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.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
Hello,
Our beloved Kite, a Tibetan Mastiff, born with front limb deformity, had his left front limb amputated due to osteosarcoma two weeks ago. The right front limb, unfortunately, is his weaker leg. He is doing as well as he can. At diagnosis, there was no visible metastasis although he had slightly elevated ALP in his pre-surgery bloodwork.
I have read and our oncologist also mentioned that elevated ALP is a poor prognosis. Wondering if anyone else here also had elevated ALP and how did they do with chemo please?
Hi Kite and family, welcome. I'm sorry you had to join our club but glad you found us.
Elevated ALP isn't unusual but I can't comment on the prognosis relationship. What I can tell you is that every dog is different and a prognosis is only a guesstimate based on averages. Anything can happen, Kite is his own dog and he may blow those stats out of the water! You never know, so try to stay pawsitive and focus on the here and now, it's the best medicine for him.
I will look up ALP tomorrow when I'm at my desk. Also, is Kite seeing a rehab therapist? That would be so beneficial if not, sounds like he can use the extra support during recovery. Tripawds Foundation can even pay for your first rehab visit if he's not seeing anyone right now.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you! We have not had a chance to look into rehab yet. The plan is to start chemo first and see how it goes. Kite is not fond of strangers and I am concerned that the chemo visits and rehab visits will be all too much to handle for him. We have ordered front support wheelchair , hoping that will help him out. Trying to stay positive. We only just lost our other dog last year. She had crazy high ALP values too, but despite everything we tried, we never knew exactly what was wrong with her. Although hers was more likely a liver problem than a bone problem.
You are so welcome. Yeah the good thing about chemo is you can always see how it goes, there's no law saying you have to continue if Kite doesn't have a good quality of life with the treatments. And at least you'll know you left no stone unturned IF it doesn't work. Paws crossed that it does.
Depending on where you live there are rehab therapists that can come to your house if Kite can handle a stranger coming over. With covid restrictions eased up it's a lot easier now. I really encourage you to look into it before ever trying the wheelchair . Using one without the guidance of a therapist who can size and fit it to Kite, can do more harm than good. Our wheelchair link has articles that get into detail about the risks of using one on your own.
Oh as for the high alkaline phosphatase (ALP), here are some search results
https://tripawd.....e/#p247175
https://tripawd.....n/#p204901
https://tripawd.....it-of-hope
https://tripawd.....;include=1
And here's a good article about high ALP in dogs, by our friend Dr. Buzby:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you so much for the helpful links. Kite was measured by a rehab therapist and we are open to working with one to fit the wheelchair .
Oh yay! So happy to read that! Great job!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Kite just started his first chemo (carboplatin) today. Still sleeping off the sedation. Unfortunately, the radiologist saw some small nodules in his lungs. Does not change the treatment plan per se but we do have to take x rays sooner than later to evaluate those nodules. Sigh…
Awww sweet pup. Hope you got some good snuggle time in with him.
I'm sorry about the x-rays, that had to have been disappointing. Glad to know you and the vet are proceeding cautiously. And you never know what will happen, those nodules might just behave indefinitely. We are keeping our paws crossed that they do.
Give Kite some extra belly rubs from us!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I am struggling with the decision to continue chemo. Kite comes back unhappy because he doesn’t enjoy going to the vet, there are lots of blood work to do, he doesn’t have a great appetite right now. At what point do you consider there to be more good days than bad?
FWIW, it used to be back in the day, that Vets didn't proceed with amputation if nodules showed up.
Fortunately, it is now the protocol to proceed with amputation, get rid of the pain and continue with treatment to give the dogs a chance at a good extended quality life..
And Remember, Kite didn't hear a word about "nodules" and could care less about any one's xrays. Kite is just ready to get the surgery done, get thru recovery and on to living life to the fullest as a Tripawd RockStar!!
Higs
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!
Chemo is such an individual decision. There are no "rules" when it comes to this cancer because every dog and their human is different. It's definitely in line for Kite to have a weak appetite right now, and hopefully it won't last long. Did your vet give you anything for nausea or GI upset?
I would give it a week or so to see how he does. In my mind that would be enough time for me to know if my dog was having a good reaction or not, and if I wanted to proceed with the next treatment. And don't forget to talk to your oncologist about it. Their focus is on quality of life too, and they want Kite to be happy as much as you do.
What are his appetite signs looking like? These posts in our Nutrition blog can give you some ideas to perk up his willingness to eat:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Ueah, as Jerry,said, just let things settle a bit. He's shaking off the sedation, plus decompressing from being at the Vet.
One of the "common" side effects sometimes is a bit of nausea and being off food for a day or two.
So just see how he does between now and the next time for chemo. There DEFINITELY is no right or wrong when it comes to deciding whether or not to pursue chemo. One reason the members who decide to go that route is because you can stop any time if iit interferes with quality.
(((((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!
Thank you both, so much for the encouragement. We did come back with Cerenia for nausea and the vet also prescribed Hill’s GI Biome diet to help with potential diarrhea. Kite is already on Forti Flora so the oncologist is happy about that too. Today (day after chemo), he only wanted some beef jerky, some cheese that I use to hide his medicine in, and some boiled ground beef. We ordered the canned version of the GI Biome. I hope that will help motivate him to eat.
He perked up a little this evening when we asked if he wanted to go for a ride - his favorite thing to do. That made me happy. Hope tomorrow gets better. This is tough going…
Made me smile visualizing him peeking up for a ride😊
Yeah, whatever he'll eat at this point...warm rotisserie chicken, scrambled eggs with cheese etc,
Nope, not easy right now, but it gets better. Stay connected...we're here for you!
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!
1 Guest(s)
