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.
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I can't tell you how happy it makes me today to hear Rosie's success story and a golden retriever to boot! Zeus is cheering her from above and Mom is rooting for you guys here.
Keep it up good girl!
Love Heather and Spirit Zeus
Heather and Spirit Zeus - Our life changing journey…from the earth to the heavens…one day at a time…always together
Yeay Rosie! Congratulations! So glad to hear you're home, I'll bet that feels great.
We at Tripawds are cheering you on, sending lots of healing wishes your way. You are so very lucky to have been able to undergo this exciting new treatment! Please keep us posted and let us know how things are going OK? Good luck!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
jerry said:
UF is one of the best places in the country to seek treatment for canine cancerl, you are so lucky to be there. The stereotactic radiation therapy machine is one of the few in the world and it is reported to be incredible stuff. We got to see the machine in person when we were at Colorado State's cancer center earlier this summer. Have you asked your doctors there what the current success rate is when using this therapy?
For the record....I was just told by the great people at Colorado State, that the machine that UF has is not the same one that CSU has; the Varian Trilogy Accellerator. Apparently the Varian Trilogy is a newer machine with more accuracy, and the one at UF is an older accellerator that has been adapted to perform SRT therapy.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Everyone. It's finally me again Rosie's Mom and Rosie. We have had a busy time since Rosie came home. So sorry haven't been online to post anything. It has been a full time job taking care of Rosie and trying to do everything else we usually do like do our jobs. !! But anyway Rosie is coping. She did pretty well after her 2 surgeries. She had the SRS 3 1/2 weeks ago. The first 2 weeks she walked better, this last week she started limping worse. So we don't know why her limp came back. She doesn't hold her paw up like before her treatment, but she has developed a limp that is worse that it was the first 2 weeks after SRS. The Dr. at UF is working with us on giving her the right medicine for any pain or inflammation she may have. IT's so hard to know what is going on with them. But other than the limp she is alert and trying to do her regular routine. Before she was lifeless, Now she eats well, sleeps well, plays with her little stuffed toys, rolls upside down in the grass like she used to. It's good to see her do that. At least we know the cancer is gone. We just have to deal with the limp now and adjust her meds. Our Dr at UF Dr. Bacon has been wonderful. He is the one who handled our SRS treatment he worked with Dr. Bova who invented the machine at UF that does the SRS treatement.
But Dr. Bacon told me that the UF machine is different from the machine at Colorado. The machine that does SRS treatement at UF treats with a one time dose of radiation that kills the cancer tumor. The machine at Colorado is not a single dose but 3 or 4 doses. I had printed out the info from Colorado and it does talk about several treatments not just one. It is nice to be able to do this SRS treatment in one dose instead of 3 or 4.
Anyway. We are hoping Rosie is not in too much pain and that we can give her the right medicine to help her have a quality of life. I feel badly that she is still limping. We were so encouraged at first as she didn't limp so bad right after the SRS treatment. But then developed more of a limp latter. So we are hoping as she heals it will improve. There were no scars on her skin. They warned us there might be a hole in the skin that would have to be repaired. But there was no hole because of where her treatment was on her leg. So we are glad the skin is not ulcerated or anything like that. Her hair is growing back a little on the leg.
Hope everyone else is okay and thanks again for all the encouragement. We met all sorts of dogs at UF Hospital at the College of Vet Medicine and so many different kinds of dogs not just the big breeds had Oesteosarcoma!! They were all there to find out what to do. I told everyone I could about this site and how Tripawd Dogs do well and they could come here and read their stories.
Hope they do.
Thank you for all your support. If anyone has any questions please feel free to contact me.
Rosie's Mom
Hi Rosie's Mom,
So glad to hear that Rosie is doing well with all her treatments! I'm also the mom to a beautiful golden retriever (Jake, 10 yrs old) and also live in Florida!
Looking forward to following Rosie's progress... and sending tons of hugs and good wishes your way!!!
Jake's Mom
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
Hi Rosie and Family
Thanks for letting us know how it is going. Please keep us posted. I was wondering how Rosie was doing. I have not read about this machine and cannot even picture how it is possible to get rid of an entire tumor that way. But it sure is fantastic if it can!!!
Glad to hear she has her spirit back and hope you can find the secret to mending her limp.
Susan & Tazzie
Dear Friends at Tripawds:
I'm embarrased that I have not been here for so long. I am truly sorry for not postinig in so long after all the concern and thought s from everyone here. Rosie and I have been going thru a long ordeal with Chemo and a Fractured leg after Stereotactic Radiation at the University of Florida Small Animal Clinic. The people at UF are wonderful. It has been a long ride. Since Sept last year to now, and Rosie is still very lame. They want to amputate her leg and it has become an even harder decision to make as we tried to save her leg this last 6 months. The good news is she had an xray a couple months ago and they said no cancer. But we know how nasty that "C" is it could be back at anytime.
She has been a real good girl. She went thru Chemo pretty good. She had bouts with low blood counts and hot spots on her face. But she is done with chemo now and on pallative care. However her limp they think is worse and are advising me it would be worth considering to amputate.
I am so afraid of this for some reason. Maybe because she is old, maybe because I think her life will be so different and how will she be? all the unanswered questions. I've read all the books, asked all the questions, and I've been angry for awhile now about all we did to save her leg now we have to amputate her leg. It's harder to face now than it was 6 months ago. I feel bad that the radiation treatment failed for her. It gave her her leg for 6 months, so I should be happy for that. And I am. She hopefully doesn't have cancer right now. But we want her to be pain free. So I am leaning towards the amputation. But I am scared. Well she be okay, will she survive this at 12? She has other health issues, and I'm hoping she can handle this major surgery?
I want to make the right decision, but if I don't amputate her quality of life will be less every day her pain gets worse. She is on all kinds of pain killers. I hate giving her all these pills. So it seems like the best thing to do to alleviate her pain and be done with all those pills.
I was wondering if anyone knew about Jake, Jakesmom posted on my story. He died 8 weeks after amputation? I was wondering what caused it the Cancer or the amputation? Can anyone help me to know what happened to Jake he was also a GOlden but 10 yrs old. Younger than Rosie. I was wondering if he had complications with the Surgery?? And how he did after the surgery. If anyone knows Jakes mom email could they please forward to me so I can contact her?
Thanks for all your help if anyone reads this. I would be suprised if anyone came back to my story after I haven'ta posted in so long. I am so sorry for not keeping up. Rosie's life has been taking up all my time. and now we have another ordeal to go thru. Thank you for listening.
Rosie's Mom
I see here how much you are struggling with this decision, and I know how you feel. It is so hard, and the more you think about it, the harder it gets (and you've been thinking about it for 6 months!) Most everyone else here has had so much more experience and have given me such good advice, that I don't have much to add except support. However, I can say that if you decide on the amputation, please read the posts here about everyone's post-op experiences. Sadie and I had some rough times, and I questioned sometimes if I did the right thing. I still think I did, but you should try to prepare yourself for those feelings. Other that that, Sadie and I wish you both the very best and have our fingers, and back paws crossed for you.
Sadie is my 9yr old Rott/Shepherd mix. Diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her right scapula 1/28/10. Our brave girl had her amputation 2/13/10 and her last chemotherapy on 6/6/10. Unfortunately, a tumor appeared in her back right leg and on 10/7/2010 Sadie's earthly journey came to an end. On 10/24/2010 we adopted Ranger, a handsome Rott/Lab mix tripawd (got hit by a car) I think Sadie sent him to us.
http://ranger.t.....pawds.com/
Rosie and mom,
Unfortunately, Jake is one of our sadder stories. He was an excellent man who loved his pool, his family and his life. However, we cannot always win each and every battle but such knowledge does not lessen the hurt. I personally believe that when faced with something as nasty and viciousas Osteosarcoma, to too often focus on the question of "Life Expectancy" and not enough time is spent on the question of "Quality of Life". We honestly never discussed the "Life Expectancy" question ever with any of our medical team, but the owner of our local vet made sure that we did discuss the question of "Quality of Life" and for that I will ever be thankful.
Starting in November 11, 2008, there were five of this community that underwent amputation due to Osteosarcoma. Tika survived eleven months, Miss Cherry and Max for approximately fourteen months, and Queen Nova and Trouble are still going strong. (Even if Nova seems bent on scaring Sue on a nearly weekly basis.) Miss Cherry turned eleven the day before her amputation and her prognosis was not good. In addition to the Osteosarcoma in her left fore-leg, she had a growth on one kidney and there was evidence that the other had shut down. If I were a rational man, I would have realized that her story was likely to end up like Jake. However, I chose to give her every chance possible to regain her quality of life and enjoy as much time together as possible. We shared 405 more days and after the recovery, nearly every one of those were better than the painful last days as a QuadPawd. We had a great three day party celebrating her Birthday, One Year Ampuversary, and a Thank You Party with her care givers. Please visit my posting of this Celebration and see for youself how great this extra time with her was. You can LINK HERE:
During a very recient chat with Jim and Rene (Jerry's Pawrents), I said that "you have to just go for it - you may win the lottery!" I honestly feel that Miss Cherry's success was everything that I could have hoped for - especially when one considers her true condition at the time of the amputation.
We wish you the very best,
Spirit Cherry's Dad
Rosie's Mom,
Oh my gosh you don't need to apologize at all for not being here in a while. Your main focus should be on Rosie, that's what it's all about. We all understand completely.
First off, to answer your question about contacting Jake: his Mom, Marguerite, goes by "jakesmom". You can use our private messaging feature by going to your Inbox and searching for her name in the member roster. I know she would love to talk to you and has valuable advice to share.
We're so sorry that you're facing this decision with Rosie. Try to take a deep breath and remember this first of all; there are no guarantees, no matter what decision you make. You've already learned that with the Stereotactic Radiation, now, it's the same thing for amputation. And honestly, it seems that neither age, nor size makes a whole lot of difference with the outcome. Sure, there are prognisis and statistics out there, but they don't mean anything when it comes to how your own dog handles the situation. Dogs are all different, like people. None of us are textbook cases.
The biggest lesson we learn about coping with cancer is; learning how to let go of control. We can't control everything that happens in life, and that is never more clear than when we are faced with cancer. We can only do our best to make the outcome the best we want it to be. At some point we throw it out there to the universe and just pray that the outcome is pawsitive.
As for Rosie's age; we've had LOTS of senior dogs here who have done quite well on 3 legs. Here's a few:
14-year old Calpurnia: Three Paws, Two Years, No Problem!
Our Sami Gurl, the 14 year old Senior Tripawd
15 year old Dilly Survives Mast Cell Grade II Cancer for 9 Years
2 Years and More: 11 year old Eisen Fights Bone Cancer with Homeopathy
So you see, Rosie would be in great company!
But rest assured, you will receive support here no matter what you decide to do. No decision is the right one, it all depends on our own unique circumstances. Please know that we will support you no matter what OK?
Hang in there and let us know what you decide to do. And welcome back!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Rosie's mom,
If you want to private email Jake's mom, just click the "send PM" button on where she posted.
I'm so sorry about your Rosie!
I am so curious, why are you afraid of Rosie only having 3 legs?
My Comet has NEVER had a 4th working leg and she is a little over 11 years old. Her quality of life has been great (a little too great IMO)! She has been happy all of her life and has never noticed she was different. Yea, she hops insteads of walks. But she doesn't care. Even at 11 years +, she beats me going up the stairs! She can even chase her little puppy, fast a lightening new terrier brother. Plus, she's got many other ailments (not cancer) that should hamper her. But the least of her concern is her non-working deformed front leg!
My friend's dad just died of cancer and it when it spread to his bones, she said he was in so much agony all they could do was medicate him. That's why I would never prolong it. Cancer will be gone and so will the agonizing pain!
The biggest downfall to a 3 legged dog, you'll spoil the heck out of them!
Best of luck! And keep us posted!
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.
Sandy, ( Rosie's Mom )
Wanted to share my story also! Your Rosie reminds me of my Henri!!!
I had such a difficult time with amputation too! But I found this site and it helped me realize it was the best option to help get rid of Henri's pain. My golden is 11 also!! He had front limb ( right limb ) amputation one week ago today. He is doing so much better.
As far as his cancer, I was told that if I did nothing but palliative radiation and an injection, the bone would eventually break if he was still living. I opted for amputation and I know Henri is out of pain now! He is still getting adjusted to being a tripawd...but he seems in better spirits!
We found out the results of our biopsy yesterday and even though they were 95% certain that it was Osteosarcoma, Henri's was the 5% that was not. Henri has Fibrosarcoma, a very rare cancer that is not 100% understood and there has not been much research done.
We did ultrasounds today and I cant wait to go pick up my boy today!
Even though it is an emotional roller coaster, I promise Henri is so much happier that he is not in pain, he was limping so bad too! I saw the tumor grow in just two weeks time and I knew it would not get better.
Im happy with my decision and know he has better quality...and he is 11 also!
I know it will be tough but I promise she will be in less pain~ : )
I see the difference and Henri is only at his one week ampuversary!
Hang in there and kisses to Rosie!!! 😉
Hugs,
Wendy and Henri
I imagine that Jake's Mom will be posting pretty soon! Jake's cancer spread to his spine, as did my Emily's. We have had a few dogs not recover from surgery. I am not saying that to scare you or discourage you, just to inform you. Boinks was one of them and his Mom reflected on the fact that no one ever suggested to her that he might not recover from the surgery. Each and everyone of these loses breaks our hearts. We are all doing what we feel is best for our babies. There are no guarantees but when you take a group as big as this one and see we have very few of these heartbreaking stories it should be reassuring. After all, people have died after routine cosmetic surgery. All surgeries carry risks, in people and pets.
Before Emily got sick I would have said the same things you are hearing from other people about amputation. It all changed when it was MY dog that was dying. At that point everything changed. I didn't care about the leg, I wanted the cancer gone. Don't let them discourage you. If it was their dog they would want them out of pain, too.
I know that the cancer is gone but if Rosie is still on all those pain medications then the pain is not. It really is all about quality of life. Ask yourself what kind of quality of life does Rosie have.
Let us know what you decide. We will support you whatever you decide. We each make our decision based on what is best for our dogs. There is no right or wrong.
Debra & Angel Emily
Debra & Emily, a five year old doberman mix, who was diagnosed with an osteosaecoma. She had a right rear leg amputation on May 19, 2009. On November 10, 2009 she earned her wings and regained her fourth leg.
Hi Rosie's Mom,
I replied to your PM and also emailed you as well...
I'm so sorry that you and Rosie are having to go through this... 
We're all here for you, no matter what you decide to do!!!
Sending you and Rosie a big fat hug!!!
Angel Jake's Mom
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
rosiesmom said:
I want to make the right decision, but if I don't amputate her quality of life will be less every day her pain gets worse. She is on all kinds of pain killers. I hate giving her all these pills. So it seems like the best thing to do to alleviate her pain and be done with all those pills.
It seems like you've already got it sorted out. Will Rosie be better afterward? Don't know. But the pain would most likely be gone. Basing your decision on what's best for Rosie, you will decide correctly.
Sending you supporting prayers and Anatolian Leans. Let us know what happens.
Mary and Cemil
Cemil and mom Mary, Mujde and Radzi….appreciating and enjoying Today
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