Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Thanks for the update Lori. As you know, we care about our family!
I would think the fact that it's not in the muscle IS good and, for the most part, the margins are good.
So, let me get this straight. Zoe is weaeing a t-shirt because she won't wear a cone. You are wearing a t-dshort covered in meds a d spit because she won't take her meds. No question avout it, Zoe is the Alpha Queen and you are her subject!
Hope you can get some good rest tonight. You are doing everything right for Zoe and it sounds like things are getting back to normal very quickly now.
Oh, and of course we need a photo with Zoe in jer t-shirt!
Hugs to you, hubby, Chandler, Daryl and Zoe! And remember, Ty is watching over everybody!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
My front amputee kitty never wore a cone. I think the drain area would get itchy if some it dried on the skin so I would clean and sooth the area with a sometimes warm, sometimes cool damp baby facecloth. She loved that.
Glad to hear the margins are somewhat big and that she's doing well. On with the healing and feistiness dear Zoe.
Kerren and Tripawd Mona
She has a small lump/ swelling at the top of her stitches. I am so afraid her tumor is coming back. It has only been 6 days:-( I know I am done as far as treatment goes, hubby was furious that I had it removed in the first place. He said that she won't be here 2 months from now. I know where that came from. Ty was the exception, he was dealt a really bad hand. I am hoping and praying it is a seroma . It just feels so much like the tumor did when it first appeared. We don't even have the darn biopsy back yet. Hate, hate, hate this stupid disease. Lori, Ty & Gang
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
Lori, can you take a picture and post here...pr Ask A Vet? It really sounds like it's merely related to the surgery.....aybe a reaction to an irritated stitch. seroma is a possibility, but also a "pocket of infection" comes to mind too. Email a pic to yiur vet too and see what they say. It just seems really doubtful "it" could grow back in six days! I know it seems scary and you are gonna worry because that's what we all do in this journey! Try really hard not to though!
Everything else good...eating, drinking, etc?
Yeah, hubby is just scared for Zoe and for you. Shhhh....secret....shhh...men say dumb stuff when they're scared.
I'm so sorry you are having to deal with all this. Certainly has not been an easy year for you.
You know we are all sending love and, of course, all the pawsitive energy of the community!
We love yoi!!
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!
I agree with Sally Lori, can you post a picture in the ask a vet forum? If it's on top of her stitches maybe it could be a reaction to the stitches or an infection. Roscoe's STS grew really fast. I would never have thought those things could grow so fast either. Did the vet say they got good margins? I would think that the only way it would grow back fast like that is if they left some of it in there.
(No offense to the guys here), but guys do tend to say dumb stuff when they are scared. Going through all of this one time sucks, going through it all a second time is a kick in the gut like no other; but, each of us has our own journey in life and Zoe deserves to live her life with as much comfort as possible and you have done the right thing by her.
Sending you lots of hugs and prayers.
Mom to Tripawd Angels Jake (2001-2014) and Rosco (2012-2015) and Tripawd Tanner. “Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today; and I'll always remember it”
Called and spoke with vet, who does not think tumor would grow back so quickly. Biopsy came back as an extraskelatal osteosarcoma. What am I doing wrong here? 2 pets in 2 years with osteosarcoma. All tumor was removed, but the margins in one place were less than 1 mm. Mean survival time is 1 year 🙁 I am going to feed her well, spoil her and make her as happy and comfortable as possible for the next year. Who knows, we may get more. Lori, TY & Gang
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
Geez, what the h*ll is going on with all these double whammys?
And this stupid journey makes us almost feel some sort of bizzare temporary relief when we discover it's not...in this case... the recurring tumor...but she does have osteo.! Stupid piece of crap disease!
Unfortunately, you know the drill all to well from here on out. AND, you also know Zoe has no timeframe stamped on her cute little kitty butt! AND you also know you have given her the best possible chance now for a pain free QUALITY life!! AND as you've already mentioned, Zoe will be one of the. most spoiled kitties in the land! AND, of course, Zoe is blissfully unaware of any fancy diagnosis label!
First on the agenda, Zoe gets a scoop of ice cream every night! You know that Happy Hannah considered thst to be a necessary nutritional supplement! Hmmm...not sure how kitties feel about chocolate, but I guarantee they would like a bit of steak and fried chicken!
We love you Lori and you KNOW we are all with you! I don't think Zoe has any plans to go anywhere soon!!
(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((LOVE AND 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!
I feel the same way Lori. Two dogs in 2 years with the same kind of cancer. There is nothing any of us are doing wrong. No one has any idea what's causing this crap. I've seen some stuff where they are starting to think vaccines play a role. Both Jake and Roscoe had tumors at injection sites. You are damned if you do damned if you don't. All we can do is love them, its the only thing we have that cancer can't take away. So you love her and spoil her like hell, and tell cancer to go fuck itself b/c it will never ever EVER take away LOVE.
HUGS
Mom to Tripawd Angels Jake (2001-2014) and Rosco (2012-2015) and Tripawd Tanner. “Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today; and I'll always remember it”
YEAH!! You do what Elizabeth said!!! DITTO!!!
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!
Wow Lori I'm sorry to hear that unbelievable news.
So remember, the prognosis for cats with osa is much, much better than it is for dogs. Never forget, nine out of ten statistics are wrong.
What other insight did the vet have about the diagnosis?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
She read the report over the phone. Vaccine or Tramadol were listed as possible causes. Since she has not had any TraI a, I am sort of blaming her Rabies vaccine. We live in the mountain, how can I not vaccinate for Rabies. She is good on hers until next year and if she is still with me, she will not be getting another. I am assuming titres can be done on cats. I just had Daryl's 3 year Rabies done Ugggg! Just figured he probably needed it to get his immunity. I will know a bit more, hopefully on Tuesday. I will have report on paper also. I forgot to ask what grade the tumor was. Had one of my mini horses go down with Colic this afternoon, had vet out for her, animal ownership is not for the faint of heart. I would not have it any other way. I love them all! Lori, TY & Gang
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
Aww Lpri, sorry you are also dealing with your horse being sick too. I hesitate to ask, but I'm not quite clear as to how your mini horse is doing.
Tramadol??? A cause of osteo???? Never heard of that before!!! Anyboy have more insight on that? It's almost like it's impossibe to get away from "causes"!
I'm glad Jerry let you know kitties do better "statistically" as far as longevity. Look at Jill!
Sending you love Lori!
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!
Lori,
I'm sorry to hear about the diagnosis which is somewhat unclear to me but I guess you'll no more. My Mona had a vaccine associated sarcoma (VAS). This info might be somewhat premature but if Zoe's tumour is caused by a vaccine (a fibrosarcoma by chance?) there are some things you might want to do:
- ensure your vet reports this adverse affect to both the pharmaceutical company and the government body responsible for approving the vaccine. In Canada it's the CFIA.
- have your vet contact the vaccine manufacturer to ask for reimbursement of your associated expenses
- looks at other options/treatments such as amputation if it can achieve wide margins to stop the spread of cancer. I realize you don't want to go the chemo route. From the studies I read there isn't clear evidence that it is chemo is effective with VAS anyway. Some cats get radiation and others are given a new vaccine called Oncept IL-2 Interleukin which is used specifically for feline fibrosarcoma but there is a strict protocol and it only delays the re-occurrence of the cancer, it's not a cure.
Please don't be too rough on yourself about the rabies shot. We all do what we are advised to do and what we think is best. Mona will never get another vaccine and my other cat will only get titres. Vaccines actually last much longer than what is stated on the labels. A leading pet immunologist, Dr. Ronald Schultz, gives his dogs the puppy vaccines and waits 7 years before the next shots. So his dogs only generally only have 3 sets over their lifetime. Of course he advises to follow the law where the states require rabies vaccines at 1 or 3 years.
It's evident you are a loving pet mama. I hope you have many more years of cuddles with Zoe. Let us know if you learn any more from report once you receive it.
Kerren and Tripawd Mona
I have been reading up on vaccine associated cancers, and it is absolutely scary. Tanner got his 3 year rabies vaccine last fall (so wish I would not have done that) but we are on the titres train now also. I too wouldn't worry about Zoe's vaccines, our onco recommended not vaccinating Jake when he was diagnosed.
Mom to Tripawd Angels Jake (2001-2014) and Rosco (2012-2015) and Tripawd Tanner. “Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today; and I'll always remember it”
Kerren, really good information. Thanks for taking the time to share.
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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