Canine Osteosarcoma: Amputation and Life Quality
ByIn the last post, I focused on looking at life quantity, or lifespan, in considering amputation for dogs with osteosarcoma. Let’s focus on life quality issues and amputation.
Often the first question that arises is, “But will my dog be able to have a normal life on 3 legs?” Everyone, the answer is almost always yes.
There are two big things to factor. First, are you available to assist your dog in walking during the recovery period? The remaining limbs need to strengthen to support the extra weight. This can take just a few days in a lean, young dog, or it may take a few weeks in an older or overweight one.
The second things to factor in is other problems that could affect the weight bearing, like arthritis, hip dysplasia, old ligament tears, back or neck problems, and so on. The presence of other orthopedic issues can slow or complicate things a little and should be discussed with your vet.
Usually, most dogs are up and hopping around whenever or wherever they want to within 1-3 weeks. They really do just fine once their strength builds. It can be hard to watch but many times when people are depressed about it, they start to look at the dog and realize, “Wow..my dog actually seems pretty happy!”
They just seem to move on with life and live in the moment, which is a good lesson for all of us to learn from our dogs.
During recovery, you will need to help your dog learn to walk on three legs. This is really pretty simple. you just need to help them support their weight during walking. This can be done with a commercial sling you can purchase, or with a towel looped under the belly or the chest. You just lift some of the weight and they will hop right along.
Remember in males that you will need to position the towel away from the sheath for urination or you will have a wet sling and a unhappy boy!
You will want to provide a surface that is not slippery to walk on. Ramps can help get up in some cases too.
You should work on keeping your dog lean. Being overweight has a whole collection of bad effects in dogs with cancer, and bone cancer is no exception. Additionally, the extra load makes it harder to move around. Another issue to remember is that being overweight increases the risk of injury in the remaining limbs due to increased wear and tear (arthritis, cruciate ruptures, and more).
Activities that required four legs can always be modified. Dogs will learn to live how they can and they adjust, just like we do. If you watch them, they will derive as much pleasure in their new life as they did before. The limits of what they can do change, not the limits of how happy they can be.
Let’s look at the surgery itself and preserving as much life quality as possible with pain control in the next post.
Best to all,
Dr Dressler
About the Author
Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Beyond Surgery, Chemotherapy & Radiation. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.
14 Comments
November 13th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
My dog has cancer in his knee on the right back leg so he would have an above the knee amputation. He is 12 years old, He has congestive heart failure, (well managed with Enelaprill and Furosemide for 3-4 years already), and he is a Pit Bull weighing about 80 pounds. is he too old for an amputation?
Thank you for your response.
November 15th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
Melanie,
There is no correct answer to this question. In situations like this you must do what you know is the right thing for your dog. This is the gray zone of life decisions. Surgery could push him over the edge, or he could recover well and life happily for a period of time. Based on your description, a lot of owners would euthanize at this stage, but this is such a personal choice, you need to take time to quietly clear your mind and do your best to answer the following question for your dog, “at this point in my life, is the life I have lived up to this point so a good one and a full one?”
D
March 3rd, 2009 at 7:45 am
My 120 pound 10 year old Shep/Husky mix just came home from a right front leg amputation due to bone cancer. My amazing vet believes that we caught it early enough and gave me thought that Jack would improve faster at home but I need more advice on his rehabiliation. I appreciate your mention of up to 3 weeks for recovery in older, overweight dogs as I was concerned that I needed to get him up and moving very soon. He is currently doing the “army crawl” and I have gotten him to sit up some and have actually caught him on all “three” twice since he came home but he crashed to the floor a couple of time and I’m worried that he can do more damage if I keep trying to encourage him to get up. I am concerned now that we made a selfish decision to go with the amputation and I too become more encouraged each time I look in his eyes and see a wag of the tail. If you have any “tricks” you can share with me that would make it less stressful for him I would appreciate them!
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Hi Terry,
I have a 120 pound 9 1/2 year old Rotweiller diagnosed with osteosarcoma. The Oncologist wanted to take out his jaw and told me they may not get all the tumor. I have him on K9 Immunity and 14 pills per day of tetracyclin (on my research I discovered that 2 people have given the tetracyclin to their dogs and it shrunk the tumor after 6 weeks). This is the treatment I have used now for 2 weeks and his tumor is definitely smaller and he is eating like a horse and running again like a puppy.
K9 Immunity (2 doses morning and evening) total 12 pills
K9 transfactor (1 pill per day)
Tetracyclin 14 pills per day
Nu Vet Plus (1 pill per day)
I also give him one injection (for pain) of Rafterdex 2ml per day.
I ran out of K9 immunity for a couple of days and found that this is the one that really is working.
I also read an article on a dog named Beanie and his owner had 2 Rotweillers and Beanie had to have his leg amputated so his owner bought him a cart he would walk then get back in the cart when he was tired. They also have I found a harness with a front leg for dogs.
if you need anymore info you can email me at tfiinc@shaw.ca
Hope this info helps Jack.
Take Care
Mavis
March 7th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Terry
A thought would be to keep him confined unless you are performing an active physical therapy or assisted walkng activity. You can use a towel under the belly and chest for the backside, and a leash or harness for the front side, and help move the dog. There are also harnesses that can be purchased online for the same effect. Take Jack out at least 4-6 times a day. His strength will build. I talk about this a lot in the osteosarc section in my e book.
Best,
D
May 17th, 2009 at 10:18 am
Long story short,My 8 year old Rottie was diaganosed with osteosarcoma in his hind leg, Doc said put him down, I know he was not ready to be put down, I knew that, he favored his hind leg, but his demeanor was the strong boy I knew, so,,,,I had his leg amputated, Im amazed, the evening of his surgery, he was up, pulled off the lampshade, did not lick or tear at his wound. 10 days after surgery, he is as fiesty as ever,,,I know the cancer can resurface, however, at this point, I know I did what was right, he is full of life, and at the time I was told put him down,,,,,that was just wrong. I have given my Baby some more time, I will never regret that.
May 20th, 2009 at 5:47 am
My rottie husky was diagonised with osteosarcoma yesterday and we caught it early and body scan showe no other spots so today my Penny is haveing a right front leg amputation so we can have her longer in our life.She weighs 61 lbs and has been using 3 legs for a few day before we took her in and I hope she does great with her 3 legs.My husband and I both work full time outside the home so she will be alone at times.we get her back friday and someone will be home sat sun and holiday monday and possible tuesday as well so I have faith in my Penny she will adapt quick.She has a strong will and has a strong rottie tude she thinks she is the alpha so never a doubt between my husband and my choice to have this done.We also know that the cancer can rear its ugly head but we are blessed to have in our lives. Just wanted to vent as it is a tough choice for anyone to make Kitty from colorado
May 27th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
Kitty, I hope everything works out for you and Penny, I know how you feel, I hope for the best. So far, my Rottie is doing great, and I will not regret amputation, So far, so good, however, I know the Vet said, it may buy a few month’s,or up to a year, but at least that is better quality for my bonehead, He is now trotting on three, trying to escape the yard to get to the neighbors female, jumping, and trying to hump my spayed female Rottie, for pete sake, he is either doing extremely well, and in remission, or he has just been given some extra time to keep me on my toes, and happy. I know he hurts, but refuses to say so, I just love him up, comb him, pet him, and lay with him, snuggling and loving him up, that is the best I can do for my Baby. Suzy
June 5th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
It is now 7 days for Ms. Coco since her rear leg amputation. It was real tough the first few days. I had to hold her leash in the front while my husband supported her with a sling in the back. She is now almost totally on her own when walking! She still needs some help when squatting and she does get tired quick but I know that it only gets better from here. She misses her rides in the car though. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting dogs in the car? We bought a ramp but she is so afraid of it since it isn’t very sturdy.
June 8th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I have a 10 and a half year old St. Bernard with Osteosarcoma. He was treated initially as having arthritis with glucosamine for months. This worked well until it didn’t. Then we moved to Metacam one week on and one week off and blocked his access to the stairs. At the end of the second week he was sore again. We repeated same result and now 4 weeks later. We rushed him to the emergency room because he wasn’t eating and in pain. They did an IV for fluids and treated him well. I can’t remember exactly but I believe we had to go back within 72 hours and this is when it was first thought he had Osteosarcoma. There were so many variables Ostesarcoma wasn’t considered when we rushed him in for not eating or drinking much. He came home on pain killers, Ziniquin, and Metacam. If it was a bacterial infection this would solve it since the vet considered a biopsy too risky and if we weren’t going to amputate then it wasn’t worth it. At his age my wife and I just did not want to put him through amputation which came up during the first emergency visit and we were fearful of localized radiation causing broken bones because we just can’t get him to take it easy during the brief times he feels better. After a week of Metacam we were able to drop the pain killers. He finished the Ziniquin. He went back 4-5 weeks later. He was noticeably better. So much so the vet was hoping for a clear X-Ray. Unfortunately it only confirmed the cancer. He did great for a week or two then another turn for the worse. This time the pain killers didn’t seem to help. At night he was in pain and audibly so. He has a high pain tolerance and this means he’s in a lot of pain and that was after several doses of pain killer. He’s just wonderful and it was really hard to watch the cancer spread and very quickly. Now at least three months into it he is almost constantly lame in his back right leg even during the good times. Last night was tough and this morning he wouldn’t eat breakfast. I have been making him fresh beef, rice, chicken, and whatever he wants for months and he never passes it up. At least he is snacking this time unlike the previous time we rushed him to the ER. In conclusion as a result I just put my dog to sleep and it’s such a tough decision. It’s really bothering me. Did I do the right thing? Why didn’t we catch this sooner? What is the cause of the lack of eating at times? What would the outcome of have been with amputation? He had lived a great long life but could it have been extended with quality? What would he want? I agree with a prior post this is clearly a grey area but I wish it were black and white. I just hope he knows I tried to do the right thing in the absence of conclusive foresight and a lack of his opinion. It’s more of a qualitative decision than quantitative and much is unknown. One one hand I question whether I did the right thing to save his quality of life but had I of let it go would I be kicking myself for letting it go on too long. I just don’t know but either way its difficult.
June 13th, 2009 at 10:32 am
My 12.5 year old 60# male was diagnosed with synovial cell sarcoma on his left front elbow in March 2009. He had his leg amputated and the lymph node was dirty. He adjusted beautifully to 3 legs. He had 3 IV treatments of doxorubicine and now has had left facial paralysis and vestibular disease for the past 2 weeks with no improvement. CT scan showed no inner ear infection and neurologist is leaning toward a facial nerve problem rather than central. It is hard enough for a 4 legged dog to balance with vestiblar disease but even worse for my three legged guy. He has no blink reflex so I am giving him artificial tears, his lip droops and he can barely chew and does not want to walk. He is taking Cerenia. Would pred help? Is there still hope that it is idiopathic or has it gone on too long and so idiopathic must be ruled out and he has a mass?? What can I do to help him? He is so dibilitated I decided not to do the 4th and final chemo treatment. He has wonderful specialists but another opinion is always welcome.
Thank you,
Sally-Anne
June 16th, 2009 at 6:46 am
My 9 yr old Golden Retriever had his right rear leg, up to his hip bone, amputated in Feb. this year. He recovered fairly well and adjusted to having 3 legs. His daily walks were a little shorter because he would get tired faster, but overall he did well. About a month ago, he was starting to get weak and had a fever. I took him to the vet, they said he had a virus, gave us antibiotics. A week later he’s no better, they did a blood test, said the tests looked good but he is a little anemic. They gave us vitamins, recommended glucosamine and chondotin, 1/2 deramaxx per day and tramadol at night (which he had already been taking- the pain meds seem to make him miserable, I’ve been limiting them as much as possible). He has been declining ever since, is having a very hard time getting around, can barely get from the house to the yard. I’ve been to 2 vets in the same office, no one seems to have a solution. I’m not sure how much more I can put him through. If anyone has any ideas I would be most grateful.
June 23rd, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Hey, Just a update on my Rottie, he had his rear leg amputated, osteosarcoma. He was strong, full of life,after surgery. I dont know if he is tiring because of only one rear leg, or if there is more of that horrible cancer coming out again, but I noticed he it tiring out more. Im thinking he hopped on three when the cancer hurt him, and maybe, is is use to hopping on three, but he is getting unstable on his one hind leg, or can it be the osteosarcoma is in his other leg, is that possible? Anyone else have this?
June 27th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Suzy, there are lots of reasons for this. The most common is just some arthritis and soft tissue strain. Have your vet take some films of the opposite leg…
D