Hi! I came across this site/forum after researching my dog’s diagnosis and I’m so glad I did. I haven’t had a chance to read through everything yet but I definitely will. I thought I’d reach out to introduce my pup and get some advice/guidance.

My dog Molly has had a whirlwind of the past 2-3 months. She’s 7 years old and is a Greyhound/Foxhound/Terrier mix. Basically looks like a brown Dalmatian. We first noticed a growth on her front left leg, her being a big slower than usual to get up, and having an occasional limp. She was due for her yearly exam in a couple weeks so we decided it could wait. We made it to her appointment and the vet thought it was a lipoma. It didn’t seem like that to us but just to be sure the vet did an FNA. It came back not as a lipoma but otherwise inconclusive so we went back in for removal. Since there wasn’t a huge surface area to work with (without cutting into muscle) the vet wasn’t able to get great margins. She sent off what she got and the biopsy came back as a soft tissue sarcoma. Low grade. We wanted to be super proactive and do what we could to make sure it was fully removed and if possible to prevent it from ever coming back.

Molly went to an oncologist on Nov. 28 to get a CT scan to make sure all of the soft tissue sarcoma had been removed and to see if it had spread elsewhere. Our results were not at all what we expected. The soft tissue sarcoma became a non issue when the CT revealed osteosarcoma in her right shoulder. Thankfully her lungs and heart still looked good. I’m sure we’ve all heard the prognosis stats and they’re not good. We didn’t have many options to deal with this. Since Molly is only 7, and otherwise healthy and full of life, we decided to take the approach that would give her and us the most time. We had a phone consult with a surgeon Dec. 5 and found out she was a good candidate for surgery (we had concerns about her soft tissue sarcoma on the other leg, and her hip dysplasia). The very next day they did the surgery. When I tell you this moved fast I wasn’t kidding. She spent a couple days in the hospital and came home this past Thursday (Dec. 8). We are to give her gabapentin 300mg every 8-12 hours, and one galliprant daily (she had already been on galliprant for hip dysplasia).

Seeing her like this has been heartbreaking. Making us question if we made the right decision or not. And wondering if she’ll ever get the hang of being on three legs. She’s always been a super mellow/lazy dog and we feel like the gabapentin is intensifying this so we’re trying to stretch it out as long as possible while still paying attention to signs she might be in pain. She mostly just lays around all day. At times we have to MAKE go outside—not in a mean way, but in a “you haven’t moved in 6 hours let’s get some fresh air” way. We were sent home with two harnesses on her (front and back) which we use to help lift her. She’s not doing much on her own though. Is this normal? She’s a bigger dog—60 lbs currently but should be closer to 50–so I feel like we should let her rest and recover for a bit. But we want to make sure we’re not being helicopter parents and babying her which could be detrimental to her figuring out life on three legs.

We have an appointment with a more holistic vet tomorrow. He offers rehab like underwater treadmill and acupuncture and he also focuses a lot on nutrition too. This is not taking the place of our oncologist, but we’re trying everything to help our girl. I guess my main questions for this group are: is this recovery “normal”? Is it ok that she’s sleeping most of the day or should we adjust her meds so she’s more alert and able to figure out this new life? Should we let her do more on her own, or especially while her wounds heal keep an eye on her so she doesn’t fall? Does anyone have some feel good stories about their pet beating osteosarcoma and living a long life after diagnosis? Any other advice/info/guidance/well wishes would be appreciated too!