Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello Everyone,
My greyhound Molly is 7 years old, will be 8 years old in August. She has been limping on and off, went to vet first time, they thought it was nerve related and prescribed pain meds (gabapentin/rimadyl). She responded to medication at first, but then that stopped and her limp became even more dramatic. I took her back to the vet last Thursday, and the X-ray indicated osteosarcoma. Her lung X-ray showed no visible cancer signs in the lungs yet. I've decided not to biopsy due to the risks involved (if they amputate, the leg will be biopsied after).
My vet offered amputation, amputation/chemotherapy, and palliative care as options. The affected leg that would be amputated is her right front limb. My initial reaction was to just do pain management , but Molly is in good shape otherwise (weight, etc.), and the vet said her bloodwork is "fantastic". She thinks she would be a good candidate for amputation and chemo. I also live in a ground floor apartment so Molly would not have to navigate steps at home as a Tripawd. I also have pet insurance that should cover 80% of the cost, so financially, I think it would be doable. My vet put me on the calendar for Molly to have the amputation on July 12, just to get her a spot on the schedule, with the understanding I could change my mind, but I'm supposed to let them know by next Wednesday if I want to keep it.
I'm still struggling with making this decision and decided to post to get some advice. The site has been very helpful so far hearing everyone's stories. One thing I think about, and she hasn't always been this way, but lately Molly hates the vet. The minute she goes through the door she's trying to find a way out. So I struggle with putting her through the surgery and the chemo after. But if we get through that, she might have a chance to add many more months to her life, though there's also the possibility the cancer will show up again in a few months. It's a bit of a roulette game, which is part of the struggle in making this decision.
I also live alone. I'm a 5'4 female and my upper body strength is not great, so I worry about if I could give Molly the proper care as a Tripawd dog (my mom is able to stay with me a few weeks after surgery so I will have help then, my worries are more for the longer term after that, however long that may be). I'm not able to carry Molly by myself (I can lift her if she is mobile with a harness). If something happens to her remaining front limb, I'm not sure how I would get her in the car to the vet, and I don't want her to suffer because of my poor decision to put her in that position. I'm wondering if anyone else has been able to successfully care for their Tripawd as a single person living alone?
Hello Deanna and Molly,
Nice to meet you but certainly wish it had been under different circumstances. welcome. I'm so sorry you are facing this situation, we are here to help however we can. Your future posts won't need approval. So feel free to ask questions as needed.
I am a disabled single owner of a tripawd, but mine is a cat. And as such, I can not comment on the physical strength requirements. But I do know from what I have seen on here that usually in a few days to weeks most dogs are able to get around on their own. Often using harness for assistance when going up/down stairs, getting in and out of cars.
I do know we have had several members here with greyhounds and they have done well. I suspect your vet would not have mentioned surgery if he did not think Molly might gain extra pain free time after recovery.
Hopefully others will hop on and add info on their experiences soon. In the meanwhile, you might want to checkout some of the other forum sections and and Tripawds Recovery Shopping List , Jerry's Required Reading List , and our What to Expect articles to get a feel for post-amputation recovery. Our e-books library also has helpful information too.
Best Wishes
-Dawna, Tuxedo, Lilly and Angel Dazzle
Obviously i don’t know you or your dog’s particular situation in terms of health or strength, but my 9 year old, 130 lb, Saint Bernard, just had her right front leg amputated 72 hours ago. She’s already walking on her own and even climbed two steps on my patio in her own. Jae wagged her tail the entire time. I send a video if i knew how to do that here.
Bottom line is that i think that your dog would probably do wonderfully. Greyhounds are not nearly as big and are much better athletes than Saints are. Obviously. I say give him a chance. 🙂
I meant “her”… give her a chance.
i also meant to add that i tortured myself trying to make this decision for almost two weeks. So i get it. I think that everyone here on this site gets it. At the end of the day, we all have to make the best decision for our dog based on the knowledge that we have at the moment. So I’d also suggest reading as much as you can about how well dogs similar to Molly do after amputation. I would also read as much as possible about the available treatment options.
Hello and welcome to the club that no one really wants to join. My dog, Sassy was a 128 pound Rottweiler. My vet thought she would be a great candidate but worried somewhat about if she could support her weight. She proved everyone wrong and was an exceptional amputee. Woke up from surgery and wanted to hop home. She was a rear amputee.
Couple of things I saw and wanted to mention. Just because you do amputation does not mean you have to do chemo. There have been lots of dogs that just had amputation and no chemo and survived long. Chemo is a crap shoot anyway. You can be like us get 4 of the 5 treatments done and get lung mets (spread of the cancer to the lung). Sassy survived almost a year and 7 3/4 of those were with lung mets. You know your dog. The other thing is you can always stop chemo at any point.
The 2nd point you brought up pain management . Osteoscaroma is a very painful disease. It eats the bone from the inside out. If you choose not to do the amputation be aware that the bone will probably fracture. Very painful to your dog. We have had people choose this option as well. There is no judgement here. This is a decision you have to make. With amputation it takes the pain away it doesn't "cure" the cancer. Even with chemo it doesn't cure Osteoscaroma.
The plus side you have is that she is in great health, your vet thinks she will be a great candidate. She also doesn't have to navigate steps as going down is harder on a front amputee. Just need to watch and make sure that she doesn't injure the other one by jumping down out of a car. You have a plus going as well for having pet insurance.
Please post any other questions you may have
Michelle & Angels Sassy, Bosch, Baby Simba and Sweet Snickers.
Sassy is a proud member of the Winter Warriors. Live long, & strong Winter Warriors.
sassysugarbear.tripawds.com
07/26/2006 - Sassy earned her wings 08/20/2013
05/04/2006 - Bosch, Sassy's pal, earned his wings 03/29/19 fought cancer for 4 months.
"You aren't doing it TO her, you are doing it FOR her. Give her a chance at life."
As you can see from the responses from Dawna, Michael and !Michelle, YPU ARE NOT ALONE!!
My vet put me on the calendar for Molly to have the amputation on July 12, just to get her a spot on the schedule, with the understanding I could change my mind
FWIW, I actually scheduled my Happy Hannah's surgery....then cancelled it!! I was petrified!! This was before I found this great community. I joined this community and my first post was something like " Help! Day six after am and I fear I have made a HORRIBLE decision". Needless to say, this community tossed me a lifeline full of information and support and pulled me back to shore. Obviously I proceeded and never regretted the decision for extended pain free quality time for more loving and spoiling and tummy rubs.
Molly hates the vet. The minute she goes through the door she's trying to find a way out. So I struggle with putting her through the surgery and the chemo after.
Keep things chunked down for now. Gather all your research, make a decision about a path forward as far as amputation (or not). Ypu can make a decision on chemo later. As Mochelle said, there are NO guarantees one way or another when it comes to chemo. So just push that side for now and you can grapple with that later.
YAAAAAY for clear xrays and great bloodwork Wonderful news! And good validation that your Vet thinks Molly would be as good candidate to handle surgery and three like a champ!
I also am the only hooman in my household, live rurally and don't have any access to help when it comes to lifting, etc. I'm old as dirt and jave really bad knees. It's wonderful that uour Mom is staying a couple pf weeks to help. That is ample time to fet Molly past the recovery and onto being mobile. Yes, a harness will be unbelievably helpful if she needs assistance getting in the car. One thing you can do ahead of time is get a little "platform" of cinder blocks she can step up on that you can park your car next to. Make sense??
Greyhounds are such sweet dogs. Molly is very lucky pupper to have such a caring advocate on her side
Stay connected and let is know how we can help you further, okay?
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!
Hi Deanna and Molly, welcome. As you can see this community is filled with smart and caring people (great input everyone!). There is no judgement and whatever you decide to do we will support you in that choice.
There have been lots of solo moms here caring for giant breeds, and if you call the Helpline on Tuesday you can talk to @benny55 about her experience, or on Thursday and Friday Gayle answers, and she can tell you about how she helped her Grey Sessy through the recovery and afterward.
Try to take things one decision at a time right now. Don't get too far ahead of yourself, just deal with what's in front of you. Chemo is not mandatory and as you know, the results can be a toss-up. We see some dogs live way past the prognosis and they didn't get chemo, while others who got chemo didn't make it a few months. If Molly hates the vet, then it may not be the best choice for her anyways. You can talk to Ingrid about that experience with her Grey, Allen.
Hope this helps. Keep us posted on how things are going!
Thank you all for your responses! They have been tremendously helpful. I also spoke to Gayle on the hotline last week and she was so sweet in listening to all my concerns. I forgot to also mention that Molly has been using a ramp for the car now for a few years because I wanted to be more gentle on her joints. So that's another plus because she is already comfortable with it.
I've decided to go ahead with the surgery on July 12. They are going to biopsy the leg after amputation so I'll know what I'm dealing with after in terms of weighing pursuing chemo or not. Thank you all again!! I'll stay in touch.
Amputation with a heart murmur
Hi there- My 10 1/2 year old golden doodle Lily was diagnosed two months ago with a bone cyst in her left front radius that she had been limping on- My vet put her on medication and took a wait and see approach. After a few days, she seemed fine and was running and jumping again. Two days ago Lily tripped on a full sprint and fractured the ulna and radius in the same leg where the bone cyst was found. Without a biopsy the ortho said he thought it could be osteosarcoma and the chances the cyst being benign were quite small. Anyone else with this kind of diagnosis? It sounds like amputation may be the way to proceed. They will also ultra sound the chest/abdominal area to see if the cancer originated there. The problem is Lily also has a heart murmur - Any of you out there have a pup that has had heart and possible osteosarcoma issues? Thanks
Lori_2 said
Amputation with a heart murmurHi there- My 10 1/2 year old golden doodle Lily was diagnosed two months ago with a bone cyst in her left front radius that she had been limping on- My vet put her on medication and took a wait and see approach. After a few days, she seemed fine and was running and jumping again. Two days ago Lily tripped on a full sprint and fractured the ulna and radius in the same leg where the bone cyst was found. Without a biopsy the ortho said he thought it could be osteosarcoma and the chances the cyst being benign were quite small. Anyone else with this kind of diagnosis? It sounds like amputation may be the way to proceed. They will also ultra sound the chest/abdominal area to see if the cancer originated there. The problem is Lily also has a heart murmur - Any of you out there have a pup that has had heart and possible osteosarcoma issues? Thanks
Lori, hello and welcome. I'm so sorry you and Lily are dealing with this diagnosis, which is hard enough with the fracture happening. Yikes!
In order for us to help you, please start an all new topic here so that Lily's story isn't mixed in with Deanna's topic here. We can help you better that way and answer your questions. A new topic makes it easier for everyone to follow along too. So start one in our "Diagnosis" forum, I'll look for it and answer there OK? And from now on your posts won't need approval either.
Thank you.
Looks like you got a lot of great comments already, but just wanted to add my two cents in there!
My Mogli was 103 lbs before surgery and is now around 90. He was a front limb amputation. The only carrying I really had to do with him post op was in and out of the car after the initial stay and then for the follow up 2 weeks later. The vet office always had someone offering to help, but I am able to lift him on my own. The vet offices also have ramps to get them in and out usually. My husband actually ended up throwing out his back and having to have back surgery just a couple weeks after Mogli's amputation; so to not risk hurting my back lifting him, I went ahead and purchased a ramp to get in and out of the car.
As others have said, OSA is a extremely painful cancer for the dogs and removing the limb is the easiest way to remove the pain. Our vet also mentioned that even if we did pain management , there was a significant risk that he could severely injure himself due to the integrity of the bone being impacted. Mogli also had no signs of spreading and great bloodwork, so our surgeon was very optimistic! I was definitely hesitant, because I thought how I would feel if I all the sudden had to lose a limb; but I am telling you these dogs are SO resilient! Ultimately, we opted for amputation and 4 rounds of chemo. We are a few months post-op and Mogli is doing stairs and jumping in and out of the car (though, I try really hard to just get him to use the ramp, sometimes he is too quick!). Trust me, your little one will amaze you too!
More good feedback from Moglo's hooman.😎 And so glad Gayle helped you through the Helpline call. We love her dearly♥️
Okay, you've made the decision and one that will take away Molly's pain and give her extended quality time. Good job of assessing everything.
Will be sending lots of positive energy out to your sweet Molly on the 12th. Keep us informed and let us know if you have any questions between now and then, okay? We are here for you! You've got this!!!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too 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!
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