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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Hi, My Great Dane Sorcha is nearly seven years old and has been diagnosed with cancer in her left front leg. The vet has told me that amputation is an option but doesn't know how she will go being so large (68kg). I want to do everything I can to help her live a happy pain free life. What are the costs of amputation and chemo? What sort of success rates atre there with the chemo. How long can she expect to live after the proceedure? I can't bear to just give up on her and will do whatever it takes to keep her around as long as she isn't suffering. Any advice or information anyone has to offer would be greatly appreciated, thanks,
Tristan
Tristan,
I'm sure there are a wide range of costs from the surgery for amputation to the chemotherapy, depending on lots of things. Who does the surgery? Your local vet (DVM), a speciality clinic (ACVS), a pet cancer center, etc. Who administers the chemo? Same thing.
I can tell you that we used a ACVM at a speciality clinic who specializes in canine orthopedic surgery for Calamity's amputation. Calamity is a blood donor at that clinic (as are all of my greyhounds), so our bill was discounted to $1200. That is still high (I think).
It is my belief that is you are going to do a surgery like this to your pet, it's always to use one that has additional surgery training, hence the ACVS after the doctor's name. Here is a good thing to read to understand this more: http://www.acvs.....malOwners/
There is a Nova on this forum who is a Great Dane that is recovering from her amputation and getting her chemo, I'm sure you'll get some great pointers from her owner. Nova also has a blog that tracks her recovery day to day. I'm sure that will be very helpful. You can find it here: http://tripawdn.....gspot.com/
I'm sure someone can chime in on the costs of chemotherapy.
I hope all of this is helpful to you and I send you a lot of well wishes as you begin this journey.
Janie & Calamity
Janie & Calamity http://www.trix.....gspot.com/
Tristan,
Our Mastiff Tazzie lost her RF leg due to osteosarcoma on Aug 26th. She is 6 1/2 years old and weighs 175 # post-amputation. I am a veterinarian so I did get a lot of discounted costs, but I still had a board-certified veterinary surgeon take her leg off for me.
Average costs for an amputaion range from $1000-$2000 for a dog that size, and chemo will probably cost at least $1000 for 4 treatments and up to $5000 depending on which type of chemo the oncologist selects.
Stats are hard to predict, and are based on biological activity of the tumor and how fast you get the leg off. Unfortunately, most dogs will have lung mets from this disease, even if the xrays are clear right now. On average amputation alone buys 6-8 months, and amputation plus chemo gets you 1-2 years. I have personally seen dogs with amputation and no chemo live 2 1/2 years and some dogs undergoing chemo don't even make it 6 months. The best thing about amputation is ending the pain! Most dogs handle chemo very well with minimal side effects, and carboplatin seems to be the drug of choice.
There is no "right" choice here but I would personally recommend amputation followed by chemo if you can afford it.
Pam and Tazzie
Wow, thanks Janie and Pam, great advice!
Tristan, thank you for joining the Tripawds community. We are so sorry to hear about Sorcha, but are glad to hear you're looking into options for coping with the cancer. A while back, I tried to address this issue in this post. Hope it helps.
Whichever way you decide to go, try to keep in mind that there are no guarantees either way. All of the options are a gamble, with or without chemo. But as you can see here, many pawrents rolled the dice, and their fur kids won, with a good recovery and extra time to be together. Not that it's easy; amputation recovery has it's ups and downs, but typically, dogs will come through it great. The time that you two will have together afterward -- whether it's one month or two years -- can be spent pain-free, which is the very best gift that amputation can bring.
Good luck with everything. Please let us know what you decide OK? We're here to help.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks to everyone who has replied so far, very encouraging for me at this horrible time. I appreciate the feedback and advice immensely. Tristan
Hi Tristan - When I first learned about Zeus' osteosarcoma, I was obviously devastated and it took a few days to sink in. I gathered all the information that I could (like you are doing) and when I still could not decide what was going to be right for Zeus, I asked him...he gave me the answer - literally. I explained what was happening and told him I didn't know what to do or what he wanted me to do...he had to have understood on some level, because when I asked him, "What do you want to do big boy?" he jumped off the bed, chased his tail in circles, grabbed one of his favorite toys then went to the window and barked and then looked back at me with this incredible fight in his eyes. He wanted to live...and here we are almost 8 months post amputation and doing great. The point of my story is to listen to your heart and to your baby...only you both know what is best for you.
To answer your cost question...I live in Virginia, United States and I did Zeus' surgery at a more expensive hospital because of their experience and recognition...it seems like it was pretty expensive given what I'm reading - it was $3,500 USD. I opted for chemo as well and those treatments were $500 each (4 treatments every 3 weeks)...we did carboplatin and he came through with flying colors. A little infection after the 2nd and 3rd treatment which was easily treated with anti-biotics, but that was it for the side effects. We also did 2 pamidrinite treatments which were $240 each (my vet did these and she gave me a 50% discount) which are bone strengthening treatments for the other bones since they will take more weight now that there are 3 instead of 4 legs...obviously!
Whatever you decide, our thoughts and prayers are with you...please keep us posted!
Much love,
Heather and Zeus
Heather and Spirit Zeus - Our life changing journey…from the earth to the heavens…one day at a time…always together
Cherry's dad here.
We are only ten days post amputation. Cherry's first chemotharapy treatment was just hours after the aputation which is good for the longer term treatment, but has made recovery more difficult. When recieved the diagnosis our vet (who is also a personal friend) gave us a copy of an article that detailed quite well our options. The following is a link to that aticle.
http://www.vete.....038;A=1035
As far as the costs, well let us say that every thing here in the East Bay Area (Greater San Francisco Bay Area) is very expensive. However, the kind of veterinary care we have access to is some of the best in the country. This includes access to the University of California Davis Campus. Also, I am keep a daily diary of Cherry's recovery journey. To our family, we do not believe that we really had a treatment option. Relieving the pain, and attempting to regain the quality of life for her remaining time were the only considerations.
Good Luck and keep us posted.
Hey Cherry's Dad, thanks for that article link, that is a great resource! And thanks a bunch for sharing your experience with others.
I got my surgery done at UC Davis too! We liked going there because it was a teaching hospital, and the students and staff were so awesome.
Hey I see you're in the East Bay. My Mom and Dad are going to be in San Francisco for the next few weeks (they are in Santa Rosa this week), and they would love to meet you! Mom will email you offline.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Tristan and Sorcha,
I have a Great Dane (Nova) who had amputation surgery 3 weeks ago. I too was afraid of the costs, being such a big dog, but decided it was worth it. I opted for a more expensive cancer center, so I am sure my costs were higher than a regular vet. I just wanted the expertise and knowledge. The amputation cost $2200, and that included everything, all the tests before and after, hospitalization. Two weeks later Nova had her first dose of Carboplatin, each treatment will cost me around $700. Ouch. I wish I could know for sure how much time that will give her, the oncologist said 1-2 years is not uncommon. Don't let anyone tell you a big dog can't do it. My regular vet said the same thing, then referred me to an owner with a huge fat Rottweiler who is still going strong after 2 1/2 years. Stay strong, you can do this! Please keep us posted on your progress.
Sue and Nova
Dane Mom Sue at nova.tripawds.com and Mom to Beautiful Great Dane Queen Nova, a Blind Tripawd, who kicked cancer's butt from 11/08-03/13. The Queen is Spirit Nova now, but her legacy lives on here at Tripawds!
Cherry's dad here.
We do not let Cherry know just how much but with approximately half of the chemo complete, the cost has been $7500. Everyone has to determine what they can afford, but for me there never really was a question. This is the only way that I have a hope of allowing Cherry the quality of life that defined her life prior to the diagnosis. I know that I will not get back the little girl who always drew comments regarding the bounce in her step, but it is the sparkle in the eye and the lift of the spirit that mean so very much more to me. A decision to not try would have haunted me forever. I have kept a dairy diary of our journey which may help you prepare for what can happen. Best of luck and know that your decision will be the right one for all your family.
Bob & Cherry
Cherry said:
I know that I will not get back the little girl who always drew comments regarding the bounce in her step ...
Oh, she'll get that bounce back, quite literally! Thanks for sharing.
The daily diary is an excellent idea. That's why we offer the Tripawds Health Care Journal for keeping track of recovery diet, expenses and treatment.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Cherry said:
I know that I will not get back the little girl who always drew comments regarding the bounce in her step, but it is the sparkle in the eye and the lift of the spirit that mean so very much more to me. Bob & Cherry
Cherry WILL bounce back & she'll be that same little girl once she is completely healed!
Read Calamity's blog & you'll see what we have been through this past year and now, as tripawd, she resumes her racing in the yard once again!!! She RACES!!! Unbelieveable!!
Cherry will amaze you too - I'm sure of it!
Janie & Calamity
Janie & Calamity http://www.trix.....gspot.com/
Tristan and Sorcha:
Tika just had her amputation done this week. The bill came to $2100 including the pre-biopsy prep. Tika is 4 1/2 years old and was 100 lb at the time of her surgery. We left her 2 nights at the hospital, even though we could have taken her home after one night. We had two reasons for this, one was Tika doesn't get very easily rattled and we felt comfortable leaving her and the other was I realized after visiting her that I wanted to prep the house a bit more (we have another dog). That of course adds to the cost, but we were so glad we did it.
We went to a specialist hospital (same as Janie and the greys) and I couldn't have been happier with the results, truthfully, these past two days have been beyond my every expectation. Even though my vet said he would have been able to do the surgery, he recommended a surgeon, and so far Tika has been in excellent shape post surgery.
Also, what kind of cancer has been diagnosed? We have confirmed Chondrosarcoma and the biopsy of the amputated leg will tell the rest of the story. In a perfect world, and all Mommy and Daddy want for Christmas is that the biopsy comes back that it was low grade Chondrosarcoma and the amputation will have taken care of it. The worst case is there is some of that evil Osteosarcoma in there and we'll procede with chemo and enjoy each day we have left with our girl.
I know it's hard, utilize the forums. Even getting to share the slightest joy with people have been through is very cathartic. Even if you don't submit, I've spent a lot of time reading people's experiences which has prepared me to be stronger for my doggie.
Good luck to you both!
--Kim and Tika
Kim and Spirit Tika http://www.tika.....ogspot.com
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