Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

It's been a week, so lots to update! Lots of ups and downs as well.

We got the pathology report back on Tuesday, and it wasn't great. The two masses removed from the muscle were confirmed sarcomas so he is at Stage III. It looks like it was metastizing up the leg. Our surgeon thinks he got it all, but the fact it was spreading is not good. It also turns out Atticus does not have osetoblastic osteosarcoma. It is either hermangiosarcoma that metastized in the bone, or telangiectactic osteosarcoma. Both have a worse prognosis, and his expected survival time is less. The chemotherapy protocol is slightly different as well.

Our surgeon was considering starting chemo this week at his two week recheck (Wednesday), but Atticus was not doing well, and we all agreed it wasn't the right time to start. Up through Wednesday he seemed very listless, depressed, and unlike himself still. I had to handfeed him and coax him into eating and drinking (and eating is his favorite thing ever). He was not getting up on his own at all, just lying on a bed in our office ignoring everyone. At this point I was still thinking I had made a terrible choice, and ruined his last few months.

When we went to the recheck, the surgeon said that his incision looked great, he was moving fine, and that we are considering him healed from the surgery. The altered behavior could be two things: the cancer metastizing, which seems unlikely now- we had an abdominal ultrasound done days before surgery, and his change in behavior was immediate following the surgery. The other option was that he is very anxious and depressed about the loss of his leg, and the trauma of surgery. We all agreed that this is likely, as Atticus is a very sensitive dog.

Our surgeon says this does happen, especially with sensitive dogs. It also doesn't help that we had the surgery done when he was still fully weight-baring on the bad leg, so it was an abrupt change. Who would have thought moving fast to get rid of the painful leg would make things tougher? I should have expected this. Atticus is very moody and can get quite grumpy. When we got our Great Dane puppy he spent an entire month sulking, refusing to come out of his crate, ignoring us. This reminds me of that month.

We left our appointment with instructions to get him up, back to his normal routine, doing the things he likes to do. Now that I know he is healed from surgery, I feel more comfortable getting him up and moving around. It's been 4 days and holy cow, what an improvement!

We've been going on more frequent short walks, and saying hi to other friendly dogs. We go in a loop around our block, and I have to jog to keep up with him. We've also been trying to get him up eating from his bowl, instead of lying in bed while I handfeed him. I'm proud to say he's eaten the last 5 meals standing up at his bowl! With the help of a little steak...

Yesterday was a big first as well. Atticus loves the dog park more than anything. He's actually a serial dog park humper, so usually we leave the park in shame. It's earlier than I am comfortable with to go back there, but we have to get his spirits up if he's going to be well enough for chemo. So we went. He had a blast, and in the few minutes we were there, I saw the old Atticus again. We left after about 5 minutes, because I didn't want to overdo it. And he got the same look in his eye he use to get before he started humping, and I didn't want be the person there with a three-legged humper. As we walked in the park, someone loudly said "That dog has three legs!" I had to control myself from congratulating them on being able to count.

Today I came home from teaching a class and for the first time, he greeted me at the door! Then I drug his bed out to the driveway in the sun while I put up Halloween decorations. He loves lounging in the sun, but saw a neighbor's cat and was about to take off and chase it, so he lost driveway privileges for a while.

So overall, things are looking up a bit. I'm choosing not to dwell on the crappy prognosis, and take it one day at a time. I am celebrating every step he takes back to normalcy, and enjoying every good moment. Coming up soon- we may start chemo next week, and on November 6th he has his first appointment for physical therapy with a certified Rehab vet. 

Thanks everyone for the lovely kind words. I’ve gotten such comfort from this website and forum during some of the hardest weeks of my life.

Grief is a funny thing. I lost my dad somewhat unexpectedly this year. Up until I found out Atticus’ diagnosis, that grief for my dad was all-consuming. Out of the three family members that were the closest to me, my dad and Atticus are in the top three. Since I found out about Atticus’ cancer, I just haven’t had room in my heart for grief about Dad. It’s all for Atticus now. I guess I can look at the bright side of that, right? No more tears about Dad.

Last night I had a dream that Atticus fell down this deep wide hole in the ground. I couldn’t see the bottom, but I could see that it was deep enough that he couldn’t survive it. It’s easy to tell what my subconscious was thinking there. Regardless, I’m trying to hard to live in the now and enjoy this time. We are trying every weekend to do something fun. Last weekend was the beach, the weekend before was wine-tasting. Next weekend I’m thinking Home Depot. The last time we took Atticus to Home Depot was 3 years ago, and he peed on a wreath and we had to hustle out. This time he can pee on whatever we wants and I’ll just buy it.

Atticus is such a trailblazer to me. He redefined the word survivor, and how I think of osteosarcoma. When I got his initial diagnosis, my experience with osteosarcoma was that finding it meant very swift euthanasia. I am so happy that we were able to give a second chance to live pain free. In hindsight, he’s had pain signals present for a while, but tonight, sleeping at my feet tonight there’s none. 

Thanks again for comforting me during those dark three weeks, when I thought I made the wrong choice and I didn’t think it would get better. Since Atticus and I were brave and strong and made it through the surgery, I will be wrapping up this thread and starting a new one to talk about the new chemo journey. 

One more picture from this week- Atticus in go-mode while I’m trying to enjoy scenic viewpoint at a state park beach.