Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I have a 9 year old Boxer mix (75%) with some Rottweiler splashed in and a little who-knows-what-else. She's been with me since she was 6 months old and she is, basically, my soul dog.
I know a lot of you have felt this and I'm seeking advice....this has been a whirlwind and a nightmare these last 4 weeks but here is the cliff notes:
- My dog Lana fell on our stairs and cried out in pain 4 weeks ago. Before this moment she was completely normal with zero limp, signs of pain or anything else.
- We took her to the vet and our vet said she believed Lana was likely suffering from a torn ligament. We were sent home with NSAIDS and told to have her rest and we would re-visit in 3 weeks to see her progress and go from there if she wasn't improving.
- Lana went from severe pain to feeling a bit better - she even started putting weight on the leg. We were excited - surely that's improvement?
- Wrong. We go to her 3 week appointment and our vet wants to do x-rays to view the leg. We agree and then we get the worst news.... not only is it NOT a torn ligament, but Lana's leg is severely broken and there's a growth on the x-ray. The way the growth is etc our vet highly suspects osteosarcoma and recommends amputation. She takes a fluid sample at this appointment to send off. With all this in mind our vet talked about amputation and that Lana likely has around 6 to 9 months (even with amputation).
- Fluid sample comes back inconclusive. Our vet wants to know how we wish to proceed - I ask for a bone biopsy. This is where I am starting to question and worry and what if and need some help
- Should I push for a bone biopsy for Lana or is this a step that adds more pain and additional sedation and misery for Lana? Do you usually just confirm from an X-ray only and go forward with amputation? I just worry about amputating a leg and not being SURE it's osteosarcoma....
- Lana does not currently exhibit distress or severe pain despite her broken leg and suspected osteosarcoma - is this normal? She's eating. She'll put weight on her leg. She even tried to run (which made my anxiety spike ten fold). Is this extremely unusual to behave normally like this?
Thank you so much in advance for helping me find the right path of care for Lanabear. I just want her to be the happiest and most comfortable/normal she can be during this.
The Human: Sierra (human, author)
Tripawd Doggo: Lana (doggo, boxer mix, 9 years)
The Pack:
- Anthony (human, husband))
- Hektor (doggo, herding mix, 12 years)
- Arlo (doggo, cattle dog mix, 3 years
- Mojo (feline, 9 years)
Hi Lana and family, welcome. Your future posts won't need approval so post away. I'm in the Tripawds Chat for a few more minutes if you feel like talking.
I'm so sorry you are dealing with this tough situation. To answer your questions:
Should I push for a bone biopsy for Lana or is this a step that adds more pain and additional sedation and misery for Lana? Do you usually just confirm from an X-ray only and go forward with amputation? I just worry about amputating a leg and not being SURE it’s osteosarcoma….
You did good by asking about a bone biopsy. It's clear that you are an excellent advocate for her. But in a situation like this, a bone biopsy may not be worth the additional pain, surgery and expense. Is the bone destroyed beyond saving? If so, then the biopsy can wait since the leg needs to be removed anyways. In most cases when a leg fractures the way Lana's did, it's not able to be fixed and amputation is necessary no matter what. Sure there's an exception here and there, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. If you do proceed with amputation, a bone biopsy can be done after the leg is removed to save Lana from the extra surgery and sedation.
Lana does not currently exhibit distress or severe pain despite her broken leg and suspected osteosarcoma – is this normal? She’s eating. She’ll put weight on her leg. She even tried to run (which made my anxiety spike ten fold). Is this extremely unusual to behave normally like this?
First, it's important to know that dogs are masters at hiding pain signals . That's why she's trying to act normally. They will do whatever it takes to not look weak, until the pain gets too bad to hide it. I suspect Lana is close to getting there. After all, if a human were to walk around with a broken leg and nothing to splint it or relieve the pain, they would be howling in pain and bedridden from day one. Try to put yourself in her paws. A fractured leg hurts like heck, even with good pain medication. You didn't mention if she is on any but I hope that she is while you try to decide what to do. Please ask your vet for some good pain meds for acute pain. Good choices include Codeine, Gabapentin and possibly a Fentanyl patch if she starts showing pain. Tramadol won't touch this kind of pain.
I hope this helps. Stay tuned for feedback from the community and keep us posted on what you decide to do.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hello and welcome.
Is her bad leg a front or back?
I second everything that Jerry said. If the leg is not salvageable there is no need for a biopsy. I've dealt with different cancers but my understanding is that OSA on an xray is pretty distinct. Can you have another expert review the xray?
And on the prognosis- remember Lana is her own self and the stats are based on a bunch of other dogs. Some live longer (some wayyyyy longer) some live shorter, no one can really tell you what Lana will get. The point of amputation is to take the awful pain away and give Lana a chance for more quality time with you.
My Pug Maggie had a different cancer, mast cell, and her prognosis with chemo was 6 to 9 months. We did do chemo and Maggie lived almost 4 more years and did not pass from mast cell cancer. No, it doesn't always happen, but if I hadn't done the amp and treatment she most likely would have passed a couple months after diagnosis.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Hi Lana's mom
First I just want to say that I am so sorry that you got this terrible news. I think everybody on this site know how it feels and how heartbreaking it is. I have been through that in last March. Arktik got the terrible news in a similar fashion, always super active, zero pain and in a matter of 2-3 weeks with got an osteosarcoma diagnostic. (started with a lameness, did one week of anti-inflammatory, then we think he did a micro fracture just jumping 1 foot down, and then we did the x-ray as his lameness was not improving...the outcome of the x-ray was terrifying...the bone was pretty much completely gone). What a devastating news.
And then..I found this community. This is the best place to seek comfort and answers. People here are awesome and knowledgeable.
About your situation I completely agree with Jerry. As doing a biopsy would not change the outcome we decided not to do it for Arktik and move forward to the amputation. From the moment we took the decision to move forward with this, I just decide to fight for Arktik and be there for him. We are so happy we did it. He recovered very well from the surgery (even if the first few days are definitely not a walk in the park), and 10-12 days post surgery we were able to stop all meds. He has been pain free since then 🙂 Also as Jerry pointed out, dogs (and animals in general) are masters at hiding their pain (a survival adaptation for their life in the wild). And even for humans with all the medical technique pain in the bones is extremely difficult to threat.
I suggest you read the different stories of people in the forums or blogs, it will give you an idea on what to expect. To me the decision to amputate was to give him the best quality of life for the time left. We ended up doing 4 rounds of chemo as well. We will hit the 5 months post-amputation soon. We are enjoying the good life together and people are super impressed how Arktik is on three legs (somebody actually ask me if he was 2-3 years old ...he is 10
)
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!
Thinking about Lana
Here's a link to Arktik's story
Thank you, thank you, thank you to all of you Jerry & Krun15 & Arktik. It means so much and it has been so helpful. I've been reading on this website and digesting everything I could to help Lana as much as possible - I absolutely do not want her to be in pain.
The limb with the break and suspected Osteosarcoma cancer is her left hind leg.
We decided to proceed with the amputation and skip the biopsy.
I laid awake all night after I wrote this post and couldn't go through with the biopsy if it were to only cause her more pain and ultimately end in amputation anyway. Our vet talked me off the panic ledge and walked me through the Xray in depth and explained that there was no way to even repair the leg due to the loss of bone and explained why. And the lower part of her leg below the break was also lacking strong bones and very problematic. The Xray and the way the leg was broken, she said, is "typical" (I'm still digesting all of this....) of Osteosarcoma. Lana's vet has known Lana for 9 years and we both (Lana and I) trust her vet completely. I just had to let my rational mind dial back my emotional in-denial fear.
So between the articles here and our vet's recommendation we chose amputation and so we could send the entire leg to the pathologist for diagnosis. She had her amputation yesterday afternoon and should know more about what officially caused all of this on Monday or Tuesday next week. (I'll make sure to post here on this topic once we know her diagnosis).
For now, Lana was able to come home tonight. She was walking this morning at the vets and has gone to the bathroom perfectly. She ate this morning and ate tonight and has drank water. I'm so proud of her. I can tell she's uncomfortable but I also know how tough she is. To see her post surgery and see how excited she was to come HOME made my heart full!
Lana had a really really rough start in life - I got her at 6 months old. She had been nearly starved to death and abused and in the first year after I found her she underwent several surgeries and a LOT of medications to get her to health. It also took us a long time to get her to trust strangers again and not have fear aggression - we've worked so hard together. We might be a little too attached to each other maybe? But for 9 years she's been my completely healthy, goofy, totally super weirdo best friend - so when she fell on our stairs suddenly and cried out the world kind of stopped ....this has been very sudden to say the least.
Thank you again for helping Lana and I down this new path together.
The Human: Sierra (human, author)
Tripawd Doggo: Lana (doggo, boxer mix, 9 years)
The Pack:
- Anthony (human, husband))
- Hektor (doggo, herding mix, 12 years)
- Arlo (doggo, cattle dog mix, 3 years
- Mojo (feline, 9 years)
Hmmmm.....I actually made a post when you first joined.....or I thought I did anyway! It's not here.
Basically it was ditto to the replies already. I won't be a "subtle" now as I was in the disappearing post, I am soooo glad you proceeded with amputation quickly. I've seen a lot of dogs here who get a biop, it's inconclusive, and causes a lot of pain in many cases.
YOU DID THE RIGHT THING FOR LANA!!
Eating, drinking, pottying and mobile already? Good job!!
Pain meds may take some tweaking, especially after the hospital meds are out of her system jn another day or so. Most dogs come home with Tramadol, Gabapentin, Rimadyl, and an antibiotic.
Recovery is no picnic for about two weeks-ish. Slow and easy, lots of rest. Just potty breaks and then back in for rest.
If you have hardwoods, put down non slip scatter rugs for traction .
Try and get yourself some rest when you can. It's been exhausting physically and emotionally getting to this point. Good job of processing what was best for Lana. And this is definitely best for Lana.
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS. Yeah, Lana had a rough start, but that was all erased once you took her into your heart and your home❤
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Wow Lana! It seems like you are handling recovery like a champ! Eating, potting, being mobile...That's awesome news. Don't hesitate to ask question during this process as sometimes meds need to be adjusted and if you have doubts about anything. Most likely somebody here will be able to help.
As Sally said slow and steady are the key words for the next two weeks! Sometimes our pups want to do more than they should, and as much as we just want to see them go ..we have to 'contain' them a little 😉 Arktik being his husky self was certainly always willing to do more..
Your vet seemed to be great taking the time to discuss the process with you, and make sure you are comfortable with the decision. I think this is another key point, having a good team working with you. So much more reassuring.
Looking forward to hear more about Lana's recovery. Even if there are days that seem more difficult than others, don't worry you will be over the rough patch soon enough!
Patricia & Arktik
Aww this makes me so hoppy to know that she is already rockin' the recovery life! 
Lana is so very fortunate to have you and her vet team looking out for her needs. Thanks to you, she has had the life she so deserved when she was born into this world, and will continue to do so.
I completely understand how conflicted you felt when you couldn't picture her on 3 legs, it's hard to think that our animals could be happy, but they really do bounce back and move on without looking back. Lana will too!
If there is anything we can to do help during recovery let us know OK? Oh and be sure to start a new topic in Treatment and Recovery now that she's graduated out of the diagnosis phase.
(((hugs)))
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
We had a rough night and I'll detail that more in Lana's new thread over in Treatment & Recovery here ( Lana the boxer mix - learning along the way as a whole pack ) -- if we can figure out the sleeping thing we'll be hopping along smoothly for sure! I cannot thank you all enough for helping me make this really, really hard decision but in the best interest for her care.
I wanted to add Lana's Xray here to this thread so you all could see it and I'll post her diagnosis when it comes through.
I still cannot believe her leg broke like that simply going up our stairs at home, a normal thing she had done so many times before. Please keep all paws crossed for Lana's results - we should hear back around Monday / Tuesday.
The Human: Sierra (human, author)
Tripawd Doggo: Lana (doggo, boxer mix, 9 years)
The Pack:
- Anthony (human, husband))
- Hektor (doggo, herding mix, 12 years)
- Arlo (doggo, cattle dog mix, 3 years
- Mojo (feline, 9 years)
I'm so sorry about the ruff night. Thank you for sharing Lana's x-ray, that is super helpful for documentation purposes and I'll be sure to put it in our Tripawds Gallery too, if that's OK.
Going over to your other topic now, thanks for starting one.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks for sharing this! It's true that cancer cells make the bone so fragile and pathological fracture can't really heal. Same thing happened with Arktik he barely lift his paws of the ground and really yelp after, we found out it probably caused a micro-fracture (prior to amputation).
We got the results back - and although not the news I was hoping for, it's still better news than I thought it would be (?)
Our vet is to call me in the morning as I did not get to talk to her at length today and my husband was the one who got the results. "A low grade osteosarcoma Stage I" as there was no metastasis in her nearby lymph nodes in the leg that was amputated and the lymph nodes in the amputated leg were not enlarged at all. No visible mets showed up on her Xrays prior to surgery (of course).
Everything I've read on Osteosarcoma so far says that if it "shows up" it means it's spread - so I guess where do we go now for a 9-year old healthy dog? Anyone else deal with a Stage I Osteosarcoma?
(Going to post this in my recovery / treatment thread as well but wanted to give the official diagnosis on this thread as well that corresponds with her original Xray)
The Human: Sierra (human, author)
Tripawd Doggo: Lana (doggo, boxer mix, 9 years)
The Pack:
- Anthony (human, husband))
- Hektor (doggo, herding mix, 12 years)
- Arlo (doggo, cattle dog mix, 3 years
- Mojo (feline, 9 years)
Well heck, that's as good as it gets for an osteosarcoma diagnosis!
I'll check out your other topic now.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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