Summary: our 5.5 year old mastiff mix was recently diagnosed with osteosarcoma in his rear right leg. His leg will be amputated in three days, then he will start chemotherapy two weeks after that. 

Hello everyone,

I hope I have posted this in the right place -- I bolded a couple of questions below, but only two of them really pertain to large dogs. I wanted to share our story and see if anyone had any general advice or stories to share.

This is long, but it has been helpful/theraputic to write everything out, and makes me feel confident about our choices. Our oncologist suggested we check out the Tripawd community, and I have been exploring the forums over the last two days. I wanted to make my own post to say hello, hear from others, and get my thoughts down. And of course to tell the world about our wonderful boy.

My partner and I have a five and a half year old mastiff/hound mix named Dino (current weight 44.5 kg/98 lbs). He is the light of our lives and the best adventuring partner. He is a gorgeous dog and gets compliments everywhere we go. 

Five days ago we took Dino in for an x-ray thinking he had a torn ligament in his knee. Unfortunately our vet found it was actually a tumour that was causing his leg pain. A whirlwind 48 hours later and around 9 hours total in the car driving to a vet hospital in the Toronto area twice, we had a CT scan and had spoken to a very kind oncologist and her team who diagnosed Dino with osteosarcoma.

Fortunately, the CT scan indicated that the cancer hasn’t spread (at least not in a detectable amount) and the oncologist presented us with options for palliative care or amputation and chemotherapy. She said because of Dino’s otherwise good health, his strong heart, and happy, life-loving nature, he is a good candidate for amputation. She said that the life expectancy following amputation and chemo is about 12 months, at which point the cancer will spread and then we would need to seek end of life care.

I asked about Dino’s size, and unlike some of the other stories I have seen in these forums, the oncologist was very optimistic about Dino and his ability to adapt to life on three legs. She explained that most dogs are standing within a day or two of the surgery, and the recovery time is amazingly only about 2 weeks. I had no idea it was so fast (question for the big tripawd parents: does this timeline match your experience?). The oncologist explained how she saw that his spine was healthy in the CT scan, that he had a strong heart, and strong muscles in his other legs (there is some atrophy in the leg with the tumour from disuse recently). She was very pleased with his blood work and his weight.

Dino is on pain medication (gabapentin) to help manage the pain caused by the tumour, and he is holding his leg up a lot. He is quickly perfecting our stairs on three legs (fortunately the stairs are carpeted). So I think once he has adjusted to the leg-weight being gone, he’ll probably get around just fine. Right now we are being careful because of how fragile the bone is, but he is in good spirits and wants to chase the squirrels in our yard very badly (we’ve got him on the leash outside to avoid accidents).

I am anticipating reading the posts, blogs, and other information on Tripawds carefully in the coming days to learn how we can best help Dino to adapt and keep him safe and healthy, and I would love to hear how you helped your big dog adjust and stay safe. I am sad to know our longest hikes are behind us, but happy that our best hikes may still be in the future (just much shorter distances). We are planning to temporarily move our bed and home office to the first floor of our home so Dino doesn’t feel like he has to go up the stairs.

We were planning a cross-country move later this year, and we were planning to get married next year. Both of these things will have to be delayed to reallocate funds to Dino’s surgery and chemotherapy. As well, we can’t be moving him and disrupting his routine part way through treatment. We’ve also cancelled a vacation we were going to go on next week. I am sure we’re not the only people who have had to delay big life plans for our pets' healthcare. If you’ve experienced something similar, I am interested in knowing how you coped. But ultimately, the move can happen later, a wedding can happen later, and there will be other vacations. And hopefully, Dino will come along with us on those vacations. Maybe he could even be at a smaller marriage ceremony before a later reception.

Our next 15 weeks or so will involve commuting to the greater Toronto area every 2 weeks or so, about 2.5 hours each way. So if you have any audiobook recommendations, please share those too. 

It has been a surreal 5 days, but Dino is in good spirits and we feel good about our choice to pursue amputation and chemo. We want to give Dino his best chance to continue living his best life. We are very grateful to our local vet who broke the news to gently, and immediately worked on getting us in touch with an oncologist and advocating for us. We are so grateful that the oncology department got us in the very next day for consultation, and the day right after that for a CT scan. We are grateful to both the local and oncology teams who took such good care of Dino while he had to be put under twice in one week for his x-rays and CT scan. We are so grateful for the oncologist who believes in Dino, and has been so kind and patient with us as we make these hard decisions. And of course we are grateful to all of our friends, family, and coworkers who have been so supportive these last five days, and who we know will continue to help us out in the future.

Dino loves hiking and following animal trails. He loves to eat fresh grass shoots in the spring after the snow melts. He thinks the cardboard tube from a paper towel roll is better than any store-bought toy. He loves to hunt bugs and he crosses his front feet when he lays down. He is a shy, quiet boy who loves pats and cuddles on the couch. He is certain that he is a lap dog, despite his size. We love him more than anything and want to give him the world.

We love our Dino “Thunderpaws” and we are going to do everything we can to ensure his remaining months are comfortable, engaging, and enriching.

Photos of Dino:

Introducing Dino, the hound/mastiff mix