Has anyone here had a bone cancer problem in their dog or cat?

[cry baby]

[RebelOne]

1. Not yet and I hope I never have to face that problem.

But I did lose my last Rottie at the age of 12 to a blood immune deficiency disease. My Rottie, Legend, is now 8 years old and I am sure I will be facing some kinds of problems in the future as she ages.

Does your doggie or kittie have bone cancer? If so, I am sorry.

[cry baby]

2. I have a beautiful male yellow lab that had a biopsy for bone

cancer this past Wednesday. Our vet thought it was a torn ACL that was causing him to limp on his back leg. He recommended a vet to do ACL surgery in Birmingham, about 3 hours south of here. He told us that he thought it was bone cancer, and then did the biopsy. We are waiting for results.

I can imagine it was hard to diagnose the blood immune deficiency disease in your beloved Rottie. Maybe Legend won't have to endure that disease. I'll keep my fingers crossed for her.

[kestrel91316]

3. It's actually quite rare in cats.................... but my friend's

16 yr old neutered male housecat got it 10 years ago, developed a pathological fracture and was PTS.

[cry baby]

5. Yes, our vet said that if we leave his leg on,

that will likely happen to him, too.

[kestrel91316]

7. Amputation sounds drastic, but it is the treatment of choice for bone

CA. When you remove a hind leg, there is less physical impact than a front leg. The front legs each bear 30% of the body's weight, the hind legs each bear 20%. Bone CA is tough to lick, though. It frequently metastasizes prior to diagnosis. Good luck!

[cry baby]

8. He hasn't put weight on that leg in 3 weeks or so and he is doing

fine with that. I just wish that we could extend his life past the likely prognosis.

Thanks for the info on the leg amputation/weight ratio, that is very interesting. We've put him on a diet, he started out at 135 lbs. He is a big one!

[kestrel91316]

9. This is one of the "good" things - they quit using the leg, so if

it's amputated, they don't even miss it, plus you remove the entire weight of the leg (amputation done correctly is at the upper thigh - if the leg is no use, you don't want that weight to have to be put on the other 3). People worry a lot about how the animal will do post-amp, but they tend to do VERY WELL from an ambulation standpoint.

[cry baby]

10. You have made me feel better about the treatment he will

probably have to have. If his leg is gone, he won't have the pain from the cancer to deal with either.

Thank you!!

[Samurai_Writer]

4. My St. Bernard had bone cancer

This was about 20 years ago. She had bone cancer in her hip, and had to be put to sleep when she was 8 years old.

[cry baby]

6. This problem is around his knee, so we can amputate his leg

and maybe slow the cancer, but the Dr. said he would probably only live a few months, even if we take the leg off.

He is only 5 1/2 years old. Still a pup at heart.

I'm just wondering if bone cancer has to spread, even if the leg is amputated. Wondering if anyone has had experience with this...I feel like I've been kicked in the gut...and I'm sure he feels even worse.

[Lorien]

11. I found this:

http://www.vetspecialists.co.uk/06_Animal_Welfare/Canine_Bone_Cancer.html

It looks as if amputation alone might extend his life another six months, while amputation with treatment could help him to survive two more years. I'm so sorry that the prognosis is so grim. :-(

I hope you do the amputation soon. I had a 16 year old cat's leg amputated due to cancer several years ago. He was an "outside only" cat (former feral who couldn't be litter box trained), and he did just fine with three legs. Whatever pain patch they used on him post surgery made him incredibly happy; he just lay on his side, purring wildly and kneading with one paw with a big smile on his face for about three days!

Let us know how it goes. I've seen or heard of miraculous recoveries from almost every illness, so it's hard to imagine that any situation is completely hopeless. :hug:

[cry baby]

12. I want one of those patches!!!

Thank you for your good wishes. We can't afford chemotherapy for him, so we will probably amputate and hope for the best.

:hug: back atcha

That is a great article, very informative, but not good news for my Jake. Thank you for finding it for me.