Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Ruby is most likely losing her battle w this disease. 2 months after amputation followed by chemo it appears the tumor has returned. Here is Kacys update :
"I'm sad to report that Ruby has been weak and stumbling this week so we ran X-rays on her spine. They saw some mass looking thing and had every specialist in the building look at it before deciding they need to send it out to a radiologist They said it could be an infection because she is immunosuppressed but they can't be sure it's not a tumor. It was there on get old scans but not as big so they are concerned. We are going to continue her chemo today, start her on pain meds and antibiotics and wait for the radiologist. The doctor told me it's likely I will get bad news I'm trying to stay positive and hope for only an infection but I have this dreadful feeling in the pit of my stomach. Niw I go to work and just wait ....... "
So we are sad and devastated only wishing that Ruby could have had more time and the chemo would have worked. We did have those fun days with her in her wagon (check out the blogs for those cute photos) and she did get a last long hike of 3.5 miles 2 weeks ago w Kacy who saw this as a positive sign.
As an oncology nurse I see the devastating effects of cancer every day but when it strikes our pets I'm just brought to my knees in sadness for those who only love positively and unconditionally their entire lives !! I really really hate cancer !!
please think of my poor Kacy and Ruby so far away from me as they approach the end of their days together. She has been Kacys world during a difficult time adjusting in her life. I worry for both of them so much.
Lisa ~ mom and grams ~
Oh God .. this is gut-wrenchingly sad ... especially the comment about those that only love unconditionally their entire lives. Truer words have never been spoken ... it is a horrible and crappy disease ...
Send my heartfelt love and support!
alison with spirit shelby in her heart
Shelby Lynne; Jack Russell/Shiba Inu mix. Proud member of the April Angels of 2014.
October 15, 2000 to April 8, 2014
Our story: Broke rear leg in June 2013 - non-conclusive results for cancer so leg was plated and pinned. Enlarged spleen in September 2013 and had it removed and was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma and started chemotherapy. Became a Tripawd January 8th, 2014 and definitive Hemangiosarcoma diagnosis. Three major surgeries in 7 months and Shelby took them all like a champ only to lose her battle to cancer in her brain. We had 8 amazing extra months together and no regrets. #shelbystrong #loveofmylife
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It is, indeed, a positive sign that Miss Ruby just completed a 3.5 hike with Kacy!! Honest ro goodness, if you didn't have the questionable xray hoovering around, I would say she just overdid it and needed some rest and anti-flams.
It is possible it could be an infection and that is what we are all hoping for. If it is a possibility of an infection, I do wish they would hold off in tne chemo.
How is her attitude otherwise? Is she eating, wagging her tail, still enjoying cuddles? Sounds like the pain meds will help if she's not feeling up to par.
This journeynis slwaysw abput making each day count and not worrying about the tomorrows. Goodness knows Ruby has been, and continues to be, loved and spoiled every second of everyday! Kacy will Cpcontinue to stay in the moment and not let anything interfere with the time she and Ruby have together...Ruby sure isn't.
Spoiling with any yummy junk food Ruby wants is very therapeutic!! Ice cream, steak, cheese pizza and lots of tummy rubs!!!
We are here for Kacy and her wonderful mom! We are all family.
Sending healing energy and love
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!
So sad to read your post. Will pray that maybe it is a pulled muscle causing her to stumble and that the mass is either not cancer, or something very slow growing so she will have more time with Kacy. And yes, cancer dogs can be spoiled rotten - when Otis' mets were discovered, he and Tess got to share 3 double cheeseburgers. Those cheeseburgers were way more important to him than the mets!
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
I'm so sorry to hear this news 
Of course we all hope for more time, and whenever I hear of another dog with the same type of cancer as my Murphy, I hope that they get the same outcome that we've gotten. Of course, over this time we've had our ups and downs. Hopefully it's just an infection and maybe a pulled muscle.
Sending you hugs and wishes for more,
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
Oh noooo ... not the news I wanted to hear 😔😔😔
Cancer is the most horrible beast 😡
But it might just be an infection and Ruby and Kacy have such a strong bond they can pull this together if that is the case, fingers and toes crossed here 🙏🏼
We are all thinking about the three of you and sending as much pawsitive energy as we can master, please stay strong we are all here for you 💕💕
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
My heart is breaking at this sad update...was thinking yesterday of posting to her blog to ask for an update. I know one thing, Ruby could not have a better Mom or Gram. She has known such love and care. Sending warm thoughts to all of you and hoping for some more quality time for Ruby and Kacy.
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
Lisa, Kacy and Ruby, I'm sad to read this too. You have soooo much love coming your way from this community, all of us are anxiously awaiting an update and hope that the report comes back with good news. There is still a chance that she can have many more wagon rides and good days. We're thinking of you all and hoping for the best.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you all so much for your heartfelt replies. We still have not heard from the radiologist, and it does not help that her regular oncologist is out of town. Kacy reported that Ruby seemed very weak on Saturday "like a little old lady" when she left for work, but she returned and found that she had jumped up on the counter for food (typical) and turned the igniter on the eye of the stove (not typical and lucky it was just click clicking) and she had eaten two pair of underwear which were thrown up on the stairs (typical) so she felt better. Sunday was Kacys first day off and she took Ruby for a "Ruby Ride" and she seemed excited to be out and about. Her appetite wains and her poop is a funny orange color so this may be her first side effect from the chemo or something else. Kacys spirits are better this time than with the amputation, mostly because she is very involved in her Accelerated Masters program and the people there have been AMAZING (unlike the first time when she was still just nannying full time and had more time to dwell).
Words of encouragement of what she can say or do now are helpful. I know she just hates looking at her and thinking "is she in pain?" "How much longer does she have?" "Is it really a tumor?". I encouraged her to do her best to just be with Ruby like they always have and not read too much into anything and remember that all Ruby wants to do is please her and be there for her. I told her to just take lots of photos and get lots of snuggles in, because really thats all she can do at this point.
I will try and post recent photos that she shared of their last couple weekends together, patience please as I've not done well doing this before.
Thank you again to everyone for all the love as we can feel it over the web and into our hearts. We all sure do love our animals don't we? In a world where there is so much division and controversy it is so nice to "meet" people who only want to share and spread this love that is common to all of us.
Cordilally,
Lisa
Well I finally got something to post. I went back in and edited it so hopefully these will come up first now. This was Ruby just yesterday riding in the car to get an ice cream and then 5 weekends ago on her first big hike, which was about a mile. They are both so beautiful and you can see the love that they have for each other.
[Image Can Not Be Found]
Those are perfect! Ruby really is a beautiful girl. It's such a difficult journey. Pictures, hugs, cuddles, walks, feeding her special treats like cheeseburgers or cookies, making special memories, just spending time with her. Last year we made paw prints of all 3 of our dogs with salt dough and I painted them & wrote their names on them. We have so many pictures & videos of the past couple of years - way more than I've ever taken of any of my past pets. I think taking this journey with Murphy has made us think more about how limited our time is with all of them.
Hugs to all of you!
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
Thanks so much for your thoughts. I will make sure that Kacy knows about the Paw prints thing. The Pet Cremation business that my friend owns here in Tampa does that as well and they really make nice Christmas ornaments, or really anytime ornaments. Stained glass would be pretty too!.So glad that Murphy continues to do well!!
I just had my two at the dog park on this beautiful day and we thought a lot about Ruby who used to LOVE going to the dog park. We wish that she could do that again, but Kacy has been a bit reluctant but now that she may be near the end, I am going to encourage them to go again because Ruby really did love it.
Glad you enjoyed the photos. Im adding one more; probably one of my favorites of all time!
Beautiful pictures!
If Ruby is on chemo still, you might want to avoid the dog park. Chemo brings down the white blood cell count, which could make her susceptible to illness or infection.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Hi Lisa,
You are such a great mom and gram! I'm sorry things look kinda bleak right now and that Kacy and Ruby are so far away from you. I hope the radiologist report comes back as good as possible.
My pug Maggie did not develop mets but a second cancer which because of other health issues was not treatable. After I cried for a day or so I actually felt a little relieved. It might sound weird but deciding not to do further treatment (other than to keep her comfortable) gave me the freedom just to make every day Maggie's best day and not worry about vet visits and meds. I realized our time was probably short but I didn't even ask for a prognosis.
One thing I did was to define Mag's minimum life quality. She was also dealing with kidney failure and rarely ate on her own so I couldn't use apatite as a gauge. Her liver was suspect as well due to the mast cell cancer so introducing pain meds I knew could be a problem. Mag also tended to freak out on strong meds so one of my criteria was that when the cancer became painful I would let her go. Having that decision made again let me just celebrate each good day.
There are some other methods used to judge life quality. Some have used the Penny Jar Method. Sled dog pack mom TC shared her experiences here.
This is such a hard part of the journey. Please keep us posted and let us know how we can help.
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
Karen...I hadn't seen TC's thoughts on when our dogs need to transition. It was written so beautifully straight from her heart. Thanks for sharing that!
One of the many thoughts she expressed so eloquently stood out that is so importw for Kacy right now: "We do what we can with the time we have – as long or as short as that may be. Each day is a gift, each moment precious. Make them count."
And yes Lisa, you are a wonderful Mom and Gram!!
Actually Lisa, your post was, for the most part, very encouraging and definitely seem to show some improvement! It showed Ruby is still her spunky self and DEFINITELY seems to be enjoying life!!
No one knows how much time we have, that's for sure. We DO KNOW we have NOW! We DO KNOW we have this moment right now.
And goodness k ows Ruby isn't focused on "time"! She's just loving all the attention and loving and spoiling and fun and that's all that matters!!
Nope, today is not the day and no need to think beyond that.
These pictures are DEEEELIGHTFUL!!! And the one that's your "favorite" is sooooo BEAUTIFUL!!! It truly is SPECTACULAR! And yes, you can see the love and light that surrounds Kacy and Ruby in their pictures is actually quite "magical".
Making everyday magical is what it's all about anyway, right? Steak, ice cream, pizza crust...anything she wants! A trip to the Dog Park would be so uplifting for Kacy and Ruby both!! Everyday is RUBY DAY!! 🙂
Thanks for the update AND WONDERFUL photos!!
Love!
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!
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