Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
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I was so happy to discover this site a few weeks ago when Eloise, our 11 year old Akita/Shepard, was suspected to have osteosarcoma. She had her front leg amputation surgery yesterday and so far has been doing excellent. We went to visit her today and she's already standing and hopping along like a pro! They say she can come home tomorrow so we are very excited for that. Some radiographs and a ct scan has detected about 4 nodules in her lungs and the ct scan also discovered a large mass in her liver which they will do a needle aspiration for probably when she goes back to get her stitches out. There has not been a confirmed osteosarcoma diagnosis but the doctors are leaning towards that because of the metastases. Once we get the results back from the limb biopsy we will know for sure. With so many things going on with Eloise, we are taking this just one step at a time. First we've got to get through this surgery and recovery and then once we can pinpoint which type of cancer this is, then we can start thinking about a proper treatment course.
My question to all of you is, what types of treatments, or even if you chose not to treat with chemo or any other medicinal routes, did you chose for cancers that have already or just started to spread before amputation? Does that question make sense? Needless to say my thoughts are so scrambled these days 
.
All we want for Eloise is for her to be as comfortable and as happy as possible, no matter how much longer she is with us. That was the main decision we decided to amputate. Because we knew it would relieve her pain and didn't care whether she had 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years more left with us.
I would really like to hear from you all who have been in a similar situation where it's already metastasized and why chose to, or not to, treat further. And if you didn't treat medicinally, what kind of alternate treatments did you go with?
Thanks in advance for any insight you have. Again, I really appreciate this site and find it very comforting!
Erica
Welcome Eloise and Erica!
So, so sorry about your Eloise! I'm sorry I don't have any experience with limb cancer ...for that matter nor amputation. (I'm on the welcoming and entertainment committee
)
But I wanted to welcome you. Others will jump in now that your post has been approved. Next time you post, just log out and login so your posts will show up immediately.
Here are some great tips for the recovery of the amputation:
Jerry's Required Reading List for lots of recovery advice, care tips, and answers to commonly asked canine cancer.
Best wishes!
Comet's mom
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Welcome to the 'Cancer Sucks' Society! I'm sorry about your diagnosis, but WOW what a great attitude you have. Trouble had osteosarcoma, but to date has had no metastisis, so I cannot address your question. Stay strong and fight hard - one day at a time.
Shanna & Spirit Trouble ~ Trouble gained her wings 3/16/2011, a 27 1/2 month cancer survivor, tail wagging. RIP sweetheart, you are my heart and soul. Run free at Rainbow Bridge.
The November Five - Spirits Max, Cherry, Tika, Trouble & Nova. 11/2008 - 3/2013 An era ends as Queen Nova crossed the Bridge.
I am sorry to read of Eloise's diagnosis. She has had her amputation so thank goodness that painful leg is gone, I can't offer any advice as we haven't had to deal with mets yet, but I wanted to let you no we are here for you. Wishing the best for a speedy recovery.
Jo Ann & Tasha
Tasha 8 years old, First cancer diagnosis 6/26/09, Last cancer diagnosis 9/26/09, Amputation 10/01/09, Loving our girl moment by moment.
Tasha lost her battle and became my Angel on May 4 2011. Forever in my heart….
Eloise is such a beauty! I'm sorry that you had to join use here, but you've found a great place. Sadie does not have mets yet (that we know of). She also had osteosarcoma and had her right front leg amputated in Feburary. We chose 5 rounds of chemo to treat any possible mets. I suppose if you can identify what her tumors are, it might be easier to choose an appropriate treatment. I think the most important thing is to get rid of the painful leg. I know there are dogs here living with mets, and some have been around quite a while. I wish you and your beautiful girl the very best! Keep us posted.
Lisa (Sadie's mom)
Sadie is my 9yr old Rott/Shepherd mix. Diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her right scapula 1/28/10. Our brave girl had her amputation 2/13/10 and her last chemotherapy on 6/6/10. Unfortunately, a tumor appeared in her back right leg and on 10/7/2010 Sadie's earthly journey came to an end. On 10/24/2010 we adopted Ranger, a handsome Rott/Lab mix tripawd (got hit by a car) I think Sadie sent him to us.
http://ranger.t.....pawds.com/
Hugapitbull, I like that cancer sucks society label, it fits well here!!! Erica, our first x-ray with Gus showed clear lungs, but about 7 weeks later we saw 3 spots. at the time we first found his cancer the vet thought we caught it early, we did the amputation and all was going really well, then he started getting a lump on his neck so I took him back in and thats when we found the mets. I decided to not do chemo since Gus was such an active guy and with the thought we had caught it early I didn't want him to have to deal with side effect if he had them. Once he healed from the surgery he was as good as new, but we found the cancer was way more aggresive than we ever thought and lost him July 26, we did the surgery april 7, so we didn't have him near as long as hoped, but the fact that he had a great life after surgery without having to deal with any side effects of chemo was my goal, and we achieved that. I don't regret not doing it one bit. I did try the metronomic therapy after we found the mets which we used cytoxin, doxyciline, mushrooms and prednisone and he didn't have any reactions to those drugs, but I can't say if they helped or not. Chemo can be quite expensive, and I have seen posts where people have stopped after only 1 or 2 treatments because of the reactions it causes. Make a decision you can live with and have no regrets with, second guessing will tear you up. Good luck, you found a great place to be going down this crappy road, Spirit Gus and Dan
My buddy Gus had a left front amputation on April 7, 2010 and lived a great life until July 26,2010
Hello Erica,
Eloise is beautiful and so happy looking. I too am sorry that you had to come looking for this site but I am glad you found it. My boy is 11 days since his amputation with confirmed diagnosis of osteosarcoma. I don't know yet if there are other mets but I have chosen to do chemo and suppliments of mushrooms. This community of supporters is wonderful and full of information. The only thing I can think to add is that until you know what you are dealing with you are going to be left with many questions. I have done tons of reading about how to fight cancer in dogs and that seems to help me. Staying busy keeps me sane.
I do hope that Eloise has a good diagnosis but whatever comes to pass I have found this place and these people to be a great comfort.
Elizabeth and Sammy
Diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the right front leg 8/23/10,
leg fractured 8/27/10,
leg amputated 8/30/10
http://sammyand.....pawds.com/
I couldn't begin to say how special Sammy is to us. Living and laughing with and loving this wonderful boy is priceless.
Hi Erica – we were in your situation just a little over a month ago with our 10-year old shep/lab mix Kobe, except that Kobe has had his rear leg amputated. They found his lung mets the day we went in to get his stiches out and consulting with our vets decided not to do chemo. Like you (and really everyone that I've read about on these boards) our focus was/is to keep Kobe out of pain and happy and this seemed to be the best decision for us. We currently have Kobe on Rimadyl and we are giving him K9 Immunity and a few homeopathic supplements (which I don't have the name of with me at work). We also switched his food to Orijen that we supplement with various proteins (chicken, turkey) or vegetables.
Kobe is doing really well right now – I don't know if what we are doing is helping that but I at least feel good knowing it isn't hurting. This is all pretty new to us so I don't have a lot of answers, just what we are doing. I go through periods of information overload and guilt because I don't know if I'm doing enough/the right thing/the wrong thing..but in the end my husband and I just decided that as long as whatever we do is done because we want the best for Kobe than that is the best we can do.
We'll be thinking of you as Eloise recovers from her surgery!!
Bethany and Kobe
eloise said:
My question to all of you is, what types of treatments, or even if you chose not to treat with chemo or any other medicinal routes, did you chose for cancers that have already or just started to spread before amputation? Does that question make sense? Needless to say my thoughts are so scrambled these days
All we want for Eloise is for her to be as comfortable and as happy as possible, no matter how much longer she is with us. That was the main decision we decided to amputate. Because we knew it would relieve her pain and didn't care whether she had 2 weeks, 2 months or 2 years more left with us.
Bravo! Erica, you have such a great attitude, thank you for joining us here. By sharing Eloise's story, you are already helping others as they face the same scary situation.
We also think Eloise is really beautiful, can't wait to see more pictures of her.
Meanwhile, as Comet recommended, our Required Reading List will have lots of answers to any recovery questions you may have. We also have different blogs focusing on Tripawds Nutrition, Gear, Downloadable Information, Tripawds Gifts, and cool stuff for Tripawds from Amazon that you may find useful.
Now to try to answer your question about treatment when mets have already occurred...
Your vet probably already told you, but usually by the time dogs are diagnosed with bone cancer, there are already lung mets present, only they are too microscopic for radiographs to pick up. So in a sense, we all have mets when we are diagnosed. But sometimes mets behave better than other, and sometimes they don't, you just can't tell.
Me, I lived 2 years without doing IV chemo. When we got the word that I had lung mets, it was 17 months after diagnosis. That's when we opted to pursue Metronomic Chemotherapy, which you can read about here.
Our Nutrition blog shares the stories of cancer survivors who have opted to, and opted not to, pursue chemo. Their stories and nutrition plans can be read there, please take a look for more information.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks so much everyone for all your kind words and advice! Eloise is the type of dog that when we went for walks just around the block, I would get stopped at least once by someone remarking about what an interesting dog she is.
She comes home later this afternoon(I've got her comfy space all ready for her) and, of course, I am so anxious so trying to keep busy with my 2 girls all day. There is a lot of information out there and I appreciate you all setting me in the right direction. It can be overwhelming! But you are all right in that, until we get a confirmed diagnosis, we may just be spinning our wheels trying to figure things out.
Thanks again so much and I'll be sure to keep you all updated.
Erica
Hi Erica,
Welcome to Tripawds. Eloise is indeed a very interesting looking girl- more pics please!
My pug Maggie had a different kind of cancer- mast cell cancer. After her amp I learned that it there were cancerous mast cells in the lymph node removed with her leg (before surgery none of the tests we did showed mets anywhere). Her prognosis was 6 to 9 months WITH chemo. I chose to do chemo because I thought it gave her the best chance, and because of the way our oncologist approached treatment. You can read her whole story if you are interested in her BLOG, there is also a page about her treatment protocol- but it would be different for an OSA diagnosis.
Maggie had a remarkable run, living for 3 years and 9 months after amputation. The point is though that you never know what will happen- stats are just stats and cancer has a mind of its own.
You make the best decision for you and Eloise and because you make it with her best interest at heart it will be the right one. Good luck with your research and decision. We will be here to support you every hop of the way.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Welcome Eloise and family,
Justa hearty welcome to you, as I have no experience similar to yours.
How exciting to have her coming home, don't expect too much at first, the pain meds and left over anesthesia can sometimes make for a pretty dopey puppy. But as the days pass you will see your girl come back. Just try to focus on this step- the coming home- then move on to the next. Most of all, shower her with love and enjoy her homecoming!!
Happy hopping Eloise,
Spirit Angel JD's mom
JD
One Tough Girl
(1999-2010)
-Diagnosed with osteosarcoma of her left front leg –
-Amputation July 23 2010 –
-The cancer didn't get her, but she is gone-
-She fought the cancer and loved life till bloat brought her down August 29th, 2010-
Now she watches over her mom and two new sisters, the Quad-Paws Serena and Maya
Well, Eloise is 12 days post surgery and coming along just fine. Tomorrow her staples come out so we are looking forward to that. Still no word on the biopsy results and the preliminary results came back "sarcoma unidentified" so we'll just have to keep waiting. Since she got home, all she really wanted was to be with the rest of the family which was a little hard because our house is 3 levels with long, steep stairs. But after one week we let her have a go at them and she's mastered both going up and down already. It's just so remarkable to watch them adapt and overcome to so many new situations.
Thanks again for everyone's words and advice. Every time I go to look up something new online I always find myself back at this site to sort it all out.
I'm not sure this picture will come through, I've tried a few different times to insert an image but if it shows up great! If not, I'll keep trying.
This is Eloise getting some fresh air which is where she seems most content lately:
I don't have experience with mets, but there is another dog on this site Fortis who is living life to the fullest even after lung met diagnosis. It does not signal the end, but rather reinforce the idea that it is important to treasure every day with them!!!
Here is a link to his blog regarding the lung met update: Fortis
-Chloe's mom
Chloe became a rear amp tripawd on 7-29-10. Another tumor was removed on front leg 2-20-14. Found 3rd tumor on neck 2-2015, but she's still kicking cancer's butt at age 14. Chloe's blog
eloise said:
I'm not sure this picture will come through
The Image URL you used was for the snapfish order page. We've fixed that for you. Next time, right click ion the image itself to get the actual file location and paste that in the Image URL field. Thanks!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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