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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I'm so sorry that to hear about Zeke – especially after going through major surgery like this only to find lung mets soon after. My heart goes out to you. Like everyone has said, many dogs can live very long with lung mets. We just discovered lung mets with Mackenzie about 6 weeks ago and it was devastating to hear this news so I know how traumatic this can be.
In the x-rays your doctors did, you might want to ask them to do a comparison and also look at the sizes and determine how many there are (or maybe they already told you this? In Mackenzie's case, she has 3 – 4 small nodules). And you might want to have a radiologist look at these too. For treatment, Mackenzie's on the metronomic therapy (cytaxin) which is a low dose chemo with very little side effects combined with another chemo called palladia. Both have been shown to be pretty responsive to slowing down the growth of cancer. She recently had a check up and they compared the chest x-rays from last month to this month – 2 out of the 3 nodules showed no increase in size and 1 nodule actually shrunk in size by half. So there is hope and treatment plans out there that might help you. My piece of advice would be to gather all the facts on how aggressive these lung mets are right now and then go from there.
I really wish the best for you and Zeke. Keeping our paws crossed for Zeke!
My sweet golden Mackenzie. She became my angel on Dec 29, 2010 at the age of 8 1/2 although she was always my angel from the time we brought her home. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in Sept 2009 and officially became a tripawd (front leg) on Nov 5, 2009. She will be forever in my heart and now she's running free with all of our other tripawd heroes. I love you Mackenzie!
You have my prayers for Zeke. To have this happen so soon after the amputation seems so unfair. Cancer is just such an insidious disease which is one reason we hate it so much.
I hope for nothing but the best for you & Zeke.
Crossed paws & tail wags,
Spirit Ruthie's Mom
Did your vet send the rads to a specialist for review? Lung mets can grow quickly but that sounds extreme, and sometimes pneumonia can look like cancer. He might just need a good antibiotic combo like ciprofloxacin and metronidazole to clear things up. If the radiologist supects cancer then I would definitely try prednisone.
Pam
Hi Pam, the Neurologist called me yesterday (he is the one we've been working directly with this whole time, aside from the surgeon who did the amputation) and he told me that the radiographs are being looked at by their heart/lung specialist and we'll know more next week. He wants to do another chest x-ray next Wednesday. He told me he doesn't want to get our hopes up, but he could not rule out atypical pnuemonia yet. I couldn't believe it, we are holding on to that thread of hope, especially because Zeke has improved the past couple days. He isn't coughing as much and he is a little more active without getting so winded. He is on Dexamethisone, Doxycycline, Cephalexine and Zenequin. Thanks for you post, I really appreciate it. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers too, I couldn't get through this without my tripawds.com friends! 
Dhiannon (Zeke's Mom) & Zeke, a 7 year old male Bullmastiff, front left leg amputated on 7-12-2010 due to a joint tumor. Zeke earned his wings on 8-13-2010, we will miss our big boy forever! We love you Zeke!!
Man are we lucky to have someone like Pam around or what.
I'm really glad that Zeke has improved over the past couple of days. I know how very stressful it must be for you and your family right now. Remember we're holding on to hope for Zeke as well. I got a soft spot for the big guys. Zeke is such a sweet looking boy.
My Thoughts and Prayers are with you,
Fortis'Dad Brett
I couldn't agree more, so lucky to have someone like Pam on here, I was so glad to see her post. Thanks so much Brett, we appreciate your thoughts and prayers. It has been an emotional roller coaster, but we are hanging in there. I too have a soft spot for the big guys. I hope you and Fortis are having a great day, thanks for your post.
Dhiannon (Zeke's Mom) & Zeke, a 7 year old male Bullmastiff, front left leg amputated on 7-12-2010 due to a joint tumor. Zeke earned his wings on 8-13-2010, we will miss our big boy forever! We love you Zeke!!
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