Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
Callie is 5 months post op and has been doing great so far after having a rear leg amputated for OSA. A few struggles to get up every now and then, but overall an easy recovery. Over the past two days, I've noticed her hacking a few times a day like she is trying to get something up, but nothing does. Is this what "the cough" is like? She has not had any xrays done since the amputation and everything was clear then. Of couse, I did the research and know that in most cases the cancer has spread by that point and may be to small to be seen. I am so concerned/paranoid that this hacking she is doing is "the cough" and the cancer is in the lungs now. I am almost scared to take her to the vet because I don't want to get bad news!! She still acts fine and is eating normally and I haven't noticed any labored breathing...just this hacking a few times a day.
Please share your experiences of when and how the cough started and what it sounds like. How long afterwards did the dog live happily, without any kind of chemo, etc.?
🙂 Is Callie Cadence in another body? We have been going through this exact same thing as well. She had one coughing episode for a few days in early November. We freaked out, had the X-ray done and there was nothing, clean as a whistle! This was right before her last dose of chemo. She started again just a week or so ago and again it went on for several days, I called the vet and made the appointment sure that there must be some lung mets brewing and causing minor irritation in the lungs. A couple of days before this recent appointment she stopped hacking completely.
Paranoid is my middle name now. If I did an X-ray everytime Cadence has hacked she would be glowing from all the radiation.
To help myself feel better I went online and did research about coughing and lung mets and found this in an article on Bone Cancer Dogs:
Coughing
If lung mets are close to the main bronchial tubes, they can cause irritation which can cause a cough. Likewise if they are near nerves or the diaphragm they can cause irritation and a cough. There are other reasons for a cough – reflux of acid from the stomach can do it, like heartburn. Reverse sneeze can sound like a cough, and sometimes mild forms of laryngeal paralysis can cause a cough, usually after eating or drinking. Suppressing the cough may help with symptoms.
I also went through this site and found this thread: http://tripawds.....lung-mets/
I am not sure where you are from, but keep in mind it is winter and that time can be very drying for pets...for anyone actually. We made the air more moist in our bedroom where she sleeps and also turned the heat down and that is what seems made the coughing stop. Also, you are not doing chemo either right? Or are you? Sometimes that "hacking/coughing" can actually be dry heaving from nausea due to the drugs. Here is another article I found online with the reasons that dogs may cough. Hope this helps. Finally I would say call your vet and perhaps do the X-ray for peace of mind. That can be priceless!
Cadence Faye: Born 10/30/04, stepped into our hearts 12/23/2004. Rear leg tumor found 7/24/11 by mom and dad, Xray on 7/25/11, Osteosarcoma suspected 7/26/11, amputation 7/29/11, Carboplatin started 8/23. Met free so far!
We have a different kind of cancer -- one that isn't known to spread to the lungs, so when Rio developed an on-again/off-again hack, I was kinda worried. I finally got nervous enough to take her to have her lungs x-rayed, and she didn't have any mets. What she did have was inflammation in her bronchial tubes. More of a chronic asthma/bronchitis kind of thing -- probably due to either her radiation therapy 4 years ago, or maybe a long term side effect from her chemo. Normally they give the dogs Prednisone to get rid of the inflammation, however Rio can't take Pred because of her Cushings, and so we've just chosen to live with the cough.
 |
~ ~ Rio ~ ~ |
Hi Callie & Family.
It's always great to hear about others experiences with this experience, it's comforting to know you're not alone or the only one who's been through it.
"The cough" can be any number of things, like allergies. Unfortunately when you're coping with osteosarcoma, there's a greater chance that it can be lung mets. There are no hard and fast rules about when the cough develops (and not all dogs get it), since lung mets appear at different times in different dogs. For me, it was nearly two years after my diagnosis before I showed metastasis symptoms like that.
When I was diagnosed, my pawrents made a choice not to have follow-up x-rays taken. Some people will, some won't. For us, we decided that ignorance was bliss and until I showed signs that I wasn't feeling well, we would live life one day at a time, as worry free as possible. Then, by chance, we were at the vet, and decided to take x-rays. Here are two posts that document our experience. I hope they can help you decide whether or not to proceed with x-rays:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
We know Abby has 3 mets - the most recent one we saw in her latest xray in Oct. It was up sort of near her bronchial tubes. She coughs off and on. Not frequently at all - and usually only if she gets overly excited (like someone rings the doorbell - but not all the time). I'm assuming it's "The Cough". It does sort of sound like she's trying to hack something up.
But she's been going a good long while w/ lung mets. Hopefully in Callie's case it is something else, but even if she has lung mets she could still have some good time left.
We will send pawsitive thoughts your way that it is nothing serious!!
Hang in there,
Jackie, Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
Thanks for your replies. Callie has not done any type of chemo and we have no plans to. As much as we love her and want her around for as long as possible, we decided to do amputation only due to financial reasons. I hope the cough I've been hearing is something other than lung mets. We'll give her a few more days to see how it goes and then decide whether or not to get xrays taken to know for sure. I actually haven't heard her cough anymore all afternoon, so that makes me feel a little better! I just want to know that she is not in any kind of pain or anything. Thanks again for your replies and information...it helps to put me at ease a little!
1 Guest(s)
