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
We had another appointment at CSU today. Chest xrays showed that K's lung mets grew by about 40% each in 3 wks, despite the round of doxorubicin that she received three weeks ago. So, in total, she's had 3 rounds of carboplatin and 1 round of doxorubicin, but the lung mets are growing anyway.
Our oncologist recommended trying metronomic chemotherapy and/or Palladia. We decided to start with metronomic chemo and try it for 4 wks. We'll do another xray then, and we may add in Palladia (on top of the metronomic chemotherapy ) then.
My only question is whether any of you have experience with combining metronomic chemotherapy and Palladia? Our oncologist says that it's not done very often but we are reaching a point of having very little to lose.
I'm discouraged.
Thanks.
K, an 8 year old chocolate lab, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma of the radius and ulna on 12/23/11. She had stereotactic radiation to kill the bone tumors, and 3 rounds of carboplatin. On 3/16/12, lung mets were found. We tried several different kinds of chemotherapy to slow the lung mets but none worked. Finally, mets appeared at other sites, including her spine. She earned her angel wings on July 15, 2012. K changed my life, and I'll never forget her. Our/my journey is chronicled at romp-roll-rockies.blogspot.com.
Our oncologist recommended Palladia (3 times per week). We started it 3 weeks ago and won't know for another week what effect it has had on the lung mets. But I noticed that Luckypup has had excellent results with Palladia. Check out the Forum post called "Palladia".
Magnum: 30th May 2002 to 5th May 2012. Lost her back left leg to osteosarcoma on 5th Sep 2011. Lung mets found on 20th Mar 2012 but it was bone mets in the hip that ended her brave battle. Magnum's motto - "Dream as if you'll live for ever, live as if you'll die today" (James Dean). Loyal, loving, courageous and spirited to the end. My beloved heart dog, see her memoirs from Rainbow Bridge ...... http://princess.....pawds.com/
I'm so sorry, that just bites. Stinky mets.
Here's something that might make those awful mets a little easier to cope with. Angel Abby and her Mom call those ugly mets ("Mints") "Boris and Natasha" because Abby had two mets that wouldn't go away and they were EVIL. In this post celebrating Abby's 14 month ampuversary, Tripawds Mod Pawd Karen made a short video about Boris and Natasha:
You'll find lots of info about Palladia here in the Forums. I say, why not just go for it? You're in such great hands at CSU, I wouldn't doubt their recommendations for a second.
Hugs to you and K. We are headed back to Fort Collins this week and sending lots of love and warm wishes your way that the metronomic chemo helps put those mets away forever.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Yep - we did MP and Palladia together. We had to stop the Pal. cuz Abby's GI system couldn't handle it. She took it off and on (mostly 'on') every other day for 3 months, but then she started having pretty bad diarrhea so we stopped. During that 3 months "Boris" got a little bigger, so it's hard to say if it really worked for us - but who knows. Maybe if we hadn't been using it Boris would have gotten huge and invited his friends over a lot earlier.
If you have any more questions about it you can always PM me.
Jackie, Angel Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
I'm so sorry to hear about this! Let's all say it together........."LUNG METS SUCK!"
But on a happy note.....I'm glad to see you have an avatar pic!
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.
Hi,
I'm a chocolate labby mommy too! 🙂
Lung mets suck! I'm so sorry! Palladia was just approved rather recently, so it is a relatively new drug used with OS lung mets. In the game of OS, I think it's worth a shot! I think it's a bit pricey, but you don;t have anything to lose. The MP is quite affordable...it's a low-dose oral chemo combined with an NSAID.
Sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers to K!!!
Hugs and chocolate labby kisses,
Ellen & Charley
Charley's Blog: CHOCOLATE KISSES
DOB: 3-29-08, male chocolate lab
Dx: OSA L proximal humerus 10-19-10
Amputation: L front leg & scapula 10-28-10
Chemo: 5 rounds of Carboplatin
Video (12 weeks post amp):Tripaw Charley Playing
♥♥♥ Lots of supplements and love!!! ♥♥♥
Thanks to everyone. I do love Abby's video... and the incredible spirit that I find in all of you.
Jerry is right. We have the very best oncologists in the world taking care of K so I should follow their recommendations. They wanted to do MP first for a month by itself so that they could see how K responded to that alone. Then, if K is okay with MP, they wanted to try adding Palladia. They wanted to do it that way so that they could know what side effects and what change to the mets each treatment was responsible for.
So, we'll take it one day at a time, and we'll make the Palladia decision in a month, as our wonderful oncologist suggested. We're feeling a little better today after an evening of tears. We keep wishing for a miracle and it keeps eluding us. I don't have to tell you how sad this makes us.
BTW, our current oncologist is Dr. Biller, and she really likes Tripawds. Not only is she a great vet but she's a warm and caring person too.
K, an 8 year old chocolate lab, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma of the radius and ulna on 12/23/11. She had stereotactic radiation to kill the bone tumors, and 3 rounds of carboplatin. On 3/16/12, lung mets were found. We tried several different kinds of chemotherapy to slow the lung mets but none worked. Finally, mets appeared at other sites, including her spine. She earned her angel wings on July 15, 2012. K changed my life, and I'll never forget her. Our/my journey is chronicled at romp-roll-rockies.blogspot.com.
Dr. Biller IS wonderful and sooooo smart. Tell her we said hello.
Taking life one day at a time....it's one of those things that we all know in the back of our head, but it takes cancer to remind us. It's a bittersweet blessing.
{{{{hugs}}}}
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
1 Guest(s)
