Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Hi everyone,

Our girl has OS.  We did the front leg amputation & removed the spleen on November 10th.  We found that the leg, armpit lymph node (which was removed) and spleen all had OS.  First Carbo on 11/21.  When we went in for her 3rd carbo on 12/30, they found some spread to the right kidney.  We stopped the Carbo and started Palladia.  On 2/5/14 an ultrasound showed spread to both kidneys.  Xray found tiny amounts of spread to the lungs.  An aspiration to her back left leg shows a strong possibility there is OS in that leg, too.  We immediately started a round of Doxorubicin and stopped the Palladia.

All blood panels have been normal, except for some minor anemia.  Kidney function is still normal (thank God).

All through the first few months of treatment, her appetite was amazing, except for a few days post-amputation.  She'd even eat more than her usual.  Also, she was drinking half a gallon of water a day, now down to about half that, which the doctors have been okay with.

On 2/3, she started eating less and became finicky (this was also coming up on the 7 week mark of Palladia where it is strongest in their system).  She got the Doxorubicin 2 days later and the appetite issue got worse as did some pretty bad diarrhea.  She'd eat immediately after getting an appetite stimulant, which was a once a day pill, but not any more.  Metronidozale mostly cleared up the diarrhea, but she still wasn't eating normally.

We saw the oncologist yesterday and he said that if she isn't eating on her own, it could be the disease and might mean that we are close to the end.  He said that the appetite stimulants would fail at some point and giving them stimulants and anti-diarrhea meds to get everything to work falls under "poor quality of life".  I disagree...

So, I've stopped everything but one antibiotic.  She's sensitive to ALL meds, including antibiotics and pain meds (all cause at least mild tummy trouble), so I'm trying to remove everything I can to help clear up her tummy.  I'm hoping that being over a week out from the Doxorubicin, she may get back to some kind of normal.  I have offered her everything.  All kind of meats, cheeses, baby food, oatmeal, rice, stinky fish oil on food, warming it up etc etc.  One day she'll enjoy a bit of ham, one day the only thing she'd have was tiny bits of was an expensive imported cheese, the next day a human peanut butter cookie, for 2 days it was all about plain milk bone biscuits and yesterday it was all about dry kibble (which we haven't given her in 3 years).

This is my question... She'll let me know when she wants to eat (which is never at our usual time), she has a very specific facial expression, so I get several plates out and we start the process of menu selection.  She starts eating like her normal self.  Excited, big bites etc.  After 3 bites, she slows down and then she'll just turn her head and stop.  Is this just normal nausea or something else?  My fear is that there is something in her esophagus.  The last time we were at the vet, they checked that (because she had some minor coughing) but you never know.

My goal is to feed her smaller meals every few hours and hope that we get back to normal or normal-ish.  Regular BM would be a good start.

We were doing so well and she was doing SO well as a Tripawd, I was hoping (obviously) to keep the spread at bay.  Hoping this new round of chemo will give us more quality time and this is just a minor issue.

Anybody out there encounter anything similar?