Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi everyone,
Well, tomorrow is Kona's first (of three) chemo treatments for her osteosarcoma.
She's a tough girl, ready to fight off that b#sturd cancer !
She's been doing really well in her recovery. Tomorrow is two weeks post amputation.
We've had to have all three of our pups on antibiotics....they picked up kennel cough or something....that's blown.....literally, but thankfully, Kona got it first and has just burned it outta her system.
Please hold the good thoughts for my girl.
Will keep you all posted.
Also, how have your pups done with their chemo ?
How long have they felt yucky after their treatments?
thanks all,
Denise and my Kona Kai
Kona turned 9yrs on April 16, 2010.
Kona was diagnosed Memorial Weekend 2010 with osteosarcoma.
Right rear leg amputated on June 4th. First chemo June 18th 2010
Second chemo July 9th, 2010 Third and final (yea !!!) chemo July 30th, 2010
ONE TOUGH GIRL this Australian Cattledog !
***Kona's journey/fight ended late in the evening of December 22, 2010***
We Love you so much Kona….always
Bella 9yrs, albino lab/aussie shep/pit?(abandoned in mts as a puppy) deaf & blind (from birth) in one eye limited vision in other.(laid back, ok lazy 73 lbs)
Cotton, 5yrs, albino hound/terrier of somesort/???(abandoned in mts as a puppy) deaf & blind in one eye(from birth), excellent vision in seeing eye. (ball addict…destroyer of Kong balls…yes,etc), high energy 55lbs knots of muscle)
Kona Kai's pup brother and sister as well as her buddy and playmate cat, Shaymous 12yrs (like Seamus), miss her terribly.
Hey Denise,
Good luck with the chemo treatments, sending positive thoughts your way.
Congrats on getting to the two week mark as well- it always seems to get better after that.
My pug Maggie had mast cell cancer so her chemo protocol was probably different. She would be tired the week after treatment, we were lucky to never have diarrea or vomiting, although she did have some nausea. We had an anti-nausea med for her but I don't remember what it was. She also had some issues with her WBC being low sometimes which would delay the next treatment.
Keep a close eye on her since she just got off antibiotics, any type of infection during chemo treatments can be dangerous because the imune system is a bit compromised. I took Mag's temperature often while she was on chemo to make sure she didn't have a fever. Our oncologist wanted a phone call if her temp was over 102.5.
Hopefully Kona sails through-
Karen and the pug girls
We had pretty easy post chemo experiences. Within 6 hours, Trouble had a little nausea and started to be tired, she was tired for 12 - 24 hours. After a couple of the treatments she had chills. Basically she was good to go within 24 hours. Trouble came home with pills for the nausea and after the second treatment, was given an injection for nausea prior to the treatment.
I hope Kona does as well. Keep the faith, Kona, kick cancer butt!
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.
Happy 2 week ampuversary, Kona! That is pawsome!
Holly had nausea after chemo. She received an injection of cerenia prior to each chemo. After the 3rd round of chemo our vet prescribed metoclopramide (not sure about the spelling) for 10 days after each chemo. That seemed to help some.
Best wishes for no (or little) reaction to the chemo for Kona! We'll keep fingers and paws crossed for her.
Hugs,
Holly, Zuzu and Susan
Holly joined the world of tripawds on 12/29/2009. She has a big little sister, Zuzu, who idolizes Holly and tries to make all of her toys into tripawds in Holly's honor. And she's enjoying life one hop at a time!
http://anyemery.....ipawds.com
Happy 2 week ampuversary Kona!!! Good luck with the chemo! From what I hear... most doggies do quite well... maybe some nausea and fatigue after a couple of days... Hopefully Kona will do very well. What kind of cancer does Kona have?
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!
Denise and Kona:
Yay! Two weeks. Way to go, Kona!
Best of luck with the chemo. Catie's chemo protocol called for treatments of two medications: carboplatin and doxorubicin (alternating). She wasn't too bad after the carboplatin: some loss of appetite for a few days, a dip in energy level after about a week. The doxo took more out of her (in more ways than one). Some nausea on top of the loss of appetite, gastro troubles. Didn't like that drug at all. Couldn't see where you indicated which medication Kona would be on.
Here's hoping she sails on through with few, if any, side effects.
Carmen, Catie and Riley
Catie -
Birthday – November 4 2003
Amputation – January 13 2010
Crossed the Bridge – June 2 2011
Thank you all 🙂
Kona has osteosarcoma.
I can't remember what the chemo is.....will find out tomorrow.....my brain's just been overloaded.....
Kona turned 9yrs on April 16, 2010.
Kona was diagnosed Memorial Weekend 2010 with osteosarcoma.
Right rear leg amputated on June 4th. First chemo June 18th 2010
Second chemo July 9th, 2010 Third and final (yea !!!) chemo July 30th, 2010
ONE TOUGH GIRL this Australian Cattledog !
***Kona's journey/fight ended late in the evening of December 22, 2010***
We Love you so much Kona….always
Bella 9yrs, albino lab/aussie shep/pit?(abandoned in mts as a puppy) deaf & blind (from birth) in one eye limited vision in other.(laid back, ok lazy 73 lbs)
Cotton, 5yrs, albino hound/terrier of somesort/???(abandoned in mts as a puppy) deaf & blind in one eye(from birth), excellent vision in seeing eye. (ball addict…destroyer of Kong balls…yes,etc), high energy 55lbs knots of muscle)
Kona Kai's pup brother and sister as well as her buddy and playmate cat, Shaymous 12yrs (like Seamus), miss her terribly.
konakaismom said:
I can't remember what the chemo is.....will find out tomorrow.....my brain's just been overloaded.....
Hang in there. The fog will lift soon. As time goes on, you will begin to rest again and will begin to feel less overwhelmed. Those first weeks are just tough, so much adjusting for the humans and the dogs!
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.
Good luck to you and Kona tomorrow! You'll be surprised at how quick and easy the session is. I didn't have IV chemo so when my pawrents visited Dr. Roseberg and saw how fast the procedure was, they were amazed.
She'll handle it like a trooper, I know it. Keep us posted OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I see you're in Western WA! Which oncologist did you decide to go with? We're in Kirkland but did our oncology sessions when we lived in MI so we don't have a specialist out here. I met with one, but decided not to do any more treatments...just curious as to who you are using 🙂
<3 Laura and Jackers
Good luck with Kona's chemotherapy. I'm glad to hear her recovery is going well! Sadie tolerated her chemo really well. She had osteosarcoma and had 4 rounds of adriamycin. They gave her reglan IV with her chemo and sent her home with reglan tablets, but she never vomited or had diarrhea. I even asked the vet if he was sure she was getting chemo! After the 2nd round, I didn't even give her the reglan. She was a little tired for a few hours, that was it. The vet said that if she got diarrhea to give her canned pumpkin. I guess the fiber really helps. I wanted to give her some just to see if she liked it, but never did. Good luck again, and keep us posted.
Hugs and sloppy Sadie kisses,
Lisa & Sadie
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/
kona, paws crossed for smooth sailing with your chemo. gayle had five rounds of doxorubicin, and did pretty well. usually 5 or six days after the treatment there would be a few days of diarrhea, and on #3 and #4 there was nausea. she got cerenia for #3, 4 and 5 at home, when needed. our vet gave her a shot of benedryl before each treatment, and a shot of cerenia before #4 and #5 (seemed to help i guess). know that this is a terrible poison, sent to kill that even more terrible cancer. gayle is just now getting back to her level of excitement and activity after all those treatments. hope all goes well, keep us in the loop!!
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
Congrats on geeting through the first two weeks! Your life will gradually begin to return to normal. If you have a chance you might want to read my posting "Rusty's Cancer Chronicles" which covers him from pre-surgery through his current progress. Rusty has completed five months of Chemo treatments (he had his 5th oral dosage of Lomustine yesterday). Overall Rusty has handled the Chemo treatments fairly well, probably because of his age, although he has had continuing
diarrhea issues and nausea after the Vinblastine IV's; Dr. Macy
prescribed Budesonide twice daily for the
diarrhea and an additional week’s worth of anti-nausea pills after the
treatment.
This is my original post of what medications Rusty is on: intravenous injection of Vinblastine, which he will receive the first of each month for six
months. He also takes two capsules of
Lomustine orally two weeks after his IV treatment. We have to wear gloves when handling the
Lomustine capsules, picking up his potty and not let him lick us or the cat for
24 hours after taking the medication.
They also gave him an injection of Maropitant Citrate for nausea with
the IV and four days of 16mg tablets to take at home. They are keeping Rusty on the Meloxicam
(Metacam) which is a NSAID and helps with the pain; he has been on Metacam
since the amputation. Dr. Macy also says
that it has some benefits in helping Rusty deal with his Chemo treatments. They are monitoring Rusty’s blood counts, liver functions and will perform additional scans
and X-Rays when he has completed Chemo the end of July.
Chuck Holliman & Rusty
Congrats on completing the two weeks of post op roller coaster 
Tai did 5 rounds of Adriamycin ( Doxorubicin) for her OS - once every three weeks. She tolerated it well although she was quite tired for a couple of days following treatments. My vet gave me anti-nausea and anti-diarrheal meds to give at home if necessary. She never got any diarrhea. After #2 and #3 she threw up once so I started giving her an anti-nausea before she went in for treatment and that seemed to stop any nausea for #4 and #5. She did lose her hair, mainly her whiskers, eyebrows and, weirdly, the hair on her toes ??. Her amp shaving has still not grown back properly. Doxy also causes their skin pigment to darken to almost black in some places so for awhile she looked like she was a filthy alley dog. I'm pleased to say that she's back to her beautiful light yellow now 
She is now on Metronomic Therapy as a preventative low dose oral chemo treatment which she is also tolerating with no side effects at all so far.
Keeping paws and fingers crossed that Kona sails through chemo!!
Laura and Tai
Tai – 9 yr old lab. Diagnosed Osteosarcoma Dec 18/09. Front right leg amputated Dec 21/09. Started chemo Jan 7/10. Lung mets discovered Sept 16/10. Valiant to the end on Oct 26/10 when cancer reappeared in a leg and we made the decision to set her free. Forever in my heart where not even cancer can take her from me.
Thank you all.
I want you to know how much it means to mean to have this support system. Actually, yes, I know you all do know.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Last night it helped me so much to read all your comments.
Laura, Dr. Timothy John, at Pilchuck Vet hospital in Snohomish did both our surgery and is doing the chemo.
Here's cutting edge and a guy who really, truly loves our three and four legged friends and is wonderful.
Let's see, today they did Platinol 270mg IV on a slow drip, constantly monitoring her.
Kona, clever cattledog that she is, fooled them when they were getting ready to move her to the chemo room.........they said that she was acting very passive and sweet and moving slowly, then, made some quick manouvers and tried to make a run for it.
Uhuh, yep, that's our girl !
Always plotting, always thinking..............always
Amazingly, they love her there and say that she's just so wonderful and nice....... wow!
Wow, going back to the chemo.........they said that we have to not let her kiss us, or drink from common bowls, etc, for 72 hours !!!
So, how bad is it if I accidentally get licked or some slobber on me?
On the drive home, that did happen. I washed well when I got home, but I couldn't really do anything about it on the drive.
ahhhh.........
.........of course driving her home, she's sticking her head through the gap between the front seats, discovering the crunchy bones that I got from the bank drive thru for Kona, Bella and Cotton (Bella and Cotton are both special needs from birth.......homogonous albino pups, deaf and blind in one eye ....opposite eyes...they were both dumped as puppies and survived a long time on their on in the mts. Bella is 7yrs (got her at 5mos) and Cotton is 3yrs (got him at around 6months)............anyway, long story short, Kona insisted on eating all three bones on the way home.
yup, that's my girl !
more soon,
Denise
p.s. Poor Rusty, only 18mos... life's just not fair, Rusty. Good thing your pawrents make up for that being GREAT !
Way to Go, Tai, Trouble and Gayle !
Thank you three leggers and your folks 
Kona turned 9yrs on April 16, 2010.
Kona was diagnosed Memorial Weekend 2010 with osteosarcoma.
Right rear leg amputated on June 4th. First chemo June 18th 2010
Second chemo July 9th, 2010 Third and final (yea !!!) chemo July 30th, 2010
ONE TOUGH GIRL this Australian Cattledog !
***Kona's journey/fight ended late in the evening of December 22, 2010***
We Love you so much Kona….always
Bella 9yrs, albino lab/aussie shep/pit?(abandoned in mts as a puppy) deaf & blind (from birth) in one eye limited vision in other.(laid back, ok lazy 73 lbs)
Cotton, 5yrs, albino hound/terrier of somesort/???(abandoned in mts as a puppy) deaf & blind in one eye(from birth), excellent vision in seeing eye. (ball addict…destroyer of Kong balls…yes,etc), high energy 55lbs knots of muscle)
Kona Kai's pup brother and sister as well as her buddy and playmate cat, Shaymous 12yrs (like Seamus), miss her terribly.
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