Hi there to you and your pup! What's his name? 

I'm sorry you are facing this situation but so glad you found us. Yes the statistics are depressing but remember your dog is an individual. You never know who will defy the odds! We see it happen quite a bit around here, dogs living way past the prognosis and spending the rest of their lives living life happily on 3. Stewie just passed of old age, which we are all so sad about. But he almost made it to 5 years post-amputation for the same cancer! We've seen some dogs go even longer.

 I'm torn between trying to find immunotherapy vs traditional chemo or even homeopathic.  Does anybody have experience/advice on approaches that seem to work best?

Again, every dog responds differently, there's no one size fits all approach. What it comes down to is, what do you think will make your dog happiest? If your dog is OK with vet visits, and chemotherapy is something you can handle financially, then heck give it a go and see what happens. And just because you choose one doesn't mean you can't blend the best aspects of other therapies into the treatment plan. In the Dog Cancer Survival Guide , Drs Dressler & Ettinger call it a "full spectrum" approach and it can work very well for dogs. 

It pays to start with a consult with an oncologist to get all your options on the table. And yeah I know it's realllly tough getting into a clinic right now. If your vet cannot refer you to one and you need to call on your own (let us know if you'd like help finding an oncologist), make it clear you are calling about a dog with osteosarcoma. Since it can be an aggressive disease, they may bump you up the appointment list faster.

Be sure to check out Jerry's Required Reading List , our Questions to Ask Your Oncologist post, and also our What to Expect articles to help you know what's involved in recovery. Three Legs and a Spare is also a good resource for you.

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