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.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
Just got results from biopsy of tumor on our 10 year old cairn terrier Xander. It is soft tissue sarcoma, tumor is really big. So this why I joined this website, so that we can make a informed decision.
Our veterinarian has given two options (1) amputate his leg to get clear margins (2) remove the tumor, but due to the fact that it is on his ankle and not a lot of extra skin might not close well. And then do radiation therapy, which means he would need to be sedated each treatment.
Any thoughts from anyone who has already been here is welcomed.
I am a breast cancer survivor, so some of this is familiar.
Thanks
Welcome and best wishes for Xander!
Many members have posted about their soft tissue sarcoma experiences here in the forums and in the Tripawds Blogs over the years. Use the Advanced Search above to refine your search results with specific phrases, and you're sure to find lots of helpful feedback. You can also search all blogs here .
Since the tumor is on his ankle, Xander may be a good candidate for a prosthetic if you work with your vet and a company like Orthopets before the surgery.
Please keep us posted. Your future forum posts will not require moderation.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hello and welcome to you and Xander.
Congrats on being a survivor!
My pug Maggie lost her left rear leg to a mast cell tumor in her knee area. It was the same for us- the surgeon would not have been able to remove the tumor and still have enough tissue for closure. Radiation was also an option we discussed, but I declined that treatment for Maggie. She did not do well coming out of anesthetic and I didn't think she would survive being put under so many times.
What are the survival times with tumor removal and rad vs amputation? What are the chances it will spread if you don't get clean margins?
I can say that after recovery Maggie did just fine as a rear Tripawd (although she took her time getting used to her new normal). She was small, about 12" at the shoulder. The only thing she couldn't do after surgery was climb more than 3 stairs or get up the stairs I built to the furniture, although with the furniture I think it was more a lack of desire than ability. At the time I lived in a one story house so it was fine. She did spend time at my parent's house and had to be carried up the stairs. She would go down anything. My current Tripawd is a little pug mix who is actually a little smaller than Maggie was. Elly lost her right rear leg after being hit by a car at 7 months old. I now live in my parent's house and Elly flies up and down the stairs. The only thing she can't do is scratch her right side!
Do you have any specific questions or concerns? How can we help you make your decision?
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
Hello - my dog is a large breed STS front leg amputee. In Pofi's case it was a peripheral nerve sheath tumor in the brachial plexus (arm pit), so very hard to actually diagnose. STS are usually not quick to grow or metastasize, but they can, and they are HIGHLY likely to recur and that is why amputation is considered more likely to be curative. We were hopeful for that, but the closer it is to the spine, as opposed to further down the leg, the odds become less favorable for a full and clear excision. In Pofi's case it was not and the tumor was more advanced and aggressive due to the length of time before diagnosis.
Radiation treatment was too much for me to consider putting my dog through as a post surgical option to slow down or stop recurrence - in our case the proposal was 18 to 22 days of sequential treatment under GA each day. I just could not bear to put him through that.
If it were me, knowing what I know now, I would not hesitate to amputate and hope the pathology comes back as clean margins and low grade and if that were the case, I would not even consider radiation as additional therapy. But that is me. And I say that even now as we are wondering if his cancer might have recurred and gone to the spine.
Glad you have found us and wishing you much luck!
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
1 Guest(s)
