Victor

Kim, I'm sorry to hear Casper's mets didn't respond to the Cytoxan. I hope he tolerates Palladia okay, and that it helps control the mets. Lana had that dry cough upon getting up for quite some time, so hopefully Casper can continue to keep the cancer at bay for a good period of time still. Our thoughts are with you. Victor

When we were struggling with this, our vet suggested we try using the "Quality of Life Scale" that was developed by Dr. Alice Villalobos. You can download it here: http://www.pawspice.com/downloads/QualityofLifeScale.pdf Hope this helps.

I'm so sorry for your loss, Tara.

Previcox worked well for our grey. I second JohnF's recommendation to add an acid reducer to the mix. We gave Lana a famotidine (Pepcid) a half hour before breakfast. Then we gave her Previcox (1/2 tablet) with dinner. She wouldn't swallow the tablet, so we crushed it and mixed it with baby food. Then two hours after dinner we gave her Sucralfate. (She was having some GI issues at the time, so the vet wanted to be extra careful.)

Sorry to hear about Chloe. Let us know if you have any questions. Keep up the good work, Twiggy!

Heather, keep in mind that gabapentin's effect builds up over time. When increasing Seka's dose you (and Seka) may not immediately notice the effect of the increased dose. Not sure about the swelling; you should probably ask your vet about that. Glad to hear Henry had a good week. Kim, that's interesting that your vet said Casper would have to be off Deramaxx for a week to start Piroxicam. I know they have to wait a week when switching from NSAIDs to steroids, but I didn't think they had to wait when both are NSAIDs. I wonder if Deramaxx is somehow different from the other NSAIDs? In any case, if Casper tolerates the Deramaxx okay maybe there's no need to switch?

Glad to hear Casper's tolerating the Cytoxan okay. Try not to get discouraged! Hopefully the Cytoxan is doing its job and controlling the mets, but if it isn't you can explore other options at the next appointment. For now just try to cherish each day as a gift. The respiration rate you mentioned previously is wonderful. As others have mentioned, some greys have done well for quite some time even with lung mets. I pray that that will be the case for Casper. p.s. Is Casper on an NSAID or an anti-inflammatory like the one Wendy mentioned? If not, you might ask about that. Anti-inflammatories apparently also help restrict the growth of lung mets.

Thanks, Kim. We're doing the best we can, I guess. My wife found a book called "Good Grief" that was helpful. The other saving grace has been Duke, Lana's "brother". We have to be strong for him. For supplements we were giving Lana artemisinin (100mg before bedtime), K9 Immunity Plus (2 chews per day), and I'm-Unity polysaccharopeptide (2400mg per day). As far as medicines, she was on Previcox (for inflammation and pain), gabapentin (for pain), and fluoxetine (for anxiety). She didn't get a chance to try cytoxan after her third bad experience with Palladia. One thing you might consider doing now (if you haven't already) is establishing a baseline for Casper's respiration rate. Then you can monitor for changes over time. It's easy to do: you just count the number of times he breathes during 60 seconds while he's napping or sleeping (but not dreaming). Sources vary, but it seems normal respiration is 12-24 breaths per minute. I think I'd also video record Casper's normal breathing, just so you have something to compare against. Hopefully it'll be a long time before breathing is an issue for Casper, but I think it'd be good to establish what's normal for him now.

I don't know about dementia, but if it is anxiety you might try fluoxetine (Prozac) as a long-term alternative to alprazolam. Fluoxetine did wonders for our Lana's anxiety. The only drawback is you have to be careful about which pain meds you use when they're on fluoxetine, since opioids (e.g., tramadol) combined with fluoxetine can lead to serotonin syndrome.

Thanks everyone. We appreciate your condolences. Lana would've been happy to know so many people cared about her. Keep up the good fight Casper, Henry, Libby, Twiggy, Treetop, and all the other greys battling this horrible disease.

It breaks my heart to write this, but Lana is no longer with us. Over the past several weeks her coughing due to the lung mets had been getting progressively worse, and she had started coughing up blood. She was also having increasing difficulty breathing, even at rest. One of the mets that had developed under the skin of her hind leg had ruptured and refused to heal, and the other looked like it was about to rupture. She was clearly suffering physically, and there wasn't anything else we could do for her. Lana passed peacefully at 4:30pm on January 8, 2014. Four years ago, on January 9, 2010, Lana came to live with us. Her eighth birthday would have been on the 28th of this month. On May 20, 2013, we had the first sign that something was wrong: Lana had pain in her front right shoulder. We didn't know anything about osteosarcoma back then and treated it as a muscular pain. Even on June 14, when we first noticed Lana favoring her back right leg, we assumed it was muscular and treated it as such. It wasn't until the pain kept getting worse that we had x-rays taken and learned that it was most likely osteosarcoma. This was confirmed by needle aspiration on July 3: osteosarcoma in the right distal femur. Lana's back right leg was amputated on July 10. Today would have been her six month ampuversary. My wife took this photo of Lana the morning of her last day. We tried to make it as happy of a day as possible for Lana. We gave her all of her favorite foods and treats (even a little chocolate), took her for a walk on her favorite path, and gave her all the hugs and kisses we could. Even though her body was failing her, her spirit was as strong as ever. Our hearts are broken and we miss her terribly, but we'll cherish the memories of our time together for the rest of our lives. Thank you for all of your support through this. We are enormously grateful for the additional time we had with Lana, and I don't think we could have done it without your help.

Hope Casper's appointment goes well!

TickEncounter has an article on dealing with a house infestation that may be of help: http://www.tickencounter.org/tick_notes/tick_notes_ticks_crawling_up_walls

What a beautiful photo of Katie. That's such a nice thing of your greyhound friends to do. Wishing Casper, Henry, Libby, Twiggy, and all the other greyhounds on here a greyt holiday! Lana was at the vet again yesterday for her conjunctivitis and increased difficulty breathing. They did a number of tests on her eyes, all of which came back normal. Here's the interesting thing: the ophthalmologist said dogs with lung mets often have conjunctivitis. They don't know why. This got me thinking about the on-and-off nature of Lana's conjunctivitis. The only consistent factor seemed to be whether she was taking Previcox at the time. When we stopped giving her Previcox (for example, when starting her on Palladia or when trying to get her GI tract settled), she would have conjunctivitis and difficulty breathing. As soon as we started her back on Previcox, her conjunctivitis would go away and her breathing would become more relaxed. We always attributed it to the conjunctivitis treatment at the time (eye drops, antibiotics, etc.), but now it seems it was actually the Previcox that was doing the trick. Last night Lana was really miserable (despite having started yet another antibiotic and eye ointment), so we decided to give her a dose of Previcox. Sure enough, within an hour or so the heavy panting stopped and she was breathing easier, and this morning she had almost no discharge from her eyes! In summary, if your grey (1) has lung mets, (2) isn't on an NSAID, and (3) has persistent conjunctivitis, see if you can get him or her on an NSAID. Incidentally, NSAIDs apparently also help with breathing difficulties from lung mets by reducing inflammation in the lung.

Thanks, Charlies_Dad. We appreciate it!

Thanks, Kim!

I hope Libby's new combination of meds are managing her pain without too many side effects. That's great that Casper's 2nd round of Doxo went well! He deserves a special Christmas present this year! Hope Henry's oncology appointment goes well tomorrow. Keep up the good work, Treetop! Update on Lana: We thought we were going to lose our little girl earlier this week. She was having trouble breathing, she was panting heavily, she didn't want to eat, and she had very little energy, not to mention ever increasing amounts of yellowish, mucusy discharge from her eyes. We had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but when her temperature hit 103.7 Monday night we decided to take her to the ER. They did some blood work but didn't find any evidence of infection. They said her elevated temperature could also be due to pain, inflammation, and/or paraneoplastic reaction, where the cancer affects the body's ability to regulate temperature. By the time the blood work had come back Lana's temperature had returned to normal, so they let us take her home until her appointment with her regular vet. Tuesday morning we were heartbroken, thinking we might have to say goodbye that afternoon. To get Lana to eat we gave her a breakfast of pan-fried beef tenderloin. We also gave her a Previcox on the off chance it might help. Right before Lana's appointment we took her for a walk, and she surprised us with her enthusiasm; there was life in her eyes again! At the appointment they did more blood work and a chest x-ray. The chest x-ray showed additional growth of the previous lung mets and some new mets, but no pneumonia. They recommended starting Lana on Clavimox to treat her conjunctivitis and any possible upper respiratory tract infection. They also put her back on gabapentin to manage any pain she might be having. (Previcox treats both pain and inflammation, but they advised against it due to all her recent GI problems.) Wednesday morning the discharge from Lana's eyes was gone and she was ready for a walk at 7:30am! She also ate breakfast without coaxing, and her breathing seemed less labored. It seems the Clavimox is working! We know Lana's lung function will continue to decline despite this improvement, but for now we're just happy she's still with us!

mhalton, I’m so sorry to hear about Libby. Has your vet talked to you about pamidronate? It’s a bone hardening drug that’s used when amputation isn’t an option. Also, you might consider radiation therapy to help ease the pain. I agree with the others about getting Libby started on gabapentin. If you do a search on GT you’ll find helpful information on dosing. It takes time for gabapentin to build up and have an effect, so it’s good to start it sooner than later. Also, just fyi, for palliative care it seems that gabapentin needs to be given at higher doses and more frequently than what vets commonly prescribe. Is Libby on an NSAID like Rimadyl, Deramaxx, or Previcox? If not, that will help, too. In fact, Libby will most likely need an NSAID plus gabapentin and tramadol, like 45MPHK9 said. With NSAIDs you just have to be careful about GI upset. If one NSAID causes problems you can try another. Also, you might ask your vet about giving Libby a daily antacid to help prevent GI problems. Again, I’m so sorry you have to join our club. Hugs for Libby.

Thanks, Wendy and Kim. Lana's GI issues seem to be resolving. She still has the conjunctivitis, though, and yesterday out of the blue we noticed two hard lumps on her hind leg. She seems tired again, too. We're going to take her back to the vet tomorrow. Hope Casper's chemo goes well. Will they take chest x-rays first to see if the chemo is having an effect on the lung mets?

Alicia, I'm glad you were able to get Henry's abscess drained and cultured. I hope they can prescribe an antibiotic that will take care of it. Wendy, that's incredible that the antibiotic for Twiggy would've cost you a year's salary! Thank goodness vac-therapy was an option. Lana's had a rough two weeks. We made the mistake of trying Palladia one more time, and it really did a number on her GI tract. She's still not completely recovered, but at least her appetite and energy level are improving. She's on cerenia, metronidazole, and sucralfate, plus neo/poly/gram eye drops for conjunctivitis, which also came back after the Palladia. I'm so angry at myself for trying Palladia again after she had reactions to it the first two times. Aside from being short of breath at times, she was otherwise acting completely normal before the third Palladia dose. Now I've robbed her of two precious weeks.

Did they culture it? If not, you might ask them to do that this time. If it's a strain that's resistant to certain antibiotics and they don't culture it, the antibiotic Henry's getting may not be doing any good.

I would take him in and have it cultured. The drainage that Henry's having looks similar to the fluid that drained from Lana's abscess after it ruptured. The surgeon put her back on Clavimox, but it still wasn't getting better so we took her to her vet who did a culture. Turns out Lana had a methicillin-resistant staph infection that wasn't responsive to Clavimox. Her vet switched her to Superfloxicin for 3 weeks, which eventually cleared up the infection.

I'm so sorry, bozicj. It's just not fair.

My thoughts are with you and Python. Lana's started coughing lately too. Our vet said that tends to happen when the mass starts pushing on the lung and irritating it. Our vet gave us three things to keep an eye out for: (1) change in gum color (paler than usual or bluish indicates she's not getting enough oxygen), (2) coughing up blood, and (3) decrease in appetite and lethargy.

I posted this to the osteosarcoma thread earlier, but it seems relevant here so I thought I'd share it, in case it's of help to anyone: I just received a reply from Dr. Mason regarding the possibility of treating Lana with the vaccine Dr. Mason is developing. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be an option for Lana. Dr. Mason writes, "We have only treated 3 dogs with visible mets at the time of potential vaccination (ie - after amputation and carboplatin) and these dogs have continued to progress rapidly. For visible large metastatic disease I would be more likely to try palladia rather than immune therapy" Lana had one lung met at the time I contacted Dr. Mason.