Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi Shane,
First of all, Aspen is such a beauty!! Thanks for sharing pictures!
Like Stacy said, you know your dog best. All I can tell you from our experience is that we started to notice a trend of when Finn would be restless and panting and it appeared to be right when or right after we were giving him his pain meds. So clearly there was a gab in timing or wrong dosage for us. Finn is not one to typically pant or pace so I knew something was up. Tweaking our timing and dosage has been so much better.
Hopefully it is not that, but I definitely recommend calling your vet if you are concerned. Keep us posted!
Thanks everyone! Aspen's breathing has been at a normal pace all day and there's been no panting at all. No restlessness either, so I think that's a good sign. She's still resting a lot, but will get up every few hours and stand around until she finds a new comfortable position. She walked all the from one end of the house to the other, which she hasn't done since she's been home, so I think she's slowly building her stamina back up.
Small steps. Always forward.
Oh, and Karen; the cheese plate was a success today! So thank you for sharing the video.
Small steps. Always forward!
Great mantra for recovery!
Glad to know pretty Aspen is more settled today. She's a smart girl and she's recovering at her own pace. The fact that she rambled arpi d the hoise is a big victory!!! Good girl Aspen!!
I'm sure you know this but of you jave hardwood floors make sure you put down non slip scatter rugs for traction .
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Those sound like pretty big steps to me! What a great report. Rest up Aspen, you've got lots of good times ahead.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Sarah, luckily our house is carpeted, except for the kitchen. But we were able to find non-slip rugs to lay down in there so she has a runway to get across 🙂
So I spoke to Aspen's vet this morning. They called with her test results after sending out the amputated leg to another lab. Turns out it was a mast cell tumor. They sent the medical papers over to me, and I can understand the gist of it, but I'm not a vet or biologist, so a lot of it went over my head.
This is from the report:
This is a severely edematous and hemorrhagia mast cell tumor with ulceration. Current literature states that classifying mast cell tumors as simply low or high grade gives the best prognosis information. This grading scheme replaces the previously used 3 grade system, in which this would be grade 2. While any canine mast cell tumor has the potential to behave unpredictably in an aggressive manner, low grade mast cell tumors tend to have favorable prognosis, with decreased risk of recurrence and metastasis.
Case Summary
Grading:
Patnaik (1 - 3): 2
Two-tier (low/high): low
Mitotic index: 1 per 10 hpf
Surgical margin: >18 mm
Angiolymphatic invasion: none seen
Lymph node: Special staining (Giemsa) for mast cells is performed.
Multifocal, sinuses contain high-power (400 X) field of view with few to many individualized mast cells. Discrete aggregates/clusters are not noted. Cells generally exhibit mild anisocytosis and anisokaryosis, and mitosis are not observed.
MICROSCOPIC FINDINGS:
Lymph node: Pre-metastatic (HN1: range 0-3)
They sent a referral to an oncologist a few towns over, so they will be calling us on Monday to see what our options are. Due to COVID19, they said they aren't taking appointments for onsite services at the moment, so I don't know how much of a consultation they'll be able to do remotely.
So I'm taking this as a better than worst case scenario. I guess it depends on what happens Monday.
Hmm. I'm not well-versed in pathology so I can't interpret it. But the oncologist will translate for you and my guess is that an online or phone consult will clear up a lot of the confusion. Mostly it comes down to treatment options for this grade and type of cancer, so you should be able to get a lot of good information and treatment suggestions on Monday. Sorry you have to wait for it though, it's gotta feel like forever!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Yeah, cant be much help. I used my regular Vet a lot for interpretation .though! So try that approach. If your Vet is open Saturday maybe you can email this.
And Aspen doesn't care anuway! The bliss of dog, right?
❤❤.
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Hi Shane! Am I remembering correctly that when you first posted about Aspen, you said she had osteosarcoma? What caught my attention in your post was this section: "low grade mast cell tumors tend to have favorable prognosis, with decreased risk of recurrence and metastasis". As compared to OSA, that seems like it would be positive news. I'm sure you have a million questions for the oncologist. My advice is to take time this weekend to write them all down so you are prepared for your consultation on Monday (can you tell I'm an educator?). 
My fingers are crossed for Aspen that this is a favorable outcome! ~ Stacy
Griffin lived an amazing life for 11 years! Diagnosed with osteosarcoma on March 17, 2020, Griffin's right forelimb was amputated on April 2, 2020. Ten days later he was running and playing fetch! Lung metastasis discovered in July 2020 did not slow down Griffin and he lived joyfully for the next 7 months, passing peacefully at home on February 11, 2021. https://griffin.tripawds.com
I'm glad the cheesy plate worked!
My Pug Maggie lost her back leg to a mast cell tumor (MCT). I'm surprised they didn't tell you it was a MCT before surgery- in my experience mast cells are easily seen in a simple needle aspirate. Between my two Pugs I dealt with more than 20 MCTs and every one that they could sample with a needle was identified as a MCT correctly.
Anyway- you will want to talk to the oncologist but what I see in the report is that the tumor is low grade with a mitotic index of 1 both of which are good. When I was dealing with MCT in my Pugs they used the 3 tier grade system with 1 being low grade or less aggressive, 3 being high grade or most aggressive and 2 being in the middle. A 2 could act like a 1 or a 3 so really didn't tell you anything. The mitotic index was more important in trying to determine how aggressive the tumor might be. Another thing that is important are margins when tumors are removed but since the leg was removed the margins are huge.
I'm not positive on the lymph node results.
A caveat with mast cell cancer is that it is known to be quite unpredictable.
Maggie's check ups included abdominal ultrasounds so you might want to ask the oncologist about that because mast cell can met to the liver and spleen. With a low grade tumor they may not think is it necessary. We always put the Pug's on benadryl when tumors were removed or even aspirated and pepcid to protect their stomachs.
If the oncologist has all the records they should be able to give you all your options.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Hi Shane,
Glad to see Aspen is recovering well. I know I'm a bit late to this conversation but if this can be useful : Arktik has had 1-2 days a bit off after we removed the fentanyl patch. And as others said, it really a matter of figuring out the meds. Arktik was only on Gabapentin after that. Tramadol was not the best for him.
And cheese was also my go to threats for the pills. Although after a while it became harder and harder to hide them without him figuring it out.
Arktik's appetite has been what I found the most difficult to manage. With a dog who has always been very fussy it was difficult to know if he just did not want to food I was offering or if he was feeling sick. I find it is still a bit difficult to feed him. But for the first time this week, he showed interest in his dog threats which I see has a good thing.
I don't know much about mass cell cancer, as I researched more osteosarcoma. But similar to you I got the confirmation (for OSC) after the surgery when they analyzed the sample. I think the person to give you the best information about prognosis is the oncologist even if you can't see him onsite. I am assuming with the analysis they should have enough information to give you options.
Hi Stacy and Karen,
You're correct. They did a fine needle aspirate initially and said there were cellular anomalies that they couldn't clearly identify. They believed it was potentially osteosarcoma and wanted to send a sample out to be tested to confirm one way or the other. At least that's how I'm remembering it. I've had a lot of medical terminology thrown at me in the last week and to be honest, it's starting to swirl together.
I will spend my weekend compiling questions for the oncologist. Thank you all for helping shed some light on this.
noctem said
I will spend my weekend compiling questions for the oncologist. Thank you all for helping shed some light on this.
Be sure to check out our article, "Questions to Ask Your Veterinary Oncologist."
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Patricia,
I'm sorry to hear Arktik is being picky about eating, but that's good that he has some interest in his treats again. Aspen hasn't been interested in her regular dry food since she came home, so what I've found that sort of works for us, is having several different types and brands of wet food on hand. Sometimes I have 3 different cans of food open until I find something she'll go for. She might turn her nose up at one food and won't hesitate to eat that same one the next time. Mixing in a little bit of scrambled eggs seems to work when she really needs a little extra coaxing. Maybe that could help Arktik find something he likes for the day?
We hope he's getting better each day and is feeling better 🙂
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