Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives

…! My name is Ana and I'm one lucky owner of Pasha–the most handsome, goofy and adventurous 4yo English Shepherd. He was recently diagnosed with Chondrosarcoma (cartilage cancer) in his front left limb. I'm just writing you all to share our story, hear any advice you might have, and see if anyone here has…

…experience with Chondrosarcoma. Though it's a common cancer amongst pups, we've had a surprisingly hard time finding much information about it–especially in nonnasal cases. This…

…expressed no discomfort during the manual exam and his limp was not only one-off, but had improved. Days later, the cytology came back suggesting osteosarcoma or chondrosarcoma. Due to the serious bone mass he was missing in his front left leg and the high likelihood of an aggressive cancer, we all came to…

…& Oncology

I think we all feel so much relief post-surgery, despite knowing this journey is just beginning. The biopsy came back confirming chondrosarcoma, but there weren't any lymph nodes present to detect active infection/give us more information about metastases. We've got three oncology…

…). We're not really sure what comes next. Of the studies and anecdotes I've read online, chemotherapy isn't really a common treatment for dogs with chondrosarcoma. If the cancerous lesion can be surgically removed, it seems to progress slowly, but really varies from dog to dog. On one hand, we could have lots

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…so hopefully we can remove it soon. 

I unfortunately cannot afford chemo for my loving girl so I’m holding out hope that it’s anything other than osteosarcoma since the FNA came back as “consistent with sarcoma” with fibro and chondrosarcoma being given as other possibilities. They have a better life…

…expectancy than osteosarcoma post-amputation so I’m holding out hope where I can.

Also, they believe that she is 4-5 years older than what we originally thought and that her

…favoring R front paw in May of this year.  X-rays  and a bone biopsy were done the end of May as anti inflammatory meds didn’t help.  It showed chondrosarcoma and the vet suggested amputation.  We saw our regular vet the following week and he started steroid therapy.  This was not helpful and more X-rays…

…were done.  He and his partner advised amputation and further study of the amputated limb at MSU School of Vet Med.   Dx came back osteosarcoma with life expectancy of 14-19 weeks.  Our wonderful Labrador was in good health otherwise.  Now we have his death sentence hanging over us all and…

…we are devastated.   We have opted for no chemo as osteosarcoma is so aggressive.  Please help us know what to expect   Heartbroken here in Mississippi

Virginia   

…sarcoma with evidence of bone lysis. COMMENTS: The location of the lesion and the lack of Alk Phos activity would suggest the lesion is not an osteosarcoma. Other possibilities included clinical findings and cytological features of the lesion are synovial cell sarcoma, undifferentiated fibrosarcoma or…

…neurofibrosarcoma, histiocytic sarcoma or less likely chondrosarcoma.

While we knew all sarcomas are bad, the report gave us some hope that it may be something less aggressive than an osteosarcoma, especially since…

…this before with a rottie girl who was much older, but did great).  They sent off the limb segment and we were called yesterday and told it is an osteosarcoma.  The comments on that report read: The mass is an osteosarcoma, correlating with her clinical differentials. No additional staining was done.

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…vet can file a claim to get at least some amputation costs reimbursed by the vaccine manufacturer.

Vaccine Associated Sarcoma - Fibrosarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma
 

We have tonnnns of tips for you! So many that I don't want to overwhelm you. Check out our What to Expect articles
, the

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…Kerry and Baby,

Welcome! We are sorry you are having to join our club but glad you found us. Osteosarcoma is rare in cats but there's been quite a few join our community over the years. 

To put your mind at ease, be sure to check out our What to Expect…

…articles
, and if you'd like, our e-book How to Help Your Three Legged Cat is also helpful. Oh and we have a forum discussion all about osteosarcoma in cats too. Please let us know what questions you have!

…are hard enough but when you have other conditions involved, it's even harder.

I'll echo what Karen and Diana said, and just add that if it is osteosarcoma, you might want to consider a new limb sparing procedure called cementoplasty if you can find a vet in your area who is practicing this new technique…

…if if you would like to speak with someone who can point you in the direction of a practitioner. And while I don't know if it can help with a chondrosarcoma tumor, it may be worth looking into if.

As for dogs not adapting, I can't recall any who just absolutely did not. Like Karen mentioned, those who

…to respond to your post about Dunkel; I don't know anything about the heart condition, but I also have a three-year-old dog (Trevor) with a chondrosarcoma diagnosis and understand the weighty decisions you're wrestling with. 

I'm still pretty early in this journey but can offer the following if it's…

…helpful:

-  We opted to do a bone biopsy to confirm diagnosis, as it initially looked like osteosarcoma, and we considered not amputating despite his being only three. When they felt confident it was chondrosarcoma and slower moving, and his prognosis…

…better rest. He has internal sutures, but we still want to restrict access of course. 

- We have been told he won't need chemo because of the chondrosarcoma diagnosis, but we'll get the histopathology report next week and know more from the limb they removed. Still a small change it could be…

…chondroblastic osteosarcoma, so I don't feel we're totally out of the woods, but I do feel more hopeful that I did a few weeks ago. 

None of it is easy but there is a lot of

…investigation.  Since then he has had an X-Ray of paw and chest and also a biopsy of the paw. 

The x-ray and biopsy of the paw show he has chondrosarcoma though currently still pretty low grade, although the vet also cautioned us that even the biopsy is not 100% conclusive and it may be osteosarcoma or…

…a more malignant chondrosarcoma after all. I did not 100% understand the explanation of why they were not 100% sure but it seemed to be mostly because of his breed and that there

…is adorable and looks fantastic for a young girl of 17 years. I'm sorry you had to find us and are dealing with ISS/Osteo. Yes, ISS can also cause osteosarcoma. I'm so sad we owners vaccinate to prevent the disease - not to cause it. It is brutal and extremely hard for us owners. We do what the…

…is on the last page link. I hope your vet is doing all the paperwork and has or will report this. Vaccine Associated Sarcoma - Fibrosarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma

I always think of Leo, but many members have the same hemipelvectomy surgery. Leo's blog LEO'S NEW LIFE ON 3 LEGS

I also helped

…bone lesion on his proximal humerus. That's pretty far from the paw we'd been focused on! Our vet cautioned this looked suspiciously like osteosarcoma. Lungs looked clear, but she recommended a bone biopsy as the next step.

We moved over to the first animal hospital with an immediate opening for…

…s made of glass. Gapaentin doesn't slow him down one bit.

So after a week of fearing the worst, we got the biopsy results. The diagnosis is NOT osteosarcoma, but Chondrosarcoma. So it's "good news" in that it's got a somewhat better prognosis, if we act fast, before it spreads. I guess it's a very small…

…percentage of this type of lesion that ends up being something other than osteosarcoma, and Trevor's apparently landed in that percentage - although there is a small chance that it could turn out to be "chondroblastic osteosarcoma" -…

… we won't know until after his procedure I guess. But right now they feel pretty confident with the chondrosarcoma diagnosis. 

We will need to amputate the front right leg. He will not need chemo. We are relieved to have this news, and some hope, and a path…

…major change for such a young and active dog. 

I have several questions at this stage: 

1. Does anyone know of a discussion thread specific to Chondrosarcoma?

2. I hear positive stories of dogs rebounding quickly from this procedure, for the most part, but taking awhile to get endurance back up. I

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…help doing that just let me know. Thanks!

Meanwhile yes your vet is correct, bone cancer pain is terrible. For some examples of other cats with osteosarcoma see

https://tripawd.....rosarcoma/

… so there's no reason she cannot be happy.

We've had many cats here who lost a leg to an STS. See:

Vaccine Associated Sarcoma - Fibrosarcoma, Osteosarcoma, Chondrosarcoma

and also

https://tripawd.....;include=3

Updated Three Legged Cat Book Offers Hope and Help for Cat Amputation
 

One

…I forgot to mention our Cats with Osteosarcoma blogs are here.

…is very likely the best option at this point. Inconclusive path report might also mean it's another type of bone cancer that behaves similarly, like chondrosarcoma.

You might also want to ask the oncologist about the new cementoplasty limb salvage treatment:

https://tripawd.....coma-dogs/

There…

…out our What to Expect articles
and the Tripawds e-books
library if you'd like. Jerry's Required Reading List
is also helpful.

And yes, for osteosarcoma, statistically younger dogs (younger than 5) do have a lower survival rate. But remember, statistics do not take into account YOUR dog. These are

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