My dog Oreo, a 4-year old lab mix, was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma of the ribs on September 9. Back then, she was 56lbs and the tumor was approx. 5,5cm, and there were no visible mets in the lungs on the xrays. Upon a CT scan, mets were found in 5 lung lobes, and because of that, along with the fact that she was not showing any signs of pain, we opted out of the rib resection surgery. Our vet assured us that there would not be much benefit to removing the primary tumor if there are mets already present.

We immediately started her on carboplatin (September 15), along with her regular diet (she is on Hills Z/D food) and cottage cheese and flaxseed oil (we up’ed it slowly to 6 tbps of flaxseed oil a day). But her tumor kept on growing. Since she showed no side effects to the 1st chemo treatment, we did her 2nd treatment 2 weeks and 2 days after the first one (October 1). On that day, her oncologist sais he would probably switch the drug to doxorubicin on her next (3rd) treatment, as the tumor had grown.

On October 2, we also started giving her apricot seeds, along with small chuncks of pineapple. We grinded the seeds and worked her up to 6 a day (adding one a day), which happened last Thursday, October 8. She is now 58 – 60 lbs, and was walking in the neighborhood for 10 – 20 minutes a day. We have also been giving her vitamins (Nutri-Vet Milti-Vite and Health immune), along with liquid Nutri-Vet Probiotics with Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil.

On Friday, October 9, after feeding her the Z/D with 2 grinded apricot seed, walking her for 10 minutes and then giving her cottage cheese and flaxseed oil, she felt a bit restless all day – moving around from spot to spot within a few minutes. We had also been noicing over the last couple of weeks that her energy level had been decreasing gradually.

On Saturday, October 10, her energy seemed to go down considerably. She still ate, but was not as excited about the food as she normally is. Her stomach also felt a little “full” – like there was a small waterballoon in there, versus the normally flabby skin. Since I had walked her the day before within 15-20 minutes of her meal, I was worried about bloating, so I took her to the vet, who said she was not bloated.

On Saturday (October 10), her breathing pattern started to change – she was shallow breathing for most of the day, with not much play or exercise. Upon excitement, sometimes she would whimper – like she wanted to play but couldn’t.

Yesterday, October 11, she had diahrrea in the morning. No vomiting. Her breathing changed even more, like she was having a bit of difficulty. She also would not run or play as usual. I started worring this could be cyanide poisoning because of the apricot seeds, so I took her to the emergency room.

We did chest and belly xrays, and a blood test. Her white blood cell count was actually a bit high (they expected it to be low because of the chemo), so the vet started her on antibiotics. Her belly xray did not seem to show anything wrong, but her chest xrays showed the intensity of the cancer. We could not exacly determine the size, but it looks like her primary tumor (was originally on the 7th rib; now it looks like 7 – 9 ribs) looked like it was approximately 20cm in size (4 times the size of 1 month ago). She also had some fluid on her chest (not in the lungs), but not enough to tap it. She also seemed to have a mass that we could not identify 100%, but looks like it could be a met in the lung. The mass (if this is correct) is very significant now and my best guess is that it is around 5cm in diameter. I believe this may be why her breathing is not normal.

Upon arriving home last night, we also gave her some Tramadol, for possible pain. She slept without moving much, still shallow breathing, and if she lies on her side the breathing gets faster and louder. Standing up is not so bad.

I AM DESPERATE. It has only been one month, and I am not sure what else I can do.

This morning (October 12) I gave her 2 pills of 100mg Artemisinin, and will give one of Artemix at night. Is this the correct dosage, or should we be more aggressive for a 60 lbs dog? I read about doing this for 5 days, then not do it for 2. Is this what you would recommend?

Is Z/D ok with it? What about the antibiotic (she is now taking Metronidazole)? We are also not sure if we should do her next chemo treatment, as doxorubicin has many side effects.

Do you have ANY suggestions or ANYTHING we may try? PLEASE HELP!!!!

Thank you in advance.
Izabel & Oreo

BTW, a direct injection of aqueous sodium bicarbonate into the tumor site also stops osteo in its tracks because it screws up the pH balance the cancer needs to live