Spirit  is  my 8,5 yr old female Golden Retriever that I've had since she was 9 weeks old. She is a very confident, loving, athletic girlie.

After a 4 month hiatus from agility competition, we returned to the ring in January.  The last weekend  of January,  she competed and did well, earning a 3rd place among other qualifying runs.  A week later she came out of her kennel at home, completely  non weight bearing on her right rear leg. We saw our surgery  vet who suspected  she had a partial ACL tear. A month of crate rest and NSAID'S were prescribed and followed,

At the return visit, her knee remained stable, but more painful.   I elected to have her seen by a sports medicine ortho vet (in Ga) in the event surgery  was recommended.  He called me during her MRI- he and the radiologists were very concerned by her MRI and thought a bone biopsy was indicated.  The MRI showed multiple areas of osteonecrosis -- both hips, her right knee, a humerus,  thoracic vertebrae. There are no cases in the literature that describe a dog with this condition. The bone biopsy confirmed osteonecrosis. She also had a bone scan which turned up no further findings,  

We went home (La) and were seen by Internal Medicine at LSU  for further workup to try and determine a cause. They also reviewed her MRI and bone biopsy done in Ga.  Abdominal ultrasound and chest xray was clear. On xray, the necrosis of the femoral heads could be seen but her knee looked normal. The supposition was that for whatever reason (Vasculitis or immune mediated ) she had a thromboembolism that showered cutting off the blood flow to bones. She was started on medication to help with blood flow, tested for tick borne diseases and continued on pain medication and acupuncture. Internal medicine wanted a bone pathology specialist at Texas A&M to also evaluate her bone biopsy.

In the meantime, my surgeon at home felt this still  didn't explain her continued lameness. We went back to Ga. The sports medicine vet felt like it was unlikely that he would find anything he could fix with a scope. I felt since we were there and if there was any chance something could be done to make her feel better ,bit was worth a shot .  He scoped  her knee and her hip but both looked fine.

We then saw Integrative Medicine at LSU -- Chinese herbs, laser,and ultrasound to see if we could get her leg less painful and functional.  Also saw Oncologist and discussEd palliative radiation for pain reduction. It was about this time that we received the opinion from Texas A&M.  He concurred that she had osteonecrosis but was concerned that some of the new bone she was forming had cells with the potential to become cancerous. The plan was for close follow up -- -routine  xrays and ultrasounds. The oncologist felt that before starting palliative radiation we should  get a repeat chest and knee xray. If she was going to develop cancer from those cells,  it had been 6 weeks and we should see it.

Xray of knee was suspicious  and a fine needle  aspirate  diagnosed osteosarcoma.  Her chest xray was clear. That was a Monday, saw my Oncologist at home on Tuesday and surgery on Thursday. 

That was May 14.  She came home the next day --wouldn't  let me help her with the sling and  had no issues with mobility.  The plan is Carboplatin,  Zoledronate  and then the vaccine.  Her first chemo was May 30, Carboplatin, and she did well.  She had  Zoledronate on last Wednesday  and she has bee sore ever since. 

It is possible that with feeling good that she did too much. Her iliopsoas  was very sore. I have a 17 month old Golden retriever puppy that she loves  and loves to play with. She could have torqued something.   She seemed better after acupuncture and she had a good massage today . The plan is to limit her activity for a bit.  She has never had any regard for her body so I have to look out for her,

Spirit is my 2nd tripawd. My first was a 15.5 yr old golden mix, Maddie.  She lived 19 months after surgery . No Chemo because of her age, but she did get Pamidronate.

Carrie

Spirit 8.5 yrs, Tchoup 6 yrs, Maggie, who knows, and Roulez, 17 months

Tripawd Angel Maddie