Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Almost 17 months after an osteosarcoma diagnosis and 16 months post front limb amputation and chemo (four rounds of carboplatin), my sweet Stella's most recent scans show lung mets. Our oncologist has recommended 50mg of Palladia three times a week in the hopes of slowing and potentially shrinking the growths, and I'm just trying to find information on efficacy of the drug and any other advice from those who have been in this situation. The only other potential solution he mentioned was a lobectomy, which I don't believe is something I'd like to put her through. Is there any other treatment I should definitely bring up to him to try in conjunction with the Palladia? Does anyone have any experience with how well their dogs tolerated Palladia and how well it may have worked for lung mets?
Stella continues to be her sweet, smiley self and begs to play fetch and hike daily; we are very blessed with her good spirit and love of life. I am trying my best to be positive and strong for her, but I would be lying if I said this isn't devastating after clean scans for so long (I knew to expect it, but I let myself hope that maybe she would beat the metastasis odds...). Any other words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated!
Hello and welcome, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
First- congratulations on 17 months post amp for Stella!!!
I'm sorry you are dealing with lung mets though. My dog had a different type of cancer, mast cell, so I didn't deal with lung mets personally but lots of people and pets here have.
Here are some blog posts dealing with Metastasis.
Stay tuned for more input!
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
Thank you Karen- it really is amazing that she's done so well.
I appreciate the information and would love to hear anyone else's journey/advice/commiseration with lung mets.
Stella & furmily, welcome. I just got caught up on your post and am so sorry that you got that bad news. The same thing happened to us at about exactly the same timeframe, when our Jerry was fighting osteosarcoma. I remember getting the wind knocked out of me like it was yesterday.
As Karen mentioned, don't forget to celebrate the 17 months post-amp! 
So far, Stella is still Stella! She has beaten those 1-year odds and she is a warrior who shows the world that you just never know what can happen! She proves that statistics are just numbers, they are not 100% a given. May your beautiful happy girl continue to beat the odds and live a long, healthy, happy life on 3.
Now about those mets. Ugh. I'm sorry!
Your oncologist's advice is pretty standard. But....
Here's a blog post and interview we did with Colorado State University's Dr. Bernard Seguin, about options after lung mets are discovered:
Lung Metastasis in Tripawds with Limb Cancer: Now What?
Here are some other articles about lung metastasis treatments.
There are newer treatments being used aside from Palladia, but usually in clinical trials at university teaching hospitals like UC Davis, CSU, and University of Minnesota. If you are near a uni, there are clinical trials you might be able to get into. What state are you located in, if you'd like to share. I can point you to some.
We've only had a couple of folks here try the lobectomy procedure, Jabba being one of them. We opted out of that for our Jerry, and he still lived another 8 quality months with the help of metronomics (which has since been found to not be as effective as once thought) and mushroom therapy supplements.
So you do have some options if you want to look into other therapies. Palladia seems to be hit or miss with members here. Some dogs tolerate it pretty well, others do not. It's a gamble like any kind of chemotherapy.
Stay strong and remember Stella doesn't know what the scans said. Set the pawsitive tone like you've been doing, and take things one day at a time. Come and vent here if you'd like and keep us posted OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks so much for the reply and the additional information. We're in Montana and to my knowledge, the closest teaching hospital is WSU, which we did contact when we were initially considering limb-sparing surgery vs. full amputation (there are good things and bad things about being more rural...). I'm not sure about any trials they may be conducting?
You're absolutely right about 17 months being a victory and I try very hard to focus on that part of it. I'm so sorry about your Jerry- I've followed your journey and saw the lung met diagnosis at 17 months for you as well; it's long enough to give you that bit of hope that just maybe you'd beat the odds. I have some hope that the Palladia will be effective in at least slowing the growth, but obviously my main concern is Stella's quality of life.
Do you have a recommendation for a specific type of mushroom therapy supplements? She has been taking Apocaps and K9 Immunity since her diagnosis and who knows if it's helped, but she's stayed happy and healthy.
I really appreciate this community; it has helped me immensely to share in others' three-legged journeys
You are so welcome.
Ah Montana! Yes it's gorgeous there but not a great place when you need specialty vet care. Last I heard there wasn't even a single oncologist in the state so at least there is one now! Hopefully more will see how beautiful it is and want to practice in your state.
WSU is a good school and one of our members, Grover, was treated there:
https://grovers.....pawds.com/
You have such a good attitude about the situation! Thank you for your kind words about Jerry, and reading about him. I know you can relate to all those thoughts that swim through our minds (but not our dogs!).
Keep up with the mushroom therapy! It's what we believed helped our Jerry stay strong too. At the time we were using K9 Immunity , and now K9 Medicinals also has their Immune Support supplement which has an even more helpful formula (https://www.k9m.....ne-support).
We appreciate you too! Every story helps someone else faced with this difficult situation. Thanks for being here, sharing your story, and showing everyone how to Be More Dog !
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Palladia is hit or miss, and most of the time it's a miss. You would have better luck with Palladia + Losartan.
Your oncologist didn't tell you about it probably because she doesn't know about it, as the study was recently published in February or March, I believe. I emailed our oncologist the research paper in which it was found that Palladia + Losartan was more effective than Palladia alone. She had originally recommended Palladia only, but after she read the paper, she agreed to also prescribe Losartan.
What I have found is the practicing veterinarians do not have the time to keep up with the latest research. If something just came out a few months ago, it might take a while until it becomes a common practice. But as of right now, there is no reason why they wouldn't include Losartan along with the Palladia.
Send her a link to the paper and ask if he or she can prescribe Losartan along with Palladia. If she says no, find yourself a new oncologist. The only valid reason for saying no is if Losartan is contraindicated for a specific condition your dog may have.
Here is the link to the Palladia + Losartan research to give to your oncologist: https://pubmed....../34580111/
But if you can get yourself to Colorado, I would try to enroll in the clinical trial using Palladia + Losartan + Ladarixin. Here is the link: https://www.csu.....n-therapy/
But the most promising treatment is is IL-15, as it has been shown to be effective in shrinking large osteosarcoma lung tumors. Unfortunately, it is not commercially available. But you can read about how I got my hands on it here:
I know this sounds crazy, but I improved my dog's lung metastasis
byu/jacktor115 intripawds
Here is the tripawd interview with the lead researcher of IL-15 at UC Davis: https://tripawd.....-for-dogs/
@jquan321 thank you so much for sharing, and linking to our articles about the therapy. I'm so sorry for your loss. She was very lucky to have you for a parent. Please feel free to share her story so we can honor your sweet girl's life. Many hugs & thanks coming your way.
@jerry Thanks. I might just do that. By the way, I'm going to return about 20 treatments worth of IL-15. Given it's track record of shrinking mets and the unique opportunity to have it outside of clinical trial, I personally think it would be a shame not to have a dog with mets benefit from it. I have the Certificate of Analysis (CoA) from the manufacturer (a reputable one), and I also have instructions on how to prep it directly from the UC Davis clinical trial. You meet more individuals with dogs who might have mets due to osteosarcoma, so if you think of someone, please let them know about me and my story. I would prefer that the treatments that I couldn't give my dog to go to another dog who has more time to experience the benefits. I can always offer my contact info privately.
I'm so very, very sorry for your loss. And I am incredibly inspired by your story. My dog Archer had a rear limb amputation due to osteosarcoma in March. Immediately following that he had the Elias vaccine. We had Xrays done 4 weeks ago that showed 2 tiny, minuscule nodes in his lungs. I knew of the IL-15 inhaler study on dogs, and spoke with our oncologist, but she said the dogs in that study were 200+ days cancer-free, and Archer was not that far out. I pushed to know more, but that is where that conversation ended. Now 4 weeks later, his recheck X-rays show the nodes growing. We were about to begin Palladia/Losartan when I came across your post. I have been digging and scouring for information, but I am coming up empty. Archer has been letting us know that he wants to continue fighting, and we take all our cues from him. Anything more you can share would be immensely helpful while I continue to do everything and anything....Thank you.
@carrottiped, thanks for chiming in and joining us. I'm really sorry about Archer's mets, that's such heartbreaking news! Good for you to keep advocating for treatment. Hopefully @jquan321 will see this and chime in. Please feel free to start a new topic so we can follow you and Archer and provide better one-on-one support.
Oh and for lung metastasis, there's a new treatment showing great promise. You might want to check out the MIMIC study.
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