Osteosarcoma Options?

My Milo has been diagnosed with osteosarcoma in a front leg with two options open to me (realistically) of euthanasia or amputation and chemotherapy. He will be ten next month.

Has anybody any experiences of being faced with this decision and how they coped with an amputee if that is the decision they made? PM if you prefer. Many thanks.

So very sorry to see this.

No advice I'm afraid, you know your own dog. I know some dogs are good with three legs and get on really well.

Hugs to Milo from me and mine
xxx

I`m really sorry to hear this, I have not long lost my boy to this, here are a couple of links to my threads, it may help you a little in your decisions.

http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=139799


http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=142371


We were given the same options as you , but after talking to my vet, and my hubby we decided that we would not take any of the options, at his age (he was 11) we did nto think it fair to him, to amputate a leg or put him through chemo.


You must make your own decision on that, no one can make it for you,

I asked my vet his opinion, and what would he do in the same circumstances, he agreed, he said he would take the same route we did (palliative care) , he also said in his experience, amputation and chemo only delays the outcome, and in reality will only give a dog a few mths or so.

Bandits was extremely aggressive, and from diagnosis to him leaving us was around 6/8 wks,

My heart goes out to you, I know these decisions are terrible to make, are you doing the right thing doing A, or B.

My only advice to you would be, (if you are thinking of surgery or chemo) is who are you doing it for, this helped us immensely, because we would have done it for us, Bandit would be oblivious to it, it may have given us a few more mths, but we diecided to make what we had left the best we ever had.

AT 10 /11 , a Boxer has reached the golden age , and it helped me to look at it this way, he had a fabulous life, loved by all, he had reached a good age for a Boxer, what more could I ask, to have put him through such trauma at his age , in my opinion for my dog , it was not far.


Good luck and give him a hug from me,

If you need to talk, I am here.

Thank you both for your replies. As you can imagine, I am in pieces and still in shock as it all happened so quickly - the weekend before last he was placed at an agility show! He suddenly went lame during a walk on the following Tuesday and, when that didn't respond to anti-inflammatories, I took him to the vet yesterday. My vet is 90% sure of his diagnosis and also x-rayed his chest to check for secondary tumours, as this is the usual course of the disease. He is booked in for further x-rays at the beginning of August and then I will have to make a decision. My vet recommended amputation and chemo, which would take away the pain of the primary tumour and hopefully delay the effect of the secondaries. Euthanasia was the only other option as far as he was concerned. Your post, Jackbox, has given me more food for thought but it won't make the decision any easier!

Thanks again.

I would definately speak to the vet about the prognosis if you follow the treatment, for some dogs it may only add a few months (and I would question whether it was worth it) but I know of someone on another dog forum who went forward with amputation and chemo and threw a fundraising party for osteosarcoma research for her dog's 9th birthday, celebrating 41 months post-treatment with their dog this March. Slightly younger dog but I would definately find out what the prognosis it in more than just one or two dogs.

Sorry to hear this-must be awful decision to have to make.

We are waiting to find out what's wrong with Cherry as she has been sneezing and coughing for the last month and is constantly licking her nose. They anaesthetised her as they thought it may be a grass seed but it wasn't so they took cells to send for a biopsy but this didn't find any cancer cells.

She is off for a CT scan next Monday as they now say it is either a nasal tumour or a fungal infection. If it is the former I will not put her through chemo as she is 10 and a half and we will let her go peacefully-hard though that will be as she went through a lot with her eye operations last year and she got so fed up with being in the dog-hospital she refused to eat for nearly a week

As it is a front leg that would have to be removed this is obviously harder for the dog to cope with than if it was a back leg as the front legs bear the weight of the dog's head so this would be another consideration for me. However, only you can make the decision that seems right for you-it is your dog and you know how they will cope.

Sorry, this is replying to Kylyr.

Thank you for your post. My vet did say that there was no point doing the chemo without first removing the primary tumour, ie amputation. It would then obviously depend on how he reacted to the chemo. There was no evidence of metastases in Milo's lungs but that doesn't mean anything at this stage. He did stress that it obviously wasn't a cure (would that there was such a thing!) but could give him a couple of years.

I haven't experienced it with my own dog but knew a dog who had it, had the leg amputated and chemotherapy. He got another 12 months of life but he suffered horribly from the chemo. I've already decided that if I'm ever facing this with Rupert he'll be made comfortable for as long as possible and when that isn't possible he'll be put to sleep.

Obviously it is a very personal decision though and there is no way I'd judge you if you chose to go down the amputation/chemo route. I'm so sorry you're facing this decision

Thank you Kerryowner. I hope the results are positive for Cherry. I am absolutely in pieces and keep hoping I will wake up from this nightmare. At this point in time, I don't see how I can make such an awful decision but it helps having support like this forum.

Thank you Sarah. The newer chemo drugs are apparently better and have fewer side effects but it's still something that concerns me. I have to do what's best for Milo in the end.