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.
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My beautiful greyhound, Lily, was just diagnosed with osteosarcoma in Dec.2011. The vet feels that we caught it quickly-limping on Mon.-x-rays on Tues.-amputation on Fri. She started Carbo about three weeks later and has finished 5 doses. We are stopping there because she had pretty bad diarrhea and was so lethargic afterwards. I've spoken to Ohio State and Colorado State. They have been wonderful!! They both have different suggestions for after chemo. One recommends metronomic protocol right after chemo, and the other suggests waiting until lung mets appear (hopefully never!!). I am going to speak with my vet to get more information, but i would love some input from everyone. I have been reading these topics for 4 months, and I thought it was time to post. Thank heavens there is a place like this to go for help and support. I love my Lily so much. She is the most gentle, loving, sweet, and trusting angel that I have ever had. She came to us as a very shy greyhound, finally opened her heart to us, and I have always felt like her protector. I just want to protect her from this, and I can't -I can only try to make the best decisions for her. If anyone can share about when they started metronomic protocol or any other things that have helped, I would be so grateful. Thanks to all of you for being there
Our beautiful Lily was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her front leg on 12/14/11 at age 8 and had amp on 12/16/11. She completed 5 rounds of carbo. She was so brave and kicked cancer's butt daily! She lived life fully for 4 years, 3 months, and 15 days after her amp. My angel is a warrior princess. I miss her so much.
Hi Lil and family! My dog Max did six rounds of carbo. The last two treatments he was pretty lethargic and also had diarrhea. As the effects of chemo are cumulative, this wasn't a huge surprise to us. Max's lungs were still clear after chemo ended, but I wanted to be as proactive as possible, so we started the metronomic protocol. Once lung mets did appear (a few months later), we stopped at the advice of our oncologist. Keep in mind this was way back in 2009; there are a lot of different medicines out now that weren't available to us back then. Other members who have recently done MP will chime in here, I'm sure. Talk to your doctors, take good notes, and make an educated decision for Lily after going over all the facts. Whatever you do for Lily will be the right thing, because you made your decision out of love and with her best health foremost in your heart. Good luck to you and Lily, and let us know what you decide. She sounds like a very lovely girl. And one more thing: please post some pictures of your girl!!
Thanks so much It's so confusing with all the different options. Hopefully, over the next week we can figure out what to do. Once the lung mets appear ( I keep hoping they won't) do they still have some time left with us? Again, thanks so much. I will post a pic as soon as I figure out how!
Our beautiful Lily was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her front leg on 12/14/11 at age 8 and had amp on 12/16/11. She completed 5 rounds of carbo. She was so brave and kicked cancer's butt daily! She lived life fully for 4 years, 3 months, and 15 days after her amp. My angel is a warrior princess. I miss her so much.
We discovered lung mets in Max in October 2009, via x-rays. He never showed symptoms of the mets until January 2010. He did pass soon after, but it was from complications from the mets. For those three months (Oct - Jan), you never would've known Max had mets. He played and ran just like he always had. You'd probably need a day to search through the forums here, but if you did, you'd find plenty of posts where dogs lived many many months with lung mets. In fact, the founder, Jerry, is one of those dogs. And there are many many more. You have to remember that the "median survival time" the doctors give are just stats. All dogs are different. There's one dog from Northern California (Cemil) who is on month 40 since his amputation! Just take it one step at a time, and do what you believe is best for your girl. Whatever you decide won't be wrong. Post often with questions, and please also post with some updates on Lily.
Hello to you and Lily. Congrats on getting through chemo with clear lungs! You are right, the options are confusing. As to your question about mets, our Abby lived for over a year with lung mets. She only had one for about 6 months, which is pretty rare. It is my understanding that it is the location of the mets that is the biggest factor in determining how long a dog can live with them.
Abby's first met was found while we were still doing the carbo, so we did start MP right away. At first we did Palladia every other day, with cytoxan dn Piroxicam on the other days. She didn't handle the Palladia that well so we stopped that after 3 months and started her on artemisinin while sticking with the cytoxan and Piroxicam. I hate to confuse you with another option, but you might want to look into artemisinin , and PM me if you have questions about it. It's a little tricky to dose, but it is an herb used for many years for malaria, so it is well known to have low toxicity. It has recently had a lot of good results with cancer treatment.
Hang in there and enjoy today and try to not worry too much about if or when the mets might come. I know how hard that is but the worrying will just ruin your time together. All the best to Lily!! keep us posted!
Jackie, angel 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!
Thank you all so much!! We do have the artemisinin and we are going to start that this week. I also have Essiac and would like to start that-has anyone used that? Just talked to our vet and he has some interesting ideas-as soon as he settles on one -I will share. Again, thank you for being there.
Our beautiful Lily was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her front leg on 12/14/11 at age 8 and had amp on 12/16/11. She completed 5 rounds of carbo. She was so brave and kicked cancer's butt daily! She lived life fully for 4 years, 3 months, and 15 days after her amp. My angel is a warrior princess. I miss her so much.
joantroj said
I also have Essiac and would like to start that-has anyone used that?
Tripawds Forums Search results for 'Essiac'
You can also search all blogs here.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I am not sure how I missed this post, but welcome to the community. Glad to hear that Lily is doing so well after her amputation! These dogs really are inspirations. Good luck with whatever treatment protocol you decide to pursue!
Lisa
Zeus was a Husky mix diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at age 11. A visible lung met and suspicious spot on his liver meant a poor prognosis-six weeks was our vet's best guess. We decided to fight for our boy and his right front leg was amputated on 12/1/11. We did six rounds of chemo, changed his diet and spoiled him completely rotten. We were blessed with 10 great months after diagnosis. Against the odds, the lung met remained a single met and grew very little over those months. A wonderful furbaby with the most gentle spirit, he fought with a strength that we never imagined he possessed. We have no regrets...
http://zeuspod......pawds.com/
I am not sure how I missed this post,
Funny, I was just thinking the same thing!!!
Welcome to our little club Lily and family! I know it's not the preferred club to join, but we make the best of it!
It's so nice to hear that Lily is doing rather well. You'll find a wealth of info here....and now that your post has been bumped from oblivion, others will respond too.
Good wishes to you!
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Hello Everyone, and thanks for being there!
An update on Lily-she had her chest x-ray almost two weeks ago, and she is clear!! Waiting in the office after the x-ray for the results is agonizing. She was diagnosed December 14, 2011 and had her amputation on Dec. 16th, 2011, she did 5 rounds of carbo, so she is over five months with no mets yet
We had to make a decision about what to do next... Talked to Colorado State and Ohio State and they are so helpful- one recommends metronomic protocol right after chemo, and the other suggests waiting until lung mets appear. So hard to decide. The vet and I talked and decided to do artemisinin
and n acetylcysteine. We wanted to give her a chance to get her strength back-the last chemo was hard on her. Now I am questioning our decision-it's so hard to know what to do and when. I know from reading all the posts that we make all our decisions with love, so there is no wrong decision; I'm just wondering if anyone else waited until mets appeared to do metronomic protocol?
I am so thankful for this group-it's such a difficult time. Best wishes to all of you
Our beautiful Lily was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her front leg on 12/14/11 at age 8 and had amp on 12/16/11. She completed 5 rounds of carbo. She was so brave and kicked cancer's butt daily! She lived life fully for 4 years, 3 months, and 15 days after her amp. My angel is a warrior princess. I miss her so much.
That is great news! I think Jerry, our fearless Tripawds leader, didn't start doing MP until mets showed up.
It is terribly difficult to know what to do. I second guessed our decisions a lot, but in the end, we sure fought like hell, and made all the decisions with what we thought was best for her quality of life in mind. It's all you can really do. Anyway, it sounds like you have a good plan, so hopefully you can begin to relax a little and enjoy your time with your girl!
All the best,
Jackie, Angel 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!
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