Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I have an 8 year old Rat Jack that has a soft tissue sarcoma on her left front "wrist". She has had 2 surgeries and it has come back again. She is not showing any signs of pain, no limping, very fast with ball chasing, loves to chase things. I have an appointment to consult my vet about amputation but I'm wondering what the outcome is likely to be if I choose to simply let nature take it's course. I would have no trouble considering amputation if she seemed to be in distress but she seems as happy and active as ever. I'm not sure how many years or months she might have with or without amputation. Thoughts? Experiences?
Hello and welcome, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
Asking the vet about 'doing nothing' is valid in my book, in fact with all three cancer diagnosis' I've dealt with that was one of my questions. I think you need to know ALL options to make an informed decision.
I would want to know how aggressive they think the cancer is and what are the chances it will metastasize to other parts of the body. Will the tumor eventually ulcerate and cause a wound? If the amputation is done is it curative for the cancer? Are there other treatment options like radiation or chemo that could treat the tumor?
I completely understand your thinking with your girl showing no pain- what is her name by the way? My pug Maggie had a mast cell tumor in her knee that was not causing pain- I discovered it by accident when we were playing one day. Maggie was quite a drama queen so she would definitely have told me if something was hurting! With the tumor she had it would have eventually ulcerated and caused a painful wound that probably would never heal. In addition the chances of metastasis was high if I did not have the tumor removed and because of the location in and around her knee they could not remove the tumor without amputation. It was very difficult for me to accept that amputation was the best option for a bump in her knee! But for us surgery and chemo were definitely the best route- Maggie lived almost 4 more years and passed from a different cancer. Without the surgery she never would have been with me that long. BTW- Mag was 7.5 years old at the time of her rear amp.
Is she in otherwise good health? Does the vet think she is a good candidate for amputation? What concerns do you have for her if she had the amputation?
Look at all your options and decide what is best for you and your girl. No matter what path you choose we are here to help.
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
You've already gotten excellent support from Karen! Good for you for compiling some good questions.
Just want to add my "welcome" and to let you know we are here for you, regardless of what path you take. One thing for sure, Rat Jacks are ruff and tuff and take on any challenge with a strong will and determination!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
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!
Likewise, welcome! You're doing all the right things by consulting with an oncologist and asking good questions. From what I understand, many of these tumor types have lots of little "tentacles" that tend to be very hard to totally remove with clean margins in a resection surgery, but hopefully your dog's is an easy peasy one. The difficulty with them being on the leg is there isn't much skin to close up the wound, so many times it's easier and less of a drawn-out ordeal to amputate from the get go. You'll know more when you meet with the onco. Meanwhile, here's a blog post that may help you organize your thoughts when you meet:
Questions to Ask Your Veterinary Oncologist
Let us know how the meeting goes.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi and Welcome,
I am sorry you have to join us.
Our cat Purrkins had Soft Tissue Sarcoma on his left front carpus (wrist) he was 6 at diagnosis now 7 .
Soft Tissue Sarcoma’s are locally aggressive as you already are seeing.
As Jerry as said these tumors have tentacles that wrap and intertwine on the leg you cannot get clean margins and wide enough margins to remove the cancer. They will continue to come back.
We had a low grade tumor but it turned into 2 tumors before we amputated the leg. The largest tumor at the time of amputation was 2 cm. Our mitotic figures were rare 0-1 per 10 high power field.
We had the option of surgically removing as much of the tumors as possible knowing they would not be able to get clean margins. Followed with radiation 16-20 treatments being sedated each time. Mon thur Friday weekends off the surgery would have been $1400 radiation would have been $7,000 - 9,000. This was thru Michigan State University the oncologist told us he could keep it under control for 2 years and then if it started to grow we could amputate the leg $2,000 -2,500 which would “Likely be curative”
Long story short we chose to amputate the leg and get rid of the cancer!!
As of this month we are a year and 8 months post amp no cancer at our last onco checkup last week.
I would suggest taking the limb! It has already come back 2 times and you do not want it to spread. We were told these metastasis to the lungs. Cancer has no rules just guidelines.
There is a newer treatment that was not a option for us one of the members here did might be a option for you? They were diagnosed with STS on a dog who was already a tripawd.
5-FU
Travis Ray and the Soft Tissue Sarcoma (Noooooo not my baby boy!!
IMO the best chance to get rid of the cancer, is to amputate the leg Purrkins does great on 3 legs. We would make the same decision today as we did then.
This was one of the most helpful articles we found to help us maybe it will help you as well.
SOFT TISSUE SARCOMAS: YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Let us know what your Vet suggests, we wish you the best of luck.
Hugs,
Holly & Purrkins
Hi there 🌺
My girl Eurydice had a different tumour (osteosarcoma) so for me there was no doubt her leg had to go so the pain would go.
Your situation is different so I can't comment with first hand knowledge but would do what others suggested i.e. find out more about her cancer and options and then, armed with that information, consider which route to take.
And please know whichever decision you'll take in the end, will be a good decision because you obviously love your baby 💗 and want her to have a wonderful life, which she will 🐾💕
Sending you a big hug and cuddles 😘😘😘🐮💫✨🌟🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
Hi there,
Welcome to the club nobody wants to join! I am Travis Ray's mom--Holly gave you a link in her post to my forum post about his treatment--5-FU. It is a chemo drug that is injected directly at the tumor site. We are now about 6 months out from the end of his treatments and no sign of recurrence so far. I believe this treatment can be used with or without resection, depending on the circumstances. Where do you live? You would probably have to go to a teaching hospital or, if you live in New Mexico or nearby, Dr. Kelly at the Veterinary Cancer Care center in Santa Fe probably knows more than any other vet about 5-FU and she is very excited about how well it works!
I have another dog, Smokey, that also just had surgery for an STS on his leg. Since he also has a tumor in his lungs that we elected not to do surgery on we just started him on metronomic chemotherapy . This is a low dose continuous daily treatment that typically involves a chemo drug and an NSAID. The goal is to stabilize existing tumors and/or prevent/slow down recurrence and mets from occurring. With Smokey we dont know what the tumor in his lungs is but it is unlikely to be a met from the STS because that tumor was only Grade I. So our hope is just to keep it stable and not growing for as long as possible. You can find a ton of info about metronomics on the site--I am still learning about it.
Neither one of my dogs was a candidate for amputation. Travis is already a tripawd and Smokey has bad arthritis in his other front leg so amputating the one with the STS would have put too much stress on the arthritic one. If the STS had popped up on the arthritic leg we would have amputated for sure, as it is generally considered curative for STS, particularly with the lower grade tumors.
So do you know the grade of your dog's tumor (s)? And the mitotic index? Those are two factors that will give you a clue as to stats for recurrence/metastasis/life expectancy. I have heard that when STS recurs it can come back as a higher grade tumor but don't quote me on that. Have you already talked to an oncologist about this latest recurrence?
Best of luck with your pup,
Martha, Codie Rae and the Oaktown Pack
Woohoo! Tripawds Rule!
Regulator of the Oaktown Pack, Sheriff of the Oaktown Pawsse, Founding member and President of the Tripawd Girldogs With 2 Names ROCK Club, and ... Tripawd Girldog Extraordinaire!
Hello,
I was in the same boat with my 7 year old pit mix.
We had removed the lump, unfortunately, because as mentioned before, these sarcomas have ‘tentacle’ like spreading/growing tendencies, there was no way to get clean margins.
Within 6 months the lump was back and bigger than before we removed it.
The issue with trying to go on with multiple surgeries for Ellie was the scar tissue that built up in the area. Also, they only have so much skin that is able to be pulled back and closed back up again after the procedures.
I went to 5 different vets for ‘second opinions’, and each one advised me that her only option was amputation. If these sarcomas weren’t as aggressive as they are, I would’ve tried to leave it be. Because I was advised that the probability of spreading was 15%. I thought that sounded low enough for me to leave it be. But because the lump will, and did continue to grow/return, it would have eventually burst. This would possibly lead to infection. That would’ve added MORE pricey and with amputation, avoidable treatments.
Dont take that the wrong way: I would spend all the money I have on this dog. Over the past two years, I have spent close to 10k.
Back to the point, i finally decided to go through with the surgery, and it’s day three post Op, and I am shaken, but I believe this was a good idea for her.
I’m not sure if the surgery has added a significant amount of time to live for my Ellie, but as they say on here, I believe that it’s better to hop on three legs than to limp on four. I believe that’s how it goes. She will be happier once the healing is done.
I would get multiple opinions and look at the alternatives available. Radiation and chemotherapy etc.
best of luck
Hi Ellie's mom! Welcome to the fourms, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
I just posted in your blog- suggesting you find your way over here.... so, good job! Thank you for sharing your experiences here.
Please consider starting a new Thread in Treatment and Recovery so you can introduce Ellie and tell her story.
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
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