Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello everyone. I've been browsing the site to learn more about considering a rear leg amputation for our 22 month old Flat-Coated Retriever, Ted. He has a soft tissue sarcoma on the top/back of his rear left leg + patella luxation in the same leg. Maybe the luxation diagnosis was affected by what later blew up into a big lump, maybe the knee will remain a separate problem.
Surgeon is not confident that the mass can be removed in its entirety based on its location and invasive nature. I'm not convinced that 16 rounds of radiation + surgery is going to do what we need. Oncologist said it will almost certainly grow back but "no problem" (what??) because we can just do it all again. I'm just not feeling that this is the right course for such a young dog. Plus, the amount of money seems irresponsible to spend for not much of a guarantee and potentially a hard time for our dog.
I don't know yet if amputation is a viable option per the vet, although she mentioned it early on when I didn't want to hear it. Anyone else with a similar situation? Thoughts to share?
Madeline (in San Diego)
Good morning Madeline,
Tuck is not a young dog - he is a 9 year old chocolate lab - but he also had a soft tissue sarcoma on his front right leg.
The sarcoma was removed in April of this year and histology revealed that it was of the "high grade" variety. Hoping we would beat the odds - Tuck recovered well from that surgery and we "crossed our fingers" and hoped it would not come back or that it would grow slowly if it did.
Unfortunately, by early July, it was evident that the sarcoma was back - and was growing quickly!
After the necessary tests, Tuck had his right front leg amputated on September 18th and has recovered amazingly well since!
There were some bumps at the beginning of the road....but none that were insurmountable!
Tuck is now cancer free - something that could not have been guaranteed if we had only continued to remove the growth!
Good Luck with your decision making! I'm here to respond to other questions if you want.
Linda and Tucker
Welcome Madeline. I'm so sorry to hear about Ted, he's such a youngster! But that also has a lot of advantages too, so hang in there you CAN get through this.
The oncologist is right; when it comes to tumors like this, oftentimes they do return. A lot of people here went the radiation treatment route only to have to amputate either a few months or a couple of years later. Not always, but these are the stories we see here because they've had to resort to amputation.
And with the luxating patella situation on the same leg, that sounds like an extra challenge. Has he seen an orthopedic vet about this?
It sounds like you're working with a good, board-certified team, right? That's great, veterinary cancer care doesn't get any better than that. BUT, you need to be confident with the next steps, so if it will make you feel better, you might want to get a second opinion at another clinic with board-certified surgeons. I can highly recommend the Vet Cancer Group if that's not who you're working with currently, for another opinion. They're fantastic.
If you haven't already checked it out, the Dog Cancer Survival Guide is a great tool to help you make decisions like this. And of course we're here to help too. Ask as many questions as you'd like, you are definitely not alone in wrestling with this.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you for the replies. We have a bunch more appts this week. Quick reply from the first vet (board certified surgeon) said amputation was probably not a good option b/c of where the tumor is. Our appt is on Wed so I'll get more info then.
Ah OK. Glad to know you saw a board-certified doc. Well good luck and keep us posted!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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