Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
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My 9 year old Cardigan Corgi was found to have a tumor on his back leg about 6 weeks ago. A surgical punch biopsy was performed and the pathology results determined that is was a cartilaginous neoplasm, but could not differentiate between a chondroma, osteochondroma, or low grade chondrosarcoma. Is it typical to not be able to determine the exact type of neoplasm even after surgical biopsy? We have a surgical consult tomorrow and amputation seems to be where we're headed. Does anyone have experience with Corgi-style dogs having amputation (long, prone to back/hip problems) and/or later in life amputations? Appreciate any advice!
Welcome, Jessica. Your future posts will not require approval.
That's definitely a frustrating position to be in. I can't speak to your specific questions with any authority, unfortunately. I'm sure someone else will.
I had a somewhat similar situation with my quad-pawd, Tempest, a couple of years ago. She had a small lump forming in her "armpit" area and a needle biopsy was inconclusive. It grew from the size of a pin head to the size of a pencil eraser in a few months. I opted to remove it while it was small because I knew that area would be challenging to excise and heal if I let it get too big, and I wanted the peace of mind that came with a definitive diagnosis. In Tempest's case, it was just a fibroma (benign fibrous tumor). Apparently those are often hard to diagnose via biopsy because they are hard to extract cells from. Obviously, I had a much easier choice to operate because amputation wasn't an option.
Fine needle aspirates and punch biopsies are sometimes not diagnostic since you are only taking a small sample of the affected tissue. Often they can do special stains to determine cell origin but if the mass is causing lameness then your dog might need amputation no matter what. Sometimes a CT scan is helpful to determine if the tumor is deep in the joint.
Pam
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Jessica I'm sorry you are dealing with this! You've gotten some great in put from @mischief and Dr. Pam. To that I'll add, a good question to ask is "Is the leg beyond saving no matter what?" If that's the case and you decide to move forward with amputation, they can do a full biopsy later to reach a diagnosis.
Unfortunately unclear diagnoses happen more than anyone would like, we've seen many members here go through that even after a full bone biopsy after amputation. While it's always good to know what you're dealing with, especially if you are leaning toward chemo or radiation therapy. But if that's not going to be a choice you'll make then the important thing is to deal with the painful affected leg first, then everything else can wait until after.
As for three-legged Corgis, yes we've had a few here! Check out Shadow's story.
Tripawd Tuesday: Shadow’s Hemangiosarcoma Bounce-Back Story
and also
Tripawd Tuesday: Short Legs and Long Body Dogs Rock!
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