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
Hello Halliesgmom & family
This is such a difficult decision! I know for our Lylee girl that we really tried to decide what was best for her. I know that she is very attached to us, (as we are to them and all our pups are to us!) and so this was a big part in the deciding factor to do chemo, to hopefully give her as much quality time as possible. (I say this as I am really into holistic therapies and chemo is the opposite to these). We knew we could stop at any time if we didn't like the side effects on her. The dosage is reduced for dogs compared to what humans are given.
But we were very fortunate to have insurance coverage - we got it after she broke her leg the year before and found out how huge vet bills can be! If we didn't have insurance I'm not sure what we would have done.
As I just posted today she has just finished her 6 rounds of Carboplatin and did really well with minimal side effects. Her lung xrays were good.
We also are doing multiple holistic supplements and an almost grain free diet.
Cancer is just such a difficult disease to treat. As so many already have said, whatever your decision, you are doing it out of love and with such care that it will be the right one.
Send huggs and good thoughts!
Lylee and her mum, Joanne
http://lyleegir.....ipawds.com
Thank you all again for your comments today. Not able to check the postings until the evening, but certainly appreciate your support. I do get the impression that the specialists Hallie is seeing are really pushing for the chemo, and that not a lot has been said about the financial aspect except for introducing my daughter to Care Credit, which makes me really nervous. I just do not feel that this is the right thing to do, and would love for my daughter to be able to accept that there is no quarantee and to make the best out of the time that is left. There seems to be more to consider than just the chemo too. I understand that there will be scans or tests done from time to time to check for progression. There are alternatives, as many of you had shared. She just has it in her mind that if she doesn't do chemo, she is not doing everything she can. As you all can see, we are having different feelings on this. I will certainly support her with whatever she decides!
She needs to make this decision very soon, and Hallie has had several days of seeming entirely exhausted in the evenings. She is a rear amputee and I'm thinking maybe she is just feeling sore from the strain of using that leg too much.
I am sharing all of your thoughts with my daughter, and she appreciates your help too.
Thanks again for everything!
Carol
I opted to not do chemo for Gus. I guess my biggest fear was side effects, he was such a free spirit I couldn't stand to see him lay around and not be himself if he would have any, finances were maybe a little part but quality of life was the main issue. Unfortunately he only lived 3 1/2 months after surgery, but they were great months, I would say only his last couple days were a little rough. Would I do it again the same way, not sure, Our vet felt we had gotten the cancer early and expected at least a year, we found lung mets at six weeks post which took us all by surprise, and the cancer must have been really aggressive, so not sure chemo would have helped, and as I said, I was going for quality, so if it would have taken alot of chemo just to keep him alive but maybe not have that great of life, wouldn't do it. It's a tough call, but while making your decision try to keep in mind once you make it don't second guess yourself, make it and move on. Some have tried chemo and stopped after a treatment or 2, mostly because of side effects, others have had great luck with it, so you really won't know what the reaction will be until you try it. Good luck, Paws Up, Spirit Gus and Dan
My buddy Gus had a left front amputation on April 7, 2010 and lived a great life until July 26,2010
As Dan said- once you make your decision you have to go forward knowing you are doing the right thing, and no matter what the outcome you made the best decision you could. We will never know what might have happened if we chose another path.
One thing I would suggest is that no matter what decision you make you write down your reasoning. That way if later doubts come up you can review your thinking and know you made the right decision.
All that being said- I have made decisions both ways on treating cancer. My pug Maggie lost a leg to mast cell cancer. After amputation I did do chemo. The main reason I think is that pre-amputation tests indicated that amputation would most likely be curative. Maybe they would recommend some very low dose chemo to be sure. But after amputation tests on the removed leg indicated that the cancer had already spread through the lymph system. She was given a couple of months without treatment, and 6 to 9 months with treatment. She actually survive almost 4 years, and did not pass from the mast cell cancer. She did, however, not have OSA, and mast cell acts very differently.
Later Maggie was diagnosed with oral melanoma. Weighing everything I chose not to do any treatment. She only lived 3 months after the second cancer diagnosis, but there were other health factors too. And this leads back to writing down your reasoning on your decision. Once in awhile the thought crosses my mind that maybe if I had been more aggressive with the melanoma Maggie might still be around. But once I go over my reasoning for not treating I am sure again that I did the right thing.
And on the tiredness- Maggie was a rear amp. Based on my experience and what I have read here it seems to take rear amps longer to build up strength and endurance. Dogs do take more of their weight on their front legs, but it took Maggie quite awhile to build back up to walking very far.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Thanks Karen. That's is such a good idea, to write down why we make the decision that we choose. I can see how we may be second guessing no matter which method we choose.
Hi Halliesgmom & family - as you can see from all the posts, none of us have answers, but collectively we have a big story to tell. I think the "what ifs" have crossed through all of our minds at one point or another. My Sam did 6 rounds of chemo followed by metronomic for a short time. He didn't tolerate chemo real well, but aside from the first round, we managed ok. We found the lung mets shortly after his last round of chemo - and he had a lot of them. While I have questioned myself whether or not putting him through chemo was fair (the question likely only is floating around because it didn't work) - when I stop myself, I also need to think that maybe it did work - maybe the cancer is so aggressive that it did slow it down and otherwise we would have already lost our battle. Point is, I'll never know. What I do know is that even though Sammy struggled a bit with chemo....he is happy to be with us today and I'm sure he trusts our decisions. He swims, he digs and he runs in the park. I don't feel badly for opting for chemo, it's what we thought was the right thing to do....same as everyone that opted not to use chemo. We can only do our best....you'll never be wrong for doing what you feel is right for Hallie. Good luck...all the decisions are difficult. All our hugs and kisses. Sue and Sammy
halliesgmom said:
That's is such a good idea, to write down why we make the decision that we choose...
This is exactly why we created the Tripawds Blogs and have a wide selection of health care journals in the Tripawds Gift Shop
. 
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Carol and family! We decided to do Chemo (Carboplatin) for Cadence. She is almost 7 (will be on October 30th) and was diagnosed with OSA back in July of this year. But we have also done some holistic stuff for her as well, such as a grain free , high protein diet and supplements. We will start K9 Immunity but not until after chemo because some oncologist think that the antioxidants in this supplement would make chemo less effective. She is handling the chemo really good. The only thing that happens is she tends to lose her appetite the first day or so after, but bounces back and eats like normal. We just passed chemo #4 and we have two more to go. I remember the first time I took her to chemo, I cried, because I felt like I was poisoning my dog with these drugs and and also because of the fear of not knowing how she would react. Imagine my surprise though, here on chemo #4 with only that one side effect. We get her blood checked as well as other stuff regularly and all her counts have been normal every time. We have been very lucky. Her amputation went very smoothly (we did that right away) and her recovery, and then we started her chemo two or 3 weeks after the amputation. It is true that chemo can sometimes extend the life of a dog who has cancer, but it's still a personal AND financial decision. No one likes to talk about that part and that can be very stressful but that plays a part in it and is something you should take into consideration. We have no pet insurance. They offered us care credit too but we refused it. It is definitely not something we were prepared for, but we wanted to give her as much a chance as we could and not wanting to say "what if". Even so, if she started reacting bad to the chemo and was miserable I would not hesitate to take her off of it. It is a difficult decision. Our thoughts are with you. Do your home work and see what else is out there too. Look at all the options. I was overwhelmed by the amount of information out there. Don't feel pressured either by your vet. The quality of life is still most important and you are her guardian and know what is best.
Cadence's Mom
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!
1 Guest(s)
