Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Rene, its even better than that! Dr. Kelly did a 6 year study, the pilot was done in Italy, and I expect she has more than 6 dogs in her study
Sally, thank you thank you thank you!! You are the hands down BEST cheering section EVER!!!! Sure wish I could thank you in person this weekend. I did just actually look up airfare, thinking there might be a cheap flight available but nothing doing--it is a holiday after all. Crying big tears
I cannot imagine what your going thru a STS on a already Tripawd!
Yes all that research does becomes a circle after awhile! You have narrowed it down and have a plan!
And Yes you have a back up plan if needed!
Our cat Purrkins Ray 😉 had a low grade 1 STS on his left front carpus.
We were given amputation or surgery that would leave dirty margins plus radiation as options.
We were given a neoplasm option thru our holistic vet
http://www.buck.....asene.html
This would need to be monitored closely with our Holistic Vet and Traditional Vet together.
We obviously chose amputation in the end for many reasons, as it was likely to be curative.
Even if you had a money tree in the back yard;) Travis Ray would not pick the radiation option.
If he stresses at the vet then it’s not a quality of life option! Being sedated every day & radiation & not to mention the cost. In our case they claimed surgery with radiation they could keep it at bay for 2 years and then we could still amputate later!
Put Purrkins thru all of that and put as you a lot of money into a leg we could cut off later?! Just Nuts !
Non of us have the money tree and if we did this journey is still the same journey, we all have the same crappy options with a crappy disease.
We can spend any amount and there is still no guarantees.
Its all a gamble! We make the best choice we can with all the information provided.
We pray and hope for the best!
I have not heard of the 5-FU. Sounds promising I too will be interested in hearing more about this.
I took pictures of Purrkins lump everyday for months!
You will know!!! Give yourself some credit! I don't know you and I know you will know if it changes! If you want to keep it shaved to watch do!! Why not!?!
Thank you for documenting this in such great detail! It will most certainly be a great help to others.
We wish Travis Ray the best and for this treatment to be his ticket! He will pave the future for STS!
Hang in there TravisRay Mom has a great plan for you! One time deal buddy and your free to be!
Hugs! Holly & Purrkins
You have a plan! I like plans. They work and they make sense and they help us cope! Travis Ray is going to be great. And there will be NO other issues for the O'town pack this year. None. Nada. There .. it is out there in the universe so it shall be truth!
I haven't heard of half this stuff but I am very impressed by your research skills and documentation for all of us here. You know we will be cheering you on every step of the way.
We will miss you this weekend ... even though I bought our tickets long, long, long ago... it was PRICEY! Holiday and coming from the best (west) coast and all that jazz. But we'll share lots of photos!!!
Hugs and love!
alison with spirit shelby in her heart (and little jasper too)
Shelby Lynne; Jack Russell/Shiba Inu mix. Proud member of the April Angels of 2014.
October 15, 2000 to April 8, 2014
Our story: Broke rear leg in June 2013 - non-conclusive results for cancer so leg was plated and pinned. Enlarged spleen in September 2013 and had it removed and was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma and started chemotherapy. Became a Tripawd January 8th, 2014 and definitive Hemangiosarcoma diagnosis. Three major surgeries in 7 months and Shelby took them all like a champ only to lose her battle to cancer in her brain. We had 8 amazing extra months together and no regrets. #shelbystrong #loveofmylife
Travis Ray! what the heck? These sorts of shenanigans are NOT appropriate, not in the least! Stupid piece of 
disease, that's all I can say.
I am blown away at the amount of research and information you've gathered, not to mention how interesting it all is.Travis Ray is one lucky pupster to have you guys looking out for him.
I don't have any information or ins with VSC here. My vet did a couple of consults with VSC about Isa but I never took her there for treatment. Not that I don't wonder if maybe I should have. I continue to second guess a fair amount of Isa's treatment. We did do some rehab at VSC but the wheels came of that bus relatively quickly. If I can help in any way here in Santa Fe, I'll be happy, thrilled even, to fetch, tote and/or nag as needed in support of the OP. Just let me know.
I'm glad you've got a plan. And it is too bad about your lack of money tree. I think everyone around here would be thrilled if we could get one to flourish.
Tons of pawsitive energy and happy thoughts for you and the great and powerful Travis Ray!
Hugs
Teri and angel Isa.
Right rear leg amp 7/12/16 due to OSA. Metastatic lesion on her right front leg, January 2017. Joined the Winter Warriors January 19, 2017. Run free my sweet girl.
Thanks again for the support and advice! Teri, once you are recovered from the BIG PAWTY I may take you up on harassing, um, encouraging The Vet Cancer Care clinic to give me some info. I have not heard anything back from them. I need to do a follow up phone call and maybe ask for a mini-phone consult. I am fine with paying for that. Purrkins Ray! I love it! You are now an official member of the Oaktown Pack! We need us a l'il tiger mascot! Alison, OMD, thanks but we already have the next OP issue ready to roll out. Smokey B has a really ugly pink lump sticking out of his lip (well, dogs don't really have lips, do they?). He is turning into one of those old lumpy lipoma ridden, skin taggy kinda dogs but this one just bugs me. So I think a vet visit is in the offing for Mr. B.
Travis went for his first 5-FU treatment yesterday and all seemed to go well. He came home and ate and pooped and crashed for the rest of the night. This morning though his leg and paw below the bandage were so swollen he could hardly walk! Freak out!!!! I thought maybe the bandage was too tight but Ralph didn't think so and we were both really worried so he loaded TR into the car and took him back to UC Davis. Turns out .... they were confident that the bandage was too tight! They said they had done a loose bandage yesterday and it fell off so they wrapped it tighter. So they re-wrapped it looser and he came home. The swelling has not gone down at all and we were supposed to keep it on until 5 today (not sure why) but we just took it off because he seems pretty uncomfortable. It STILL seemed pretty tight. They said to use warm compresses to help with the swelling but he won't let me. He has zero tolerance for that kind of thing. Otherwise he is doing well, poop was a little off this morning but not too bad. Coulda just been from all the stress yesterday.
It looks waaaay worse in person, his right paw is 1" larger across than the left! Poor bubba!
So know we know what the drill is, its not gonna be as easy as I thought! Of course ... silly me. I sure hope we can avoid the swelling next week. Basically Travis will be in a cone for the next 7 weeks. We have to put silver sulfadiazine on the site every day and I guess it is pretty toxic if they ingest it (need to look it up, not sure why we are using it). The little details they don't mention and you don't think to ask about strike again. I knew it would be bandaged for a period of time after each treatment but thats all. Oh well, could be lots worse. And hopefully it will be well worth it.
Hopefully all will be normal by tomorrow and maybe he can go for a little walk in the park with me, we have not been in a month!
wow, I don't know how I missed this first post because I was looking for it. I am sorry to hear about this crappy thing of STS. I think University of Chicago might have done a study on this drug too if I remember right (but not sure because its been about 4 years ago I was trying to get Sassy into a study on it).
I sure hope the swelling goes down on his foot. Continued prayers for all of you.
xoxoxox
Michelle & Angel Sassy
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."
Oh my good ess! What an ordeal!!
Yeah, the "little" things they don't tell yiu!
You are doing a great job of chronicling the details here and I KNOW this will help others in the future!
The photo certainly shows a swollen foot, that's for sure. Really hope the swelling goes down. Let us know, okay?
Seven weeks in a cone? Travis Ray....a cone...Seven weeks??? YIKES!!
Okay TR, this treatment IS going to work and you are avout to make history!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Love and 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!
OMC PurrkinsRay a l'il tiger mascot for the Oaktown pack! 👏🏻👏🏻🎉
We are beyond Honored! Love it!!
If its wawwwy worse in person OMC Freak out is understatement😬
It does not look good in the picture! I’m sorry TravisRay buddy ouch!
How can they tell its not a reaction? Hopefully it isn't and its better today & your off to the park!
Ditto Sally let us know
Hugs
Holly & Purrkins Ray li’l tiger mascot😽
Awww poor guy! I can totally see his foot is swollen. How is it today? Did it go down?
Seven weeks in a cone is a lonnnnnnnng time. Which cone are you using? Oh my dog the other members of the Oaktown Pack are gonna pick on him!
What do you know, we have a Tripawds Gear blog post about silver sulfadiazine. I'm not sure about why he shouldn't lick it, let us know what you find out OK?
Sorry, I know there's a lot of questions here! We're all so curious how this is going for Travis and it's a learning experience for us. Thanks so much for sharing.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Yay! Travis' lower leg and paw were almost normal today Swelling begone! I wish he would tolerate a warm compress or ice as that would help. We'll just be patient, not my strong suit. We did both get out on walks today, just not together. But he was running around the house this am like everything was back to normal, so we'll take that!
I now have a call in to Dr. Kelly's clinic so we'll see if they call me back. If not I will try again Monday.
Michelle, you were too busy partying and vacating! Bless your ❤️! I tried a number of searches for U of C and 5-FU and didnt come up with anything except in humans so maybe they have not published yet. Studies are often carried out at multiple locations so I wonder if this is actually the same study as Dr. Kelly's. I did not remember that you were considering 5-FU for Sassy! And thanks for the prayers!
Yeah, Sally seven whole weeks in a cone make for an unhappy pup, especially when his ears are as big as TR's! When he wears a cone it makes the tips of his ears fold over! Lucky for him we have the Jorgensen Labs soft e-collar and it is working well as he can not reach the surgery site. He can get to his lower leg though so when we leave him alone we'll use the traditional e-collar, but that wont be often since we hardly ever both go anywhere at once.
Holly, I am not sure they can say for sure the swelling is not a reaction--but his leg was definitely wrapped too tight and I would imagine that after being assaulted with nasty chemicals the body might naturally produce some serum or other extra fluid that would pool in the lower leg. Might be totally off base but it makes sense to me. This is definitely one the questions I want to ask Dr. Kelly. The OP is thrilled that Purrkins has deigned to join them! We know most cats think dawgs are totally beneath them so THEY feel pretty special 😻 Wow! I didn't know Purrkins has his very own emoji 🐈!!
Rene, thanks for the link, makes sense now since the chemo can cause what amount to chemical burns. I think they are more worried about residual chemo on his leg and him licking that rather than the silver sulfadiazine. I better go look at the discharge instructions, maybe they say why.
I'll post a photo of what the surgery site looks like after the chemo when I get back to my computer.
More soon,
❤️❤️❤️
Martha, Travis Ray and the OP
Thrilled to hear the swelling is down and Travis Ray is back to running around high on his wonderful life. Will be sending prayers everyday for that magnificent boy. Bet he's got the cutest pouty face having to wear "the cone". Remember boy this is your time to "milk it for all its worth". Pouty face = treats my man!
7 weeks! That's inhumane. Yes, definitely calls for steaks every day.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Yaaaay the swelling is down thats a huge relief!
Whatever the cause the wrap or treatment we are hoping its not a do over!
I’ll be interested in what they say.
Travis is back to playing & you both got to get out for a walk!
I would say thats a great day! Hope you ankle faired well!
Actually Purrkins quivers around the few dogs he has seen.
He would bow to the pack or run and hide LOL
Do you still want him in the pack.LOL
Oh yes we have many emoticons 😸& a couple tweaked to be more Purrkins😉
Whew! What a relief to know his paw is getting back to normal. I wish there was some way for us to tell when a vet wrap is too tight, before something like this happens (we see it ALL the time here).
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Glad to hear Travis' foot is going down. I know whe my vet uses the vet wrap and sent me home with some he said he unwraps a bunch and stretches it and rolls it back up then puts it on the leg. I would assume ( and I know never assume) that most vets would do it the same way maybe they didn't stretch it enough or it was a student who put it on?
Either way I am glad no serious damage was done.
Hugs to Travis
xoxoxoxox
Michelle & Angel Sassy
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."
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