TwiggysMom

I am so sorry that both Joey and Chloe have gone. My thoughts and condolences go to their families.

Aw, look at her beautiful little happy face! She looks so content laying there. I am really glad to hear that the infection finally seems to be waning. This sure has been tough on all of you! Hoping for continued good reports!

Run free, Mimosa I'm glad to hear Sadie is doing better, and hope that she will start to feel like eaating more soon!

I am so very sorry that you had to let Mimosa go.

Those are great photos of Nell. I also love the gleam in her eyes in that first photo! Looks like she's planning something really good! I'm glad hear that things continue to go well.

Robin, I'm sorry for your and your family's loss. Sasha was a special girl.

Thank you for all your thoughts. I still haven't made up my mind one way or the other. I do believe that she probably doesn't actually need the rabies vaccine. According to her paperwork, it looks like she was double-vaccinated for rabies when she retired, and she's been regularly vaccinated since then (until 4 years ago). The City of Chicago, being what it is, won't seem to let me register her without a valid IL rabies id. (I couldn't register her with her Wisconsin rabies vaccine, either). It's only a $5 registration fee, so it doesn't actually seem to be about the money for the city (for once...). Edit: forgot to mention I do have letters from her oncologists saying she should be allowed to not be vaccinated. My concern re the dental is twofold - the danger of a large one-time release of bacteria because of the dental, versus the ongoing buildup of bacteria from not doing one, and of course the ever-present anesthesia risk. It sort of makes sense to me that a release of bacteria caused by the dental would be anticipated and prophylactically treated with antibiotics, so that might mitigate the risk somewhat. I actually live right next door to the vet's office, and we stop in there several times per week, so I don't think they would have an issue with admitting her for the dental, but that is a good point to ask about. Kathy, thanks for the article about raised potassium levels. I feel like I heard about this before (maybe several months ago?), but it is a salient point, and something to bring up for sure. Twiggy's vet does the dentals herself (and they do constant monitoring). I feel like she would be in good hands, and I know how much they care about her. So, I feel like we have all kinds of good circumstances lined up for doing the dental, but I will still have to think on it some more. Thanks again!

As a refresher, Twiggy is post-osteo (now 2.5 years!), and rads this past Monday show no evidence of metastasis at this point. She has been off of all chemo since about July 2012, and her oncologist has said that he would be fine with her having a dental and some vaccinations (primarily rabies). He obviously would want her to have full bloodwork done up before, and thinks she should be on antibiotics before/after any dental work. Her last 3-year rabies shot expired over a year ago, and she has only had 2 dentals in her life (most recently I think about 4 years ago). She is 9.3 years old. Twiggy has pretty good teeth for a greyhound, but she has definitely been in need of a dental for over a year now. I am leaning toward doing both, but there is always the little fear in the back of my head that something coud go wrong. I could never forgive myself if I decided to go through with a dental and for some crazy reason she didn't come out of anesthesia. She's had general anesthesia a few times since her amp (and while on chemo); she's never had any trouble with it. Her regular vet is out on maternity leave till early April, and she is the only one I would have do this so I have plenty of time to decide (or torment myself over it ). Also, her vet practice loves her to bits, and I know they would take the utmost care with her, so that is reassuring. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and any factors I might not be considering.

Chad, I am so very sorry you had to let Jesse go.

My vets will give me prescriptions to fill wherever I want, and they don't charge me a fee for it. I do sometimes use online pharmacies, but will only use Vet-VIPPS certified ones (any my vets know that), so they are OK with it. Of course, with over $30k in vet bills in the last 2-3 years, I think I'm probably throwing enough money their way anyway!

I finally got the official discharge papers and radiology report, and it was all good news! The radiologist didn't even mention the "white spots" her oncologist told me about. In summary it said: no pulmonary nodules, no osseous lesions, no evidence of metastasis. The discharge papers from her oncologist recommended seeing her again in 6 months, not the usual 3. I don't know if that was just him forgetting that I've always made 3-month appointments (a lot of clients don't), or if that is an indication that he feels her prognosis is better at this point. Obviously, I am thrilled and humbled to have reached this point with Twiggy.

I'm so happy to hear that things are continuing to move in the right direction!

I've seen greyhound bloodwork comparison charts before, but never anything nearly as comprehensive as that! Thank you!

Kim, how sad and shocking for this to have come on so quickly. I was hoping to hear good news about Casper this week. I am so very sorry.

Nancy, I am very sorry to hear about your girl's osteo diagnosis. What the doctor told you about the pamidronates is basically correct. However, the answer to whether it is too good to be true or not is the degree to which you expect it to do those things. As Kristin said, pamidronates are part of a palliative care protocol. Pamidronates, radiation, aggressive pain medication protocols and other holistic options including artemisinin can help some dogs with osteo live comfortably for months (sometimes many months) more than they would otherwise. What they cannot do is cure or reverse osteo. Unfortunately, there is really no cure for osteo, even with aggressive "curative intent" treatment of amputation and chemotherapy. There are rare cases where osteo is caught early enough that the amputation itself cures the osteo, however there is no way to know early on if this has happened (if a dog survives 4-5+ years, you can usually infer that the dog has been cured, but there still is no proof), so typically owners who are trying for a year or more of osteo survival will also choose iv chemo. The chemo will not cure osteo, it just keeps metastasis at bay for some period of time; sometimes only a few months, sometimes a few years - again, no way to know which of these you will get. The real kicker is that while typically survival times are much shorter for dogs who receive palliative care versus amp/chemo, this is not always the case. Some palliative care dogs live a year or more, and some amp/chemo dogs only survive a few months. Which route you choose is very personal, and depends on the dog (health/physical condition/temprament, etc.), as well as your personal and household circumstances. Cost can also be a factor, but both palliative care and amp/chemo are very expensive. The cost of radiation and pamidronates add up very quickly - I think a lot of people aren't expecting that. Edited to add: Tracy, we were posting at the same time. That is really good to hear, because I'm pretty sure that's what he said. I still haven't heard back from them. I'll try calling them again tomorrow.

Thanks Judy and Chris - I'm not panicking (aside from my baseline panic level - lol); her oncologist seemed confident enough that all is fine, but of course at this stage literally anything could happen. And also (as you all know) I'm beyond aware that we have already far surpassed amazingly fortunate.

That really looks like great progress to me too! I'm hoping that everything continues to move as quickly in this direction, and that she is all healed asap!

I'm happy to hear that Sadie started eating again! Being able to get all her meds in is great. Hopefully the "blob" will subside normally over time. Twiggy had quite the "jelly belly" for at least a week post-amp (unrelated to her infection - just normal fluid build-up). It would be fantastic if Carl just is having a weird bone infection related to that nail/foot injury! Weird, non-osteo diagnoses are great, so I'm pulling for a complete resolution with the antibiotics!! Kyle, thank you so much for posting your link. I know you've posted it before, but like Chris, I've got it bookmarked now. This exactly the kind of information people want, and you all put so much thought and research into it, that it is an amazing resource for people. Kim, I'll be thinking of you and Casper tomorrow and hoping his rads show good results from the Palladia. Heather, I'm not sure about weather related specifically to osteo pain, but I know it definitely plays a role in arthritis and other inflamatory conditions, so it seems logical to me that it would be impacting Seka, too. I hope she's feeling better! I'm still waiting with bated breath for Twiggy's radiology report. Her oncologist said that he saw a "couple white spots", but that he felt they were *blood vessels*? (I'm not sure exactly what he said, I think that's it). He thought the radiologist would agree that these weren't anything to worry about, but I don't have either her discharge papers or the actual report yet (supposedly tomorrow). So, still crossing my fingers!

That really does look like a difficult area to address with bandages. However, if Manuka honey is as good as they say, just adding it into the mix must be helpful. I would think that even if the bandages fall off, some of the honey will stay and do its stuff. As Kathy mentioned, I'd almost be glad the bandage didn't stick. I'd hate to have to peel a thoroughly-stuck bandage off of that area. Continuing to send my best to you all.

A supplement that both Twiggy's holistic and regular vet really like is Duralactin. It acts as an anti-inflammatory without being an nsaid. It uses (I think) hydrolyzed milk proteins (miralactin). I can't say that I've seen results specifically from this (or anything) for Twiggy's issues, but hers is a different case. The fact that both vets have very good things to say about it was enough for me to keep Twiggy on it. (It's clearly not hurting, and may be helping).

Kim, I'm glad it sounds like the abx seem to be kicking in. I hope the puffy paw calms down soon! Kyle, I second Chris' request for Charlie's diet info. I seem to be the osteo contact for a number of local groups, and many want to do as much holistic care as possible. I haven't done an awful lot in that regard, and I know you have so much excellent information that I'd love to be able to pass on to others who are really looking for guidance.

You could even just use double-sided carpet tape on the sill - it won't hurt her at all, shouldn't scare her, but won't be pleasant for her to put her paws on the sticky stuff.

I haven't been logged in for a while, and there is so much sad news in here. I am sorry to hear that Jesse, Joey and Carl are all battling osteo now, too. Also hoping that Sadie's recovery goes smoothly - it really is tough the first couple weeks, but after that things can move forward really quickly. Keeping everyone in my thoughts...

Oh wow, poor Nell and poor you as well! You've all been through the wringer with this! I don't know whether this is something to consider, but with Twiggy's infection we treated it with a VacTherapy bandage instead of antibiotics (we actually did use antibiotics to prevent additional infections, but we did not have an antibiotic that would effectively treat the active infection). Unfortunately, this was not a feasible at-home treatment and she had to be hospitalized for five days with it. If you're not familiar with VacTherapy (I certainly wasn't), it utilizes a surgical sponge inserted in the affected area and hooked up to a suction device that drains the infected area constantly. I hope this starts to turn around quickly!

Wow what a scare! Last thing you needed for sure. I'm glad he's home and starting to be able to relax a bit!