Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I am wondering how to know if the Osteosarcoma is progressing to the lungs.
My dog Remy is 6 months post-op (amputation of the left front leg) and has been doing well. He did get a new cancer on his other right front leg but is was a different type cancer and it has been removed.
Remy is sleeping a lot and sometimes it sounds like his breathing is noisier than it was before. Is this a concern? He is 9 years old and has always been a rather lazy boy even though he is a Lab. I don't want to put him through x-rays if I don't have to.
Can you provide any information on signs of osteosarcoma progression?
Thanks,
Lynn
Glad to hear sweet Remy has been doing well. Being a tripawd fot six months for a mature guy does require extra nap time on the sofa😉
"Symptons" can vary. For example, some dogs develop a cough. Some don't. It is allergy season now and that can make for "noisy" breathing. You can always have the Vet just listen to Remy's chest to rule out any respiratory issues.
Xrays are an individual decision. In my Happy Hannah's case, I knew after her initial chemo treatment, I wouldn't do any "aggressive" treatments if mets appeared, so I opted out of doing xrays. Sooo, if you would pursue additional treatment, then one may proceed with xrays.
Would xrays change how you would proceed if there were mets, or not.
I'll add that, eventually I did do xrays simply because there were "palliative" care things that I did when mets became obvious. For example, Prednisone, Metronomics, Piroxicam, etc. Palladia is something we see used here too.
Happy Hannah dis become EXTREMELY tired, had a noticeable change in her breathing pattern (not noise, but in some noticeably shallow breathing).
Others will chime jn with their thoughts and experiences.
HAPPY SIX MONTH AMPUVERSARY REMEU!! GREAT JOB!! ICE CREAM AND CAKE FOR REMY!!
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!
Oh gosh the easiest thing you can do is to have your vet listen if you are worried. It's hard not to be hyper-vigilant and that's OK, you're a good human for being concerned.
We opted out of regular x-rays for Jerry until month 17, and before that we just had vets listen to his lungs on a couple of occasions. X-rays are useful if you plan on treating the metastasis with something other than palliative care, so that's one good reason to do them. But otherwise if you are OK with not doing them there's nothing wrong with that.
Typically if the mets are to the point where they are big enough to impact the body, you'll see lethargy and coughing first, as Sally mentioned. That's how it played out with our Jerry and that's how we've seen it happen with other osteosarcoma dogs through the years.
But there's a lot to be said for peace of mind so if you want to just stop by your vets for a quick listen, I'm sure that will help you feel better.
Give Remy a smooch from us and a big 3-paws up for the ampuversary!!!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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