Hi and welcome.  Our dog, Zeus, is a 45 pound Husky mix who was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at 11 years old.  We had his leg amputated on 12/1/11 and just passed his three month ampuversary.  We also struggled with whether it was fair to an older dog.  Zeus had already been slowing down quite a bit in the last year, but he was extremely happy and still had very good quality of life.  He really is like a child to us and we finally decided to amputate and give him a chance.  I can say that I would absolutely, without a doubt, do it all again.

His recovery was a little longer than some of the younger dogs, but that was partly because he tweaked his back one week after the amp, which caused him to be a bit uncomfortable.  It was about one month after the amp that we finally got him off the pain meds and he really returned to normal.  He gets around on three legs almost as well as he did on four.  We started chemo two weeks after the amp and he just completed his fourth treatment (out of six).  Unfortunately, he had a "suspicious" spot on the CT scan of his lungs at the time of diagnosis.  It was too small to be labeled a metastasis, but the vet figured that's what it was.  We decided to go forward with the amp and chemo and buy as much time as possible.  At two months after amp (at the second chemo treatment) we did follow up x-rays which showed that the spot had grown and is in fact a met.  It is unusual to have only one met, so we hope that the chemo is keeping it in check for now and will buy us some more time.

Every dog is different and every owner's situation is different, so you will have to make the decision that is right for you and your family financially, emotionally, etc.  I can only speak for our situation but we have NO regrets.  Hope this helps.  Good luck to you!!

Lisa

Welcome to the family. I'm sure you will get input from others who's dogs were in that age group, but I have seen good results with others on here. I think if it's been a few months I would try to see if the cancer has spread and have a good serious talk with your vet about options after that has been determined. You will find some dogs live for quite awhile after surgery, some aren't so fortunate, but believe us when we say, the pain of the surgery will be minimal compared to the pain from cancer, so I wouldn't let that be my determining factor. Recovery for an older dog might be a little longer, but if he is in otherwise good health, you might be surprised at how well he does. These guys are just like us, they al heal different, but i will say this, once you make your decision, don't second guess yourself, that will tear you up. make your decision based on the facts and know you are choosing which road to take for the quality of life for rocky. Some do the surgery and start regretting it a few days or a week after, which is usually some of the most stressful time, since by that time most people are sleep deprived and need to take a deep breath and regenerate to think rational again. It's not an easy time those first couple weeks but once the healing has started, they usually come along really good.As far as adjustment, they will surprise you, if you have hard or slippery floors, you may need some runners, but as long as they have good footing, they adjust pretty quick. Don't be afraid to ask anything, experience gives the best answers, Paws Up and good luck, Spirit Gus and Dan

All these previous posts are right, if Rocky is healthy besides cancer, don't worry about the age and I would definitely say amputate. My dog was only a year and a half when she had her amputation and it was not due to cancer but she did incredibly well with her surgery. I am very grateful for that. I hope you and Rocky are doing well, and keep us posted on your decision!

Hi Shah,

I saw your post and I'm so sorry about Rocky.  I have a 13 year old GSD, Crystal and I thought my experience might be useful for you.

Crystal was diagnosed with OSA in early January and had her front right leg amputated on January 11th.  When she was diagnosed, I felt that putting her down was not the right option since she still seemed to have so much life left in her.  Despite all the pain coming from her leg, she would still perk up when there was any chance of a car ride or a trip to somewhere fun and I could see it in her eyes that it just wasn't the right time for her.  So we went to see a oncologist and consulted an orthopedic surgeon.  I actually went into the appointment thinking that there was no way that she would be a good candidate for an amputation.  But they examined her and took x-rays of her hips and they deemed her a good candidate for surgery.   I can tell you that her recovery period was different from what others have described.  She spent 2 nights at the vets office after her surgery to recover and from what I've read, most younger dogs come home the next day.  Also, others have said that the first 2 weeks are the hardest and for us, the first 2 weeks were actually pretty easy.  During this time, I bought runners and put them on the hardwood floor and confined her to one room.  From what I remember, she recovered pretty easily and was soon trying to escape her confinement and move around to other parts of the house.  I think next weeks were actually harder but that's because she was moving around on the hardwood floor and would often slip.  If you have hardwood floors, I highly recommend trying Musher's Wax or buying Power Paws socks or permanent runners.  So in terms of the recovery period from the surgery,  older dogs can do great.

Crystal did have some other issues though that has made a full recovery more difficult though.  First, she had some complications from chemo that really set us back.  She was doing fine after her first round of chemo until about 2 weeks after the administration.  One day, I noticed that her back leg seemed weak and she would be nearly sitting when she was trying to stand up.  She completely lost function in her back legs the next day and needless to say, I panicked.  After rushing her to the oncologist, they determined that her weakness was caused by hypertension and low white blood cell count.  Luckily the problem wasn't cancer related but she was walking around the block before this happened and for a little while after this setback, she couldn't walk more than 2 houses down the street.  I should say though that I don't regret trying the chemo at all because there was no way to predict that she would react in this way.  Most dogs do fine with chemo but unfortunately, Crystal just couldn't handle it.  I'm not sure how related this is to her age though.

Her second setback happened just a week ago.  Crystal has had arthritis for years now and because of the arthritis, there are bone/cartilage growths down her spine and these growths have bridged some of her vertebrae.  A week ago, she was chasing some geese and I think she forgot she was missing a leg when she was running so she fell.  A day or so later, she again lost function in her back legs.  We went to a different vet this time (the oncologist is about 1 1/2 hrs away) and x-rays showed that she fractured some of these bone growths on her spine.  The fractures were causing inflammation which was making her legs weak.  She has since been on Prednisone and although she is improving, she still has difficulty getting up and walking by herself.  The vet said that these fractures will heal and once the inflammation is fully controlled, she will be back to her normal self again.  But needless to say, it is disheartening to see her like this.  Again though, this problem is more related to her arthritis than her age so if Rocky doesn't have arthritis, this isn't something you even have to consider.

All in all, I think there is no reason to assume that Rocky won't do great just because of his age.  In between Crystal's setbacks, she has had so many great moments.  She has ran up her dog ramp to the car all by herself, played with some dogs at the dog park, chased rabbits and geese, and even walked over a mile!  Hopefully she will be doing these things again soon but I really think that age is no reason to automatically discount amputation.

All that being said, if you decide to euthanize, there are vets that will do house visits.  We did this for our other dog, Star, and not having to put her in the car to take her to a place that she hated really helped the process.   Others have said this but I will say it again: there is no right or wrong decision.  Every dog is different and you know Rocky the best and will make the decision that is best for him and your family.  Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions or want to know more about our experience.

Christina