Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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My 5 year old German Shepherd female has been diagnosed a grade 2 soft tissue sarcoma. She has already had 2 tumor removal surgeries over the past 18 months and now the tumor is back for a third time. The vet is recommending another tumor removal surgery this time followed by radiation and then possibly chemo if they discover that the tumor is grade 3 after removal / inspection. Another option (though the vet does not advise it at this time because the tumor is very small) is amputation. This is a front leg. Can anyone advise if you have been through STS surgery + radiation + chemo? The cost is nearly $20,000 in total. Though it is not about the money (I truly just want what is ultimately best for the dog and her quality of life) this is all very difficult in every way. I am heartbroken and scared of making the wrong decision. I am looking forward to hearing if anyone has been faced with the same decision and what you decided. Thank you so very much.
Hi Angie, I'm in the Tripawds Chat right now if you want to talk. Back in a second with some feedback.
OK some initial thoughts:
Can anyone advise if you have been through STS surgery + radiation + chemo?
Is your vet an oncologist? If not, now is the time to get a board-certified oncologist to step in. A third surgery tells me (in my non-vet opinion of course), that this tumor is going to come back again, and you'll be starting all over. We see that happen a LOT around here. I'm not advocating for or against amputation at this point, just encouraging you to seek another opinion if you haven't already.
The problem is that STS tumors are like octopus, they have long, long tendrils. And there have been studies showing that when a non-veterinary oncologist does an excision, there is a lower success rate of getting clean margins and removing the entire tumor and extending tendrils. That is a LOT of $$ to spend if it comes back down to it later on and you're facing the additional expense of amputation surgery.
There is also the possibility of doing electrochemotherapy or intralesional chemotherapy if you want to hold off on amputation. These treatments are commonly done on people and pets all over the world, just less so in the US. They tend to work well for managing tumor growth, and sometimes omitting them altogether, and are great options when amputation isn't on the table.
At five years young your GSD has a lot of miles ahead. Amputation will most likely get rid of the cancer in this case (low risk of recurrance in many cases), but it can present other problems down the road, mainly mobility issues (for instance earlier osteoarthritis, risks of problems like cruciate rupture). So don't jump into it of course, but check all your options (even a consult with an orthopedic surgeon too if you're leaning toward amputation).
I hope this is helpful! Stay tuned for feedback from others.
Wow Jerry thank you SO MUCH for your quick and thorough reply! Sorry I missed you in the chat.
We had the initial tumor removed 18 months ago by a regular veterinarian as we did not suspect that it was cancerous at the time but a post surgical biopsy did reveal cancer cells. 6 months later, the tumor returned and we went to a VCA cancer surgeon to have the tumor removed with aggressive margins that second time. That was a year ago and now here we are again. I am leaning towards surgical removal followed by radiation but hesitant to follow that with chemo. Initial thoughts are that I would like to avoid amputation, however, ultimately I want to do what is best for my dog. I welcome feedback especially from anyone who may have been through anything similar as I am completely lost what to do here.
I will look into electrochemotherapy or intralesional chemotherapy as you mentioned as I am not educated about those options. Thank you!
Jerry the oncologist/veterinarian who provides those two treatments that you linked to (electrochemotherapy & intralesional chemotherapy ) is located in the same city where I live! The closest place for radiation is almost 400 miles away from me which may be near impossible. This could be the answer and a life saver! I don't know if you believe in God but I sure do! Thank you so much!
Yes! I live in Santa Fe! I've already requested an appointment with Dr. Kelly. I am hopeful this is the answer to my prayers!
I also found that Santa Fe has this amazing place that makes fresh dog food and even has a "keto" (low carb) cancer diet which I am trying as well along with some supplements they recommend to stop the growth of tumors (turmeric, hemp oil, mushroom, fish oil). I believe they ship anywhere in the continental US. https://shine.pet/
WOOHOO! This makes me so hoppy. Dr. Kelly's team treated our Jerry many moons ago and she's treated other Tripawds here too as you probably saw in the posts. Dr. Kelly founded one of the first oncology clinics in the country (as far as I'm aware) to think outside the box and consider nutraceuticals in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments. When our Jerry was treated by her team we were in K9 Immunity (medicinal mushrooms) trial they were running. They have always been forward-thinking. Maybe she will have other options that we don't know about yet. I'd love to hear how it goes.
It's a really pawsitive experience, you will love the clinic. Be sure to stop by Posa's across the street for the most incredible tamales on the planet!
I didn't know about Shine, they look like a terrific company. If you give them a try be sure to post about your experience in Eating Healthy!
Let us know how things are going, we are here for you!
This is go great to hear! Thank you so much! I am trying to get an appointment asap and I will keep you posted!
In the meantime I did switch Lily's diet to the Shine Cancer Recipe about a week ago along with some supplements they suggested (mushrooms, hemp seed oil, turmeric, fish oil) and she loves it all and is doing very well thus far.
Aww you bet.
Glad to hear you already switched her diet. Most oncologists will say don't switch anything during treatment, so it was super smart of you to do it before things begin, whatever you pursue.
Keep us posted.
Aww you bet.
Glad to hear you already switched her diet. Most oncologists will say don't switch anything during treatment, so it was super smart of you to do it before things begin, whatever you pursue.
Keep us posted.
Wanted to update you because things have moved very quickly! Dr. Kelly was able to get Lily in right away and yesterday Lily had the tumor surgically removed and was treated with electrochemotherapy in the same procedure. She is home resting today and is doing very well! Dr. Kelly also gave me some supplements to help keep Lily healthy in her future fight against the cancer so that we can strengthen her immune system naturally and hopefully the cancer does not return. Dr. Kelly feels confident that we have a high probability of eliminating the cancer growth with this one treatment - as opposed to the 18 rounds of radiation that was recommended by VCA. The cost for the surgery + electrochemotherapy at VETERINARY CANCER CARE in Santa Fe was $4,000 (plus about $2,500 for x-rays, ultrasounds and bloodwork which I requested prior to surgery to ensure that the cancer had not spread to lymph-nodes or organs before treating the leg). The cost for surgery + radiation at VCA would have been about the same but with an additional $7000-$10,000 for radiation possibly followed by traditional chemo at approximately an additional $8,000 plus the moths of treatment and side effects. So far, Lily is suffering no side effects from yesterday's treatment. I will update as time goes on.
It is also worth noting that Dr. Kelly did not prescribe antibiotics or pain meds as she believes in natural healing. We do have some gabapentin and vetprofen left over from the last surgery which she said we could administer on an as needed basis but did not want to prescribe anything unnecessarily which i found unusual but refreshing.
Oh WOW that IS fast! I'm so happy she got into treatment so quickly! And that she's feeling alright without issues. Very interesting she didn't get any pain meds. What supplements did Dr. Kelly prescribe?
That was so smart of you to ask for the extra diagnostics. It's mind blowing what a difference in cost you saw between the two treatments!
Yes please keep us posted. I'd love to write an electrochemotherapy follow up post to our previous ones. Give Lily extra smooches from us!
One week later follow up. She is doing well but did have to get vetprofin for swelling and antibiotics after all as her leg was turning red and swelling but her bloodwork was good. For supplements, she was prescribed RX Vitamins brand RxCurcuWIN, Onco support, and RX Biotic.
Will continue to keep you posted over the coming months and years in case it can help anyone else. Dr Kelly did say that she believes this dog may have related or unrelated future occurrence of different cancer types as it is so unusual for such a young dog to have cancer so she thinks there is something happening with her genetically 🙁 but she said that if the tumor comes back again in the same place we can do another round of electrochemotherapy . I sure hope this is the end of it
I'm trying to provide photos of before / during / afer but can't figure out how to insert or attach photos even though I see the photo button!
YEAH! Great great news! I'm glad she's on the supplements and meds. RX Vitamins is an awesome brand, we highly recommend them and use them for our own pups.
Yes please do keep us posted so we can all learn, it will definitely help. I would love to send you interview questions, is that OK?
I'm so glad you have Dr. Kelly to turn to for future help, which I hope you don' t need.
Sorry your pictures didn't show up. This is how adding images to the Forums works.
- Upload pics to a photo sharing site like imgur.com or your own Tripawds blog (https://tripawd...../supporter). Pictures and video have to be hosted (live) somewhere other than in the forums.
- Once the photo is uploaded somewhere, right click and copy the Image URL or just copy the image if you’re on a phone
- Return to your Tripawds Forum post and paste the image URL (or the image itself) in your post. It should automatically appear.
If you’d like help figuring out the process let me know. I can't wait to see them.
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