Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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My 5 year old bullmastiff Maddie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in late January and had her right front leg amputated in early February. She has been through 6 rounds of chemo 3 each of carboplatin & adriamycin. She completed her chemotherapy and had chests rads on July 3rd which were normal. She went back on October 20th for her recheck exam and her chest rads showed lung mets - she has several small nodules and one large nodule on her lungs.
I was under the impression that after she had the 6 rounds of chemotherapy that she couldn't have any additional chemotherapy because of the increased risk of complications.
Is she a candidate for metronomics ? How long after chemotherapy is administered can she begin a new treatment plan? Also, could you please explain exactly what metronomic is and does (I read it but am a little confused). I also ordered Maddie the K9 Immunity and K9 Transfer Factor today.
She is currently on 400mg of tepoxalin tablets per day (her initial dose on Tuesday was 800mg). They also prescribed tramadol but I have not given it to her yet as she is not showing any signs that she is in pain.
Thanks for your help!
Maddie's Mom
I am sorry about the lung mets. It is okay to try metronomic chemo because it is a low-dose chemo given daily along with an NSAID (such as tepoxalin). For Tazzie we tried Cytoxan but had to stop after 6 weeks due to a bladder infection. Other drugs to try include CCNU, Leukeran, or Actos. No one really knows which drug is best and all have potential side effects. The goal is to minimize spread of the tumor cells by decreasing blood supply to the tumor (antiangiogenesis). I also had Tazzie on artemisinin which may have helped her to survive for 14 months but this is also still experimental.
I would talk to your oncologist and follow whatever protocol they suggest.
Pam
Hi Maddie's Mom,
I'm so sorry to hear about Maddie's new lung mets. She looks beautiful in your profile pict! 
As Dr. Pam said, metronomics is low dose chemo, usually in combination with other drugs, such as anti-angiogenics. My Jake is just 36 days post amputation... and I started him on meloxicam (a cox-2 inhibitor, anti-angiogenic) a few days ago.
Keep us posted on Maddie's progress...
Jake's Mom
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
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