Caninecancer.org.au

hi , we have a 7 year old saint bernard who had a diagnosis of osteo sarcoma 29.1.15 in back leg no secondaries seen on xray . The leg was amputated 2.2.15 she was so miserable but overnight wed /thurs she became her old happy self , started walking independent of my daughter and I . my daughter has read and read options , she has started her on a raw diet , turmeric, immunity booster . The vet who has done over 40 amputations for this issue does not recommend chemo. We are not sure I realise you cant see all the hots spots on xray cos some of them are so small . but I am thinking one round of chemo might get rid of the spots we cant see. Our vet said the tumour had only been growing about a month . We want her to have best quality of life not a miserable unwell quantity..

[quote="rimini" We want her to have best quality of life not a miserable unwell quantity..[/quote]

I am not a vet so therefore wont comment on your question. I willleave that to one of the oncologists to answer.

In terms of your above quote most dogs quite cope well with chemotherapy. You will find info on chemo and other treatments here.http://www.caninecancer.org.au/treatment.html. Like many other dogs who are under a vet oncologist my own dog Frodo never missed a beat whilston chemo. Here is some pics of him. The ones with him playing were taken whilst he was on chemotherapy. http://www.caninecancer.org.au/vinca.html. On my facebook page I share loads of stories on dogs from other vet oncologists around the world who do really well on chemotherapy. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Caninecancerorgau/244099682407239.

Check out those links on the topic of chemotherapy whilst you are waiting for a response from the oncologists. I am sure you will realise that it is not all miserable for dogs on chemotherapy. If I was personally in a situation where I had to do the chemo path again, I would do it in a heartbeat but due to there being so many chemo protocols and options if there were any problems I would only use a specialist. It is unreasonable to expect the primary vet to know everything about cancer as they have to know so much about all the different illnesses our dogs can get. Specialists are expected to know THEIR field.

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1. Sending tumours to the lab saves lives
2. Pet insurance allows you to give your dog the best treatments available
3. Using an oncologist gives your dog the best chance of survival.

Hi Rimini,

It's amazing how quickly dog's adapt to 3 legs, isn't it? Especially in these cases of bone cancer, once you remove the site of pain they are much happier.

Without knowing all the details of your dog's case, when osteosarcoma of the limb is treated with amputation alone, the disease usually comes back in the lungs or other bones (or elsewhere) within 4-5 months in most cases. Using chemotherapy after amputation may increase this time to around 12 months in about half the dogs, and of these another half may still be in remission at 2 years. I.e about 1 in 4 dogs treated with amputation and chemotherapy are alive and well 2 years from diagnosis.

Therefore, where appropriate I always recommend follow up chemotherapy in these dogs,

Amy

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Small Animal Oncology
Registered Specialist in Veterinary Oncology
Newcastle Region