Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Today we went to the referral clinic for he scans, surgeon there said we could leave him overnight and they would take his leg off tomorrow, my OH isn't happy to do that as it is quite a distance away so we have booked his amputation for Friday at our own vets where we can easily go should we need and for regular check ups etc plus we and he know them and have faith in them to look after him
Plan of action is - scans have gone to the radiographers for them to read them but like the XRays they can't see any mets, we wait for the final assessments of his lungs
Friday is 'A' day when he will have his leg taken off, it obviously is very painful. He will stay at the vets and we can pick him up the next morning provided they are happy with his recovery, he will be on Tramadol, Loxicom and have a fentanyl patch initially. The bone will be sent for more tests to see what exactly he has
When he has his stitches out a blood panel will be done in preparation for us to go to the referral centre for the first of 4-5 carboplatin treatments
All the time we keep our fingers crossed that he has a good recovery and that the mets stay away for many years to come
The only thing they keep saying is that it is atypical because of its location, his age etc but they are very convinced that is it something nasty which needs to be sorted out. Hopefully if they have the bone they will be able to come up with a proper diagnosis of what exactly it is, one thing it is almost certainly not is an infection as it is not usual in this country.
The reason I went ahead very quickly with amputation was for 2 reasons. 1, we had a very long road to diagnosis. 2, they said it would remove his pain. As far as Chemo goes, if you do it, you can always stop if it does not go well. That is what we did. Ty had other, underlying conditions which made it not an option after the first treatment. As far as activity goes, I have a 2-3 year old Lab Tripad who amazes everyone he meets with what he can do. They adapt quite quickly. I know the waiting is agonizing. Hang in there! There are so many of us here who understand exactly what you are feeling right now. Lori, Ty & Gang
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
Wow he's getting some really terrific care! As hard as this is, rest assured that everything is being done so well, you guys will get through this in no time at all. In the meantime you can use these next few days to prepare your house with traction , his recovery area, and of course things to keep you happy and calm too 🙂
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Ahhhh....the bIiss of being dog! Jack is living in the moment not worrying about a thing! Not the case with us humans! Ugh!!
You've made a decision that's in Jack's best interest so he can continue to get more loving and spoiling and an occasional ice cream cone!
We're all here with you! Keep us posted!
Sending love and pawsitive thoughts and healing energy!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
It's really hard knowing that the decision is made and then waiting for the day to come for the surgery to take place, it seems like an eternity and all I wanted was for the bl**dy thing to be gone 
Where is Jack going for his chemo? I see that you are from the UK too and there aren't that many places that you can go, we might even be using the same referral hospital!!
Storm sees the oncologist on Thursday, I'm hoping that they start his chemo straight away, once I make a decision I'm pretty impatient to get things started.
Gentle hugs to Jack (and you too)
I would wait on the plans for chemo depending on the results of the pathology. The pathology will determine what type of chemo he will need. I say that because with Murphy his was also indeterminate, they thought it was osteosarcoma, but the final path came back as histiocytic sarcoma. So that changed what chemo he got. He had to have 6 doses of ccnu, which is a pill, and took denamarin to protect his liver while he was on it.
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
Yes Donna, the only sure way is after the bone goes to the lab but we will have time before we start on the chemo, the carboplatin protocol was what they suggested yesterday but obviously it could change.
Chellie, we are going to Bath which is near to us, seems most of the specialist units are in Cambridge or Yorkshire which are not practical for us, where are you going? and yes I am impatient for things to get moving but also realise that we need to be controlled with all this
We're going to Davies in Bedford.
The Newmarket hospital is closer to us but this is the specialist that our vet uses and we have been many times before when our other dogs have needed referral surgery. Our Akita was one of the first British dogs to have TPLO surgery, our crossbreed had an arthroscopy there and poor old Storm was there for a week with a mystery illness which caused his organs to start shutting down, they have never identified why it happened and it took 9 months of steroid treatment to bring him back to health, another reason to go back there as at least they have a full working knowledge of his history, I just hope that it doesn't affect his chemo prospects.
jackdog said
Today we went to the referral clinic for he scans, surgeon there said we could leave him overnight and they would take his leg off tomorrow, my OH isn't happy to do that as it is quite a distance away so we have booked his amputation for Friday at our own vets where we can easily go should we need and for regular check ups etc plus we and he know them and have faith in them to look after him
Plan of action is - scans have gone to the radiographers for them to read them but like the XRays they can't see any mets, we wait for the final assessments of his lungsFriday is 'A' day when he will have his leg taken off, it obviously is very painful. He will stay at the vets and we can pick him up the next morning provided they are happy with his recovery, he will be on Tramadol, Loxicom and have a fentanyl patch initially. The bone will be sent for more tests to see what exactly he has
When he has his stitches out a blood panel will be done in preparation for us to go to the referral centre for the first of 4-5 carboplatin treatments
All the time we keep our fingers crossed that he has a good recovery and that the mets stay away for many years to come
The only thing they keep saying is that it is atypical because of its location, his age etc but they are very convinced that is it something nasty which needs to be sorted out. Hopefully if they have the bone they will be able to come up with a proper diagnosis of what exactly it is, one thing it is almost certainly not is an infection as it is not usual in this country.
Hi jack dog,
I'm curious about the location of the tumor, it is in the femoral bone? Murph's was in the femoral neck, so they removed part of the pelvic bone as well. One of the vets I took him to actually had never done that type of surgery, but I found another that had much more experience with the procedure. Murphy had his surgery yesterday, and for all intents and purposes he is doing so much better than I could ever have imagined, on his first night home. I hope Jack has the same luck. We seem to be traveling a similar path, in that we now will be waiting for the biopsy results before we know more about chemotherapy or other treatment.
Murphy and I will be thinking about you guys, thanks for all of the updates!
Murphy, became a tripawd on August 17, 2015. Went to the rainbow bridge on July 5, 2016.
Hi Murphy
The tumour is located in the bottom end of his right hind femur but about 1/4-1/3 of the way up the bone
Today we do a happy dance - the scans have comeback clear!
We have a fighting chance that we can beat this, but what this is will only be known once the bone has been to the lab
Chellie, I envy you the choice of places you have over your side of the country, I think I would have liked to go to Dick White or one of those but I am sure that where we are going will be good
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