That said – if anything different in Salty's behavior worries you (even if it is supposed to be typical), it's better, when possible, to ask your vet to put your mind at ease than to try to convince yourself it's nothing (in my experience).

It's great that you're thinking and researching ahead to the chemo!  What a pawsitive pack leader!

Yoda was on Carboplatin.  He didn't have any side effects after the first treatment.  Starting after the second though he started having yellow discharge from one eye and then both eyes, which in hindsight must have been an allergy to the Carboplatin (or the Carboplatin in conjunction with something in his environment).  That didn't get him down any though and was treated with an ointment until he was done with chemo.  After the third chemo he had some vomiting, but the oncologist made sure I had some Cerenia (anti-nausea med) on hand and that put an end to it.  Yoda didn't have his fourth and last dose of chemo because he developed a little cough the week he was supposed to have it and they did a chest x-ray and found lung mets (even though he had a clear one just 3 weeks before).  The cough may have just been a coincidence – it disappeared a few days later.  Carboplatin may not have done much of anything for Yoda ultimately, but I'm glad I gave it a shot, since the adverse effects weren't bad and I would have always wondered if it could have given him more time, if I hadn't. 

I'm sure your vet gave you the stats – the median survival of a year with amputation and chemo is pretty awesome!  At least, I sure thought so after they told me that at my initial consulation at the UW Vet School.  Yoda's regular vets were very pessimistic and made it sound like the odds of treatment helping were almost nothing and that I'd lose him in 2-4 months and that his pain would just keep getting worse.  Part of me was ready to leap up and hug the oncologist and surgeon at the Vet School when they told me the opposite!

Now that Yoda has lung mets, his regular vets' estimate of 4 months could turn out to be accurate, but they were dead wrong about his pain being virtually unavoidable.  And I know there are tripawds here who have gone several more good months with lung mets, so they may yet be wrong about everything   (I'm sure they won't mind).  If you decide chemo is the best option for you and Salty Dog, there's every reason to hope he will get to be one of the dogs that keeps those survival statistics high!

Hi Debi and Salty--Welcome to our community!

Yoda's Mom gave a pretty good description of what to expect for the first couple weeks, the good days and bad days where you begin to question the wisdom of what you've just done.  It gets better.  After about week 3, everybody settles down and life is a little smoother.

Cemil also began with a limp that didn't get better.  It was a total shock to me when the vet told me what the problem was (osteosarcoma) -- she discovered it with an x-ray because she couldn't find a reason for the limp.  Chemo wasn't an option for us, so I figured out a diet and a regimen of supplements, along with an alternate treatment (Hoxsey) recommended by the acupuncturist.  He's seven months post-amputation, and seems to be doing well.  Of course, I'm one of those ostrich-people who doesn't want to learn about bad news too early--I'm not having x-rays done until something changes.  So I don't know what's going on inside him, but since there are no outward signs, I'm living as if everything is going well.  That allows me to be more relaxed around him instead of dreading the future (most days), and I think he stays more relaxed when I am.

Can't wait to see a video of Salty being Salty.  What a cutie!

Mary and Cemil