Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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At the emergency vet they did x-rays and before they told me about the cancer, we went over some other images and they said it appeared she had a fracture at one time that healed poorly and likely has arthritis in her left hip, and part of her spine from her long torso/abdomen and using stairs often.
Would this mean amputation of the right leg to remove the cancer would be a bad idea?
Stats: American Staffordshire Terrier
8 years old
Approximately 65 lbs
Diagnosis is pending on the biopsy results but was told that likely it is either osteosarcoma or synovial sarcoma. surgeon said it appeared to be on the soft tissue and the bone was reacting and not that it started in the bone.
I don't know if the link for the x-rays will work.
I can't open the images. How is the dog walking now? Many dogs have arthritis on xrays but are still running and playing so I am inclined to think it does not matter. I usually don't do a biopsy until after the leg is off because you need to amputate either way to get rid of the tumor and the pain but while you wait for results you can observe your dog to see how hard it is for her to do stairs and rise from a sitting position. In general it is easier to lose a back leg than a front.
Pam
She had a high chance that it was a fungal infection so they insisted on a biopsy and cultures before removing it. I wish I could have just had the surgeon take the leg, because the cost of the surgical biopsy was half the cost of removing the leg 😭
She was walking fine (hence we didn't know about it) until recently and that's probably because she was compensating for the bad leg.
Thank you for answering. I'm glad to know that arthritis won't mean she isn't a candidate for amputation.
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