Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Our irish red and white setter Riley has just had a soft tissue sarcoma removed from his front elbow. While the tumor was large, it was difficult to get all of the tissue because the vet said she couldn't get additional margins, and that these types of tumors often send out tendrils that move between muscle and other tissue. Now the oncologist says that a surgeon should remove more tissue in a second surgery next week rather than do an amputation or have radiation, but our own vet who removed the tumor disagrees and says that we should have the leg amputated. We dont' know how to decide on this, because the two seem to disagree on which option is best. Our dog is almost 11, very active and up til now, very healthy. I am reassured to see that quality of life continues welll for dogs with front leg amputations. It is a hard thing to face, and I see that others have faced it successfully. Thanks for the support. Have any of you faced this decision? We want him to have as long a life as possible as comfortably as possible. In addition, Irish red and whites like to be up high on beds and couches...not on the floor. What can we do to accomodate that? Any thoughts?
Welcome! I'm so sorry you had to find us through your pup's bad circumstances!
It sounds like you need a tie-breaker, for sure!
A lot of us will probably lean toward your vet and the amputation only because we've seen a few skip the amputation and end up doing it after unsuccessful attempts to try to save the leg. It's not that we think amputation is the cure-all but it gets rid of the pain.
Others will chime in and add their thoughts and experience. I'm just a pro at reading about it here because I don't have a 3 legged dog from cancer, just a birth defect.
Good luck!
Comet's mom
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
I tend to agree with Comet on this one. I would most definitely go for a tie breaker. It may seem kind of crazy to go for a third opinion, but this is the kind of thing where there aren't do overs. There are people on here that have tried to spare the leg and it just didn't work out. Whatever you decide, just make sure it's the best thing for your pup.
Leslie
I'm a big fan of second opinions, and a bigger fan of sticking with the vet who you 'connect' with. When Trouble was diagnosed, the vet thought she was not a candidate for amputation because she was overweight. The second opinion vet (and the one we chose to stay with) believed exactly the opposite - he believed the only way to stop the pain was amputation (we had osteosarcom).
I would have gone for a third opinion because the two were so opposite, but we connected with the second opinion vet immediately. He was calm, informative, supportive and encouraging. We knew when we left that evening Trouble would be well cared for with him. And for 20 months he has been awesome.
If you haven't found that connection yet, keep looking.
Shanna & Spirit Trouble ~ Trouble gained her wings 3/16/2011, a 27 1/2 month cancer survivor, tail wagging. RIP sweetheart, you are my heart and soul. Run free at Rainbow Bridge.
The November Five - Spirits Max, Cherry, Tika, Trouble & Nova. 11/2008 - 3/2013 An era ends as Queen Nova crossed the Bridge.
hello, sorry to hear about riley's diagnosis. gayle had a soft tissue sarcoma in her right front 'wrist'. i was able to be there when our vet opened up the area to do a biopsy and to see if the tumor was 'removable'. it was very entwined with nerves, etc, and there was a limited chance to get clean margins. we opted for amputation (february 17th) and five rounds of chemo (doxorubicin). she is doing very well after all of that, and we have no regrets about our decisions. she is 10 and a half, a lab mix. after amputation she is around 60 lbs, and is able to jump up onto the sofa bed, gets up and down off of the sofa, etc. pretty well. of course with three legs, there were adjustments, but she has been a champ through every step and a true inspiration. hope this gives you some idea of what could be ahead if you opt for this route. if there's any other help we can give, let us know. gayle also has a blog which could give you a little background as well. etgayle.tripawds.com
good luck with your decisions. as long as you do it out of love, you'll do the right thing!
charon & gayle
Life is good, so very, very good!!! Gayle enjoyed each and every moment of each and every wonderful day (naps included). She left this world December 12, 2011 – off on a new adventure.
Love Never Ends
If you don't have a good gut feeling, then get a third opinion. It's too important a decision to not check further. Good luck, and keep us posted.
Cathy/Jane/Spirit Skyler/Chloe
Welcome, and thanks for joining. We're sorry to hear about tiley but glad you found the Tripawds community. As you can tell already, you'll receive lots of feedback and support here.
We have no direct experience with your situation, and we are not vets, but we can share what we know from the past few years of maintaining these forums. Far too many times we have heard from people who put there dog through multiple, painful, expensive surgeries only to end up proceeding with amputation anyway – if the cancer had not already severely metastsized.
It's not a matter of if the cancer will return – even with the best margins – but when. Don't mean to be a downer, just trying to be realistic because knowledge is power when it comes to fighting cancer. Best wishes in the difficult decisions you face. If you have not already done so, be sure to search these forums for existing topics that may be helpful.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
bredflame said:
In addition, Irish red and whites like to be up high on beds and couches…not on the floor. What can we do to accomodate that? Any thoughts?
Harley liked to be up on the bed on and off throughout the day, plus he slept in the bed with us, so we moved the mattress to the floor even before his amputation (so he would be used to it being lowered). A month or so after amputation, we put the boxspring back under the mattress, but we left it on the floor for the entire time Harley was with us (it, actually, still is on the floor; I did get the frame back out of storage, but can't bring myself to put the bed back how it was, just yet. Silly.)
We had another bed he would be up on, which we didn't lower, and he did fine getting up and down. He wasn't on this bed as much, and he wasn't allowed on it until after his staples were out. It always scared me to see him jump off it, but he always did fine, and it didn't seem to bother him jumping down (he was a front leg amputee).
The couch. Once we found out Harley was sick, he was allowed on the couch whenever he wanted. He did absolutely find getting up and down. Again, we had to block the couch off until his staples were out; I took the cushions off and stacked them from both our couches on the end of one (my thinking being, if there weren't cushions he wouldn't want to be on the couch), and I found him on top of the pile of cushions one day … how he got up there just a couple days after surgery is beyond me. Stinker. Obviously, I had to try something else. Others have turned their couches around to face the wall until the staples/stitches are out.
As for amputation vs no amputation. Having gone through cancer and amputation, I would definitely lean toward amputation, especially if amputation could be a cure. My only regret with amputation, is not having been able to do it earlier and being able to catch the cancer before it spread into the lymph system.
If you are not sure or comfortable with either option, I would get a third opinion.
Best of luck, no matter what you decide!!
Amputation on 11/10/09, due to Histiocytic Sarcoma in left elbow. Angel Harley earned his wings on 06/24/10.
Thanks for all the quick responses. We are going for an opinion from the surgeon on Monday, and now the vet is saying that we should go with whatever the oncologist suggests, as she has more experience. I am saddened to hear that usually the cancer returns. This is Low Stage II, and it is not painful, as it isn't osteo, but soft tissue. He has experienced no pain with this other than right after the surgery. Hopefully the surgeon can suggest what is right, as I found a surgeon who is most involved with soft tissue sarcomas.
I just want Riley to live as long as possible, with as much joy and joie de vivre as possible, since that is his personality. Any of you in the chicago area? I would love to meet a person with a three legged dog who has successfully made the transition at the tender senior age of almost 11. I hope that Riley can live the full term that large breed dogs enjoy. He is such a loving and happy dog....
Just our experience, but Harley really never showed any sign of being in pain [we were also not dealing with bone cancer, but Histiocytic Sarcoma (a type of soft tissue cancer) in the elbow]. Our surgeon insisted to us Harley had to have been in a great deal of pain, even if he didn't show it (the only time he outwardly showed pain was after the biopsy). Were you told your type of cancer is not painful? Just wondering.
There are several dogs in the Chicago area here. Hopefully, they will reply soon. (Have you checked under the Tripawds Pawty section?)
Best of luck at the surgeon on Monday!!! (Curious as to who your surgeon is … our surgeon rotates between Chicago and Madison, and I know of at least one other dog from Chicago here that had the same surgeon as us. Small world, sometimes.)
Amputation on 11/10/09, due to Histiocytic Sarcoma in left elbow. Angel Harley earned his wings on 06/24/10.
My dog, Sophie, a golden retriever, was 12 and a half when she had her front left leg and shoulder amputated due to a soft tissue sarcoma that was diagnosed initially in April 2009. She never showed any pain with this tumor - the only reason I found it was that she was going in to the vet to have some cysts removed from her back, and I had to mark them all for the vet to find in the morning. I found a golf ball sized lump under her left front armpit.
Sophie did quite well - for a senior golden retriever - becoming Tripawd. It is much harder on the humans. Yes, there are definitely adjustments.
You have expressed the same concerns that all of us had expressed when faced with this decision.
My two cents is.... be sure - in your heart - that you are making the best decision you can - for your dog and for you - with the most information you can get. Make your decision - and don't look back.
Sophie (1998 – 2010)
"Going Dog" def: living every day in the moment
"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are."
–Unknown
bredflame said:
Thanks for all the quick responses. We are going for an opinion from the surgeon on Monday, and now the vet is saying that we should go with whatever the oncologist suggests, as she has more experience. I am saddened to hear that usually the cancer returns. This is Low Stage II, and it is not painful, as it isn't osteo, but soft tissue. He has experienced no pain with this other than right after the surgery. Hopefully the surgeon can suggest what is right, as I found a surgeon who is most involved with soft tissue sarcomas.
I just want Riley to live as long as possible, with as much joy and joie de vivre as possible, since that is his personality. Any of you in the chicago area? I would love to meet a person with a three legged dog who has successfully made the transition at the tender senior age of almost 11. I hope that Riley can live the full term that large breed dogs enjoy. He is such a loving and happy dog....
Hello,
My dog had a soft tissue sarcoma on her left rear knee. From my research on STS's, amputation is the best solution of keeping it at 'bay' longer.... I have read that they will just return if you try to remove them... Good luck with your decisions and my thoughts are with you on the VERY tough decision to ampuate. But I can tell you that I don't regret it NOW. After amputation, I was worried I'd done the wrong thing but not now! Maggie is having a GREAT summer compared to last summer 
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
Thanks for everyone's responses. All this support is so helpful and needed. Well, after much discussion between surgeon, vet and oncologist, the decision is to go with surgery to excise any other tumor material, and follow with radiation for one month to get microscopic cancer. so far, they feel that this type of tumor, being Low Stage II, doesn't likely grow aggressively, and won't metasticize to other areas, which have been checked. It was a hard decision, but they think that this will be a good choice for an active, large breed, and that there is always the possibility down the line of amputation (which would be hard to follow this, given the pricey nature of all this! Radiation is more than "an arm and a leg." So there we are, hopefully for the long term, and not just the moment. Thanks for all, and hoping that we have chosen the best option. beth
Hey Beth, that's terrific news. With so many smart brains on your side, this has absolutely got to be the best option. Good luck with the upcoming treatments, please let us know how things go OK?
...."more than an arm and a leg...." heh heh!
Paws up for 100 pawcent success!!!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hey good luck! We faced a similar situation with a chondrosarcoma (which is a tumor of the cartilage and although it is often discussed along with OS because it often occurs in the limbs, it is actually correctly categorized as a soft tissue tumor and thus behaves more like a sarcoma - we had the same discussion with the vets re the tendrils of the tumor, etc.) It was also low grade, so radiation was an option because of lower chance of metastasis.
The difference for us was that the tumor was basically at the knee, and 3 vets agreed that the only surgical option was amputation -- none of them thought there was a chance of getting out enough of the tumor twith enough of a margin to make another surgery at all useful. But, lilke you, I definitely wanted a clear answer on that.
If you are interested you can look up chondrosarcoma and Ajax and find all my posts. I looked fairly in depth into radiation, given the low chance of mets. However, this type of tumor was categorized as "locally invasive" and they basically told us in 6 months it will come back locally, and since it is on the knee joint, it will cause pain.
After much drama, we opted for amputation because when push came to shove all the vets really agreed that was the best idea. Our pup is an 8 year old Lab and in good shape, so we didn't have a lot of concern about his ability to bounce back.
We're doing great, but in your shoes I may very well have opted for the radiation. Hang in there and don't drive yourself crazy thinking there is a perfect answer that you are somehow missing.
there are some posts on this site about radiation as well.
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