Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Is anyone going through chemo with their dog right now? We have put her through one treatment so far and it has knocked the wind out of her sails. She eats some, drinks and poos. It takes all her energy. Then she just sleeps. I know it is a harsh drug, but it is very hard to watch her. My husband and I are wondering if it is worth it to see her like this and will she be like this throughout the entire treatment time.
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It's worth it. Right now it sucks, but it's worth it. When our dog Max went through chemo, he had the exact same reaction after his treatments. We got an even more intimate understanding of it a year later when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and could vocalize what chemo felt like. It takes the energy out of you in was that are difficult to imagine. She said that sometimes even the effort of reaching for the remote control to change the TV channel seemed like an impossible task. The effects lasted for days after a treatment, so don't lose heart when your dog is dragging around like that. The drugs will flush out of her system, and she'll get back to normal. In the meantime, just do what you can to make her happy and comfortable and let the treatment take its course.
we did five rounds of doxorubicin. the effects of chemo are cummulative, so we really noticed the effects around the fourth and fifth rounds. gayle would be down for a few days after each injection, but she did bounce back. we really think the chemo made a difference for her, and helped her keep the STS at bay. she finally lost her battle to a second cancer last december, but the chemo (for her and for us) we feel was worth it.
charon & spirit 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
Hi Quimby, welcome to Tripawds.
Many folks here are, or have gone through, chemo and can offer you their perspective. For some dogs it does take a lot out of them but it's only temporary. Chemo is something you can always stop if you believe its effects are too much for her. Have you talked to your oncologist about how it's affecting her? There are lots of prescriptions that your vet can provide which will help alleviate things like nausea.
If you haven't already, please check out our Required Reading List, our ebook, "Three Legs & a Spare" and our series with Veterinary Cancer Group to read more. The book, The Dog Cancer Survival Guide, is another awesome resource for information about chemo and how to cope with its side effects.
What type of chemo is she on? Tell us more about her, we'd love to hear more. Hope she feels better today.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
We did 6 rounds of carboplatin and Abby (who was quite young at the time) dd really great on it until the 5th treatment, when she was pretty tired. The effects are definitely cumulative as Charon mentioned.
What type of cancer does your pup have? What chemo are you using?
I think it was worth it with Abby, since she didn't really seem to be too badly effected by it, and we had 15 awesome months post dx with her. But, at the same time, who knows what would have happened if we didn't do chemo and had gone holistic the whole time?? I have no regrets with the plan we followed, but can't help but wonder. Anyway, we'll never know - and if we'd gone holistic the whole way, I'd probably be wondering "what if we'd done chemo?" It's hard to know what to do - but since you'll make your choices with your love of your pup in mind, there are no wrong decisions.
Like Jerry said, you can always stop the chemo after another treatment if things get worse. Keep us posted,
Jackie, Angel Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
Thank you all for your support and sharing your journeys. Being able to share helps so much. Our Fiona is barely 7 years old when we found out she had osteosarcoma in her left leg. We amputated two weeks ago and started chemo (adriamycin) a week ago. We saw the vet today and he believes it is extreme nausea. He gave her a shot of ??? (the name escapes me). It has been a week since her first treatment. She is not eating a lot, but I'm getting some calories in her. She will not touch the n/d canned food. She only eats if I cook for her (cancer recipe from "the dog cancer survival guide", but that's not all the time. I am hoping she wakes up tomorrow with a little more spunk. Thank you again to all of you. Now I have to figure out how to stop her from scratching at her incisions.
Zeus just completed six rounds of Carboplatin.
First I will say that we have no regrets. Zeus had a small lung met at the time of diagnosis and amputation (which, as you probably know, leaves a poor prognosis). As of two weeks ago (six and one-half MONTHS post-amp), x-rays showed that the met was still just one met and did not appear to have grown. I do not know if our good fortune is due to chemo, his 'cancer' diet, strong genes or just plain ol' luck, but whatever it is we are grateful.
Zeus tolerated his chemo well. As the others have said above, the effects are cumulative and we definitely noticed increased lethargy with each treatment. Zeus was apparently very sensitive to the Carboplatin as it completely bottomed-out his WBC count, so we had to go to a slightly lower dosage and a schedule of every four weeks instead of every three weeks. However, for a couple of days prior to treatment six he seemed to feel bad and I questioned whether we should proceed with that final treatment. His bloodwork was fine and the vet thought he might have just had a bit of a stomach bug, so we went forward with chemo as planned. A week later he ended up in the hospital overnight with pneumonia and it took him about three weeks to get over that. He was so very sick. Vet said the chemo probably dropped his WBC count so low that the ended up with the infection. Of course, in hindsight I believe he was probably already weakened from the 'bug' before chemo and then we hit his system with the chemo and it was just too much to fight off whatever germ he picked up. The moral of this story is to follow your gut. You know your dog and if it seems like you need to stop chemo or adjust chemo, don't hesitate to discuss that with your vet.
Good luck to you!
Zeus was a Husky mix diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at age 11. A visible lung met and suspicious spot on his liver meant a poor prognosis-six weeks was our vet's best guess. We decided to fight for our boy and his right front leg was amputated on 12/1/11. We did six rounds of chemo, changed his diet and spoiled him completely rotten. We were blessed with 10 great months after diagnosis. Against the odds, the lung met remained a single met and grew very little over those months. A wonderful furbaby with the most gentle spirit, he fought with a strength that we never imagined he possessed. We have no regrets...
http://zeuspod......pawds.com/
I just administered Chico's 4th chemo. He gets an IV chemo once a month at the vet and then two weeks later I give him oral chemo. So we're two months in at this point. The vet indicated we'd do six months of chemo and then assess his situation. From there we have three options: continue every month, drop back to every other month, or discontinue. Discontinue is only the option if the cancer has progressed. If it has really slowed, we can cut back to every other month. Status quo would mean keeping it at a monthly pace.
Chico has histiocytic cell sarcoma, which his vets says is a "nasty, nasty cancer." Prognosis with chemo is up to one year.
alinnell said
Chico has histiocytic cell sarcoma, which his vets says is a "nasty, nasty cancer." Prognosis with chemo is up to one year.
Stay hopeful, and don't forget about Barney B, a four year survivor of histio!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hope he's doing well. He's such a handsome boy!
Jackie, Angel Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
Hi, My Penny is 7,5 years old and got osteosarcoma and got amputated her right rear leg two weeks ago and started with IV chemo Carboplatin first time yesterday. The vet. gave her an injection, Cerenia, against nausea just in case. Yesterday evening she ate her food and also this morning. The poop has been fine. Hopefully she will go on feeling ok, but as we started yesterday I don't know so much yet. She sleeps a lot but when she is awake she is quite alert. But as others have been written, maybe she will be more tired after more treatments. An advice we got if your dog will feel sick and not will eat, is to give some pieces of ice every other hour or third hour and to give many small portions instead of bigger, but maybe you know this. Hope your dog will feel better soon! Good luck!/Gunilla, Penny and Wilbur
Interesting that you say the effects are cumulative. I thought I had read they often became less severe. Guess that was just wishful thinking.
Duke had his first round of chemo (carboplatin) 2 weeks post amp, and had his staples out at the same time. They had a bit of a difficult time with the staples because some of them had become embedded. I say that because he was very fatigued after his first round of chemo. Whether it was the chemo, having had the staples removed, or a combo of only being 2 weeks post amp and staple removal and chemo... I don't really know. Probably the latter.
I know I was questioning whether to continue with chemo when he was so out of it for a day or two, but the fatigue only lasted a few days. He continued to eat, though not with his usual Duke gusto. I gave him Cerenia for the nausea for a few days because about 6 hours post administration he seemed nauseous. I was nervous taking him in for his second chemo. Hated to put him through that again, but the way I thought of it was that if we got an extra month or two (or more hopefully!) for every day of extreme fatigue, it was worth it.
Second chemo - absolutely zero side effects. I gave him Cerenia for a few days just to ward off any potential nausea since he had some after the first administration. I jokingly said that if he had gotten placebo for that second administration I wouldn't have been surprised. Not a single side effect. (Given the problems on chemo 3 I really do wonder if he even got chemo 2. Especially if effects tend to be cumulative.)
Third chemo - he seemed slightly fatigued for a day or so and then our world tilted because as it turns out the chemo was given outside the vein, or at least mostly outside the vein. We have been in recovery mode from that since.
Even so, I'm eager to continue chemo because I'm scared thinking that currently the cancer is marching on unchallenged. Not sure when we will be able to continue chemo, however. I had thought they were only planning on 4 rounds but I think things may change when we begin again. I'm surprised some of you went 5 and 6 rounds. Guess there aren't totally standard protocols.They can certainly reduce the dose if the side effects are too severe.
If your girl had her first chemo one week post amp she is still recovering from that too, poor thing. Hope she is feeling better by now.
And I see you are in Colorado Springs - so I hope you, Fiona, and all are safe.
Sadly, we lost our beloved Fiona a few weeks ago. The cancer was too aggressive. Thank you to everyone on this website. This information was very helpful and comforting through her short fight with bone cancer. This will be my last post, but wanted to express my gratitude.
I am so sorry for the loss of Fiona! Take comfort in knowing that you gave her the best life and did everything for her. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Oh no, I'm so very sorry. I wish we had the opportunity to get to know here better. Please know that you did everything you possibly could for your beautiful pup, she will never be far from your side. May her spirit run free forever.
Many condolences coming your way.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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