Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Riley had surgery to remove his front right leg last Thursday due to bone cancer. He is doing amazingly well in his recovery.
Yesterday, we went to the vet for his first injections as part of his ELIAS immunotherapy. I thought it would be like a vaccine, 1 shot and done.
Unfortunately, it was more complicated but Riley did great. The vet had to do a series of small injections in 4 different lymph nodes.
It took about 90 mins, but she told me afterward Riley didn't give her an ounce of a problem. She said next time it should be faster as this was her first time doing this procedure and she wanted to triple-check everything before proceeding.
When we got to the vet I took him out of the car and he started hopping towards the door. My wife could barely keep up - lol!
The surgeon who did the surgery popped in and was blown away at how well he was moving around.
After a month of tough decisions and emotional upheaval, it is nice to celebrate that he is doing well.
He has 2 more injections like yesterday over the next 2 weeks and then we have our first long road trip to continue the immunotherapy.
I will say this process is not for the faint of heart. The only people happy right now are the people at Discover! (my credit card)
This community has been amazing and I will try to update as often as possible.
YAY RILEY! You are such a good boy.
Thanks for letting us know what to expect with the ELIAS procedure, that is really good info to help others prepare. Do all of the other injections poke all 4 lymph nodes again? Just curious.
Yeah totally get it about the expense, this procedure is not inexpensive. It is such an incredible gift to Riley to be able to do it, there's such good results coming out of this new treatment.
You are an amazing dog parent. Riley is so lucky to have you. Keep us posted!
Thanks, Jerry. As far as I understand the next 2 visits will be like the previous visit. Injections into the lymph nodes. After he gets the apheresis twice he takes a series of injections, but those sound like they are simple injections. The vet said we could even do those at home.
Yesterday was the first day after Riley's first series of immunotherapy injections on Tuesday. It was a very long and big day for him. He was pretty tired yesterday. The vet said he probably would be as the immunotherapy would make him feel like we do after a vaccination shot.
This morning he has a little bit more energy which is good. He did lay on his amputation side for the first time today while taking a nap. That was really good to see.
This afternoon I took him out and he laid in the grass soaking up some sun which he was happy about. It's still chilly here in Michigan, but he liked the sun.
I will keep the updates coming as I can.
Awww....sweet Rile. I'm sure the long day and poking and prodding really did wipe him out.
YAY for laying on the amp side!! That's a good sign the incision isn't sore.
Glad he got to enjoy some time in the Sun and just relax. Very healing on so many levels.
Thanks for the update. Sounds like he's doing really well and jist needs some recovery time after each visit/injection. Give that sweet boy a smooch for us🥰
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!
Ohhh good to know he tolerated the injections. I know exactly what your vet meant by something like that being so tiring. I got a flu and Covid vaccine at once and it did me in for a couple days. Glad the sunshine helped him recover.
So happy things are on track for you two!
GO RILEY! I wonder if the 'simple injections' you mentioned are subcutaneous injections? Those are very simple to give once you get used to it. When I had goats I gave them most of their vaccinations that way.
It's amazing what sunshine does for ones spirits (animals and humans a like). Ellie is sunbathing as we speak as well!
That's so cool he's already laying on his incision side, so glad to hear he's doing well.
look forward to updates!
Riley Update 4/12/23 - Injections #2
Riley is doing very well. Yesterday, he had his 2nd round of Elias Immunotherapy injections and the vet said he did very well. She said his lymph nodes were swollen which meant the body was responding the way it should from the shots so that was some good news.
She was also pleased with this progress after surgery. He's moving around very well and his stitches look good and will be coming out soon.
He's still working on getting better at stairs but is doing well.
Off our back deck, there are 2 stairs and he was struggling a bit so my Dad and I built a ramp for him so he could use it when he wants. So far, I've been the only one to use it as Riley watches me and then struggles up the stairs. - lol
I made it nice and wide and sturdy which I hope will make him more comfortable with it.
Any tips on getting him to use it on his own would be great!
He did get himself pretty worked up during his appointment because he saw other dogs. Even after giving him trazodone pre-visit.
When we got home he raced in the door, drank a bunch of water, then turned and threw up all over the rug. I'm talking about EVERYTHING he ate that morning.
No worries cleaned it up and broke out the steam cleaner. We just took it in stride.
After that, he settled down and the trazodone kicked in and he slept hard for about 5 hours.
He's doing as well as could be expected.
Just taking every day he's here as a blessing.
Thanks for the support as always!
Handling dog potty accidents I can deal with. Throw up, nope, gag the whole time!
Does your ramp jave rails? Dogs aren't very good a depth perception, so without the rails Riley might feel like one wrong move and he's jumping off a cliff.
Glad everything is going well and the Vet is pleased. We're all cheering for sweet Riley!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
Well take THAT cancer! POW!
I'm so glad his body is working hard to fight this disease. YAY!
Any tips on getting him to use it on his own would be great!
Absolutely!
Three Tripawd Tips for Pet Steps and Ramp Training Success
Poor buddy, sorry for the barf explosion. I hope his belly is feeling better by now. You are taking things in stride so well! Your pawsitivity is great medicine
Hi All,
I'm new to the Tripawds community and this post re: Riley's vaccine treatment caught my eye. My youngest golden, Nora (i.e., "Nora the Explorer"), age 2.5 years, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma recently and completed her front-leg amputation surgery on August 10. We have been presented with the option of chemotherapy (standard, current protocol) and the option of using a vaccine which would be made by Torigen pharmaceuticals. For those that are using or have used the ELIAS immunotherapy, were you made aware of Torigen or did you receive any comparison information (ELIAS vs. Torigen)? I'm wondering if the ELIAS treatment is more established than the Torigen or if they are both still in the early stages (i.e., no efficacy data for Torigen). I'm also curious about the use of a vaccine like this with or without chemo. Are the vaccines/immunotherapy and chemo done together or is one in lieu of the other? Of course, I have these same questions out to my veterinary surgeon and oncologist, but curious about the Tripawds community's experience with this - have you heard of using both treatments? It seems counter-intuitive to use both if they are designed to impact the immune system in different ways, but I'm still learning. If it's one or the other, will be a very tough decision. There is a lot more data about the chemo route, although the vaccine may offer a stronger outcome (i.e., Nora's surgeon offered that one dog treated with Torigen was doing quite well 18 months following diagnosis - compared to a median 11 months for chemo route). I did watch the 2021 podcast Tripawds hosted with Torigen and was able to obtain some initial information there (thank you!), just curious if the community has any more recent personal stories to share re: this topic.
The post-op process has been smooth overall. We have managed pain and diet very well since surgery. We live in Florida, so the heat and rain is always extra when taking potty breaks with Nora. I lucked out, as my tee shirts fit Nora perfectly, so she wears them to go outside to protect from water/dirt. While we have a one-story, we are elevated so a few stairs min for every entry into the house. My husband has been carrying Nora down the stairs and then she walks once on level ground. Even though she seems stable walking for the most part, I'm still very nervous about navigating stairs, or her running/jumping, and causing additional injury. As I understand, Nora is now carrying 70% of her body weight on her one front leg (and she's 90 lbs!). Will take it slow (should be no problem with two young golden retrievers, lol!). Nora's older brother, Winston (3.5 yrs) is adjusting - he's learned her limitations and we are finding a rhythm in balancing attention between the two of them. At one point, Winston was so jealous of Nora's attention he licked the fur off his left paw and then presented it to us as to say, "ok, my paw is hurt now too, so can I get special attention?". Very important to balance so one issue doesn't lead to another.
As a side note, Nora's new harness arrived today. I ordered the Flagline harness by Ruffwear through the Tripawds website. We are very excited to use it and will share how it goes.
Thank you for reading and sharing.
Stay gold,
Jessie
Hi Jessie, thanks for posting and sharing Nora's story. Your future posts won't need to wait for approval so post away. Can I offer a suggestion so you can get more help? Your questions will be better answered if you can start a new topic all your own.
Maybe call it "Questions about vaccines/immunotherapy and chemo" or something to that effect? This is the right Forum to start a new topic so you are in the right place, we just don't want Nora's story to get mixed up with Riley's if that's OK by you.
You can start a new topic by going here and choosing the "Add Topic" button to the right of the forum. Thanks! And I'm super glad Nora is doing so well with recovery! She's really showing Winston (and everyone) what she's made of!
Riley - 6 Month Update (Late Sept 2023)
Riley is doing amazing! He just had his first lung scan after his surgery and immunotherapy 6 months ago and the scan came back cancer-free. No signs in his lungs or spine so that's a very good sign.
His vet is in amazement. He said he's never treated a dog with bone cancer who has lived more than a couple of months and is a believer in the ELIAS treatment plan. His hope, like mine, is that the cost will start to come down so it can help more people.
I enjoy every moment I get to spend with Riley and have yet to walk past him without a kiss on his snout and a "What's up my dude!"
I'm hopeful that he will continue to break barriers and kick cancer's butt!
Thanks again to the people on this forum and the people behind it. I couldn't have gotten through this without your love and support.
If anyone has questions about ELIAS and the immunotherapy they offer please send me a message and I will provide as much help as I can.
Thanks again
Riley's Dad
WOOOHOOOOOO!!!! Oh my gosh Riley is one super hero dawg! YEAH!
Thank you for coming back to let us know how things are going. I wish I could give him a snout smooch in person, it's so incredible that his thriving and getting on with things he loves most in this world. It's what we all hope for, and when it happens to one community member, all of us feel the hope and joy. The advances in cancer therapy are just mind blowing.
Give that boy some extra kisses and belly scratches from us
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