Hi Everyone.

Osteosarcoma is a common cancer in the dog.  Most of the time it occurs on the long bones of the legs in large breed dogs.  And most of the time a veterinarian or veterinary oncologist will recommend amputation of the affected leg.

You will likely have some strong feelings about it, as one who loves a living, breathing being facing the removal of a limb.

This is a heavy duty question.  Since it has a lot of emotional charge for those interested in preventing pain and suffering, it can be a hard choice.  The choice warrants careful contemplation to make sure you are able to cope with the situation.

At least two factors should be  considered. The first is life quantity, which is also life expectancy.  The second is life quality, which of course is how good  life is.

Let’s look at life quantity first, or life expectancy.

First, get an idea of the average life expectancy of your dog.  Be careful with this.  These numbers are just averages, just like they are for people.  There is an excellent review of dog life expectancy  here.

Once you have ascertained what a dog’s potential life expectancy is, you need to weigh how much more time are we looking at for your dog.  Your vet can help with this by discussing the impact of your pet’s individual health problems.

We want to see whether, at the time of diagnosis, your dog has already reached the expected life length for most dogs like yours.

If your dog is close to what one would expect for average life length, the motivation or payoff for the surgery should be considered carefully. If your dog is not yet there, one might consider going ahead with the surgery.

It should be noted that most dogs with this kind of cancer do not survive beyond a year, with amputation alone (read more here).

However, this does not mean that your dog will pass away within a year, as you have access to continued treatment from your vet, oncologist, and the information contained here.  There will be more in upcoming publications being edited right now.

For the time being, I will point out that some clients have had benefit with modification of diet, lifestyle, life quality boosting and addition of supplements or comfort care medications.  Common examples of these can be found in The Dog Cancer Survival Guide, but I feel that the supplement I use has helped some dogs under my care (of course I am biased in this since I was the one that put Apocaps together).

One last intangible is your particular dog’s personality.  Some dogs just have this will to live, and sometimes one can perceive this pretty clearly.  They just want to keep going.  They are driven.  This will to live, a tenacity, boosts lifespans.   Remember to consider this factor too.

That’s life quantity.

This is the first step. Next we look at life quality on three legs.  We will look a little at the surgery itself, some issues that affect life quality on three legs, and more.

I will post more on this issue in the next entry.

Regards,

Dr Dressler

About the Author: Dr. Demian Dressler

Dr. Demian Dressler, DVM is known as the "dog cancer vet" and is author of Dog Cancer Survival Guide: Full Spectrum Treatments to Optimize Your Dog's Life Quality and Longevity. Visit his blog and sign up free to get the latest information about canine cancer. Go to http://DogCancerBlog.com.  

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Tagged as: Amputation, Average Life Expectancy, Bones, Careful Contemplation, Diagnosis, Dog Life, Dog Vet, Dogs, Dressler, Emotional Charge, Feelings, Health Problems, Heavy Duty, Individual Health, Large Breed Dogs, Legs, Life Quality, Lifespan, Look At Life, Motivation, Oncologist, osteosarcoma, Personality, Sake, Upcoming Publications, Veterinarian, Warrants