Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Jerry,

Even before Tazzie was diagnosed I always tended to look for bone cancer first in a large breed dog, especially if there is any swelling at the wrist.  I have been fooled by some in the humerus (upper arm bone) because sometimes the xray looks failry normal but the dog is in pain.  If the dog is a Rottie or Greyhound or giant dog I would say follow up in 2 weeks with more xrays.  Back legs can be harder because everyone assumes ACL or knee sprain if there is pain in that area.  OSA tend to be "away from the elbow and close to the knee" but I have seen it in the spine, scapula, ribs, etc.  It is just a bad deal.

The thing I can't stress enough is to get that leg off ASAP! Not only do we want to relieve the pain, but the goal is to try to avoid lung mets.  Jerry did well for a long time even with cancer in the upper arm and even after waiting a while for a diagnosis but the best chance for a cure (only 5% chance) or a long survival is early detection and some sort of follow-up chemo (I will do a separate post on this later today)

Pam and Tazzie