Pete

Thanks for posting your story, much appreciated. Similar story indeed. No sign of cancer, no bone deteriorating from cancer etc…. Except her fracture has healed “as expected”. But she’s been back and forth using it. She also had an infections post op. That was bad with lots of puss buildup. I was pushing puss that out of her for days. But it completely cleared up. Could that have left the mark showing up on the x rays now? That was about 6 weeks post op. The leg is thin with atrophy from the fracture still such that amputation probably wouldn’t be a big procedure. She’s 7.5 yo so she’s young enough that it’s worth it. But two things… how do I know it really is cancer? And second…. How do I know if it’s worth putting her through it all? We are prepared to make hard decisions. The shock is wearing off and we’re focused. So glad your hound is happy now. Our girl is actually very happy, strong and eating and doing well. She shows no signs of being sick at all. We just had a 45 min walk (three legs for most part).

I emailed him

The new vet has two greyhounds himself. The previous ones specifically warned it may be cancer (when her humerus fractured) and then said they don’t see it, ruled it out. Now it’s suddenly cancer. I would want to confirm it’s cancer no? And if so if it’s spread yes. She’s strong and I would consider amputation but only if she’ll live. Why careful jumping or activity?

I posted a couple months ago on our hound Fiona, 7.5 yo grey. She fractured her left humerus in late Oct. was surgically repaired. Healed well. But she has been slow reusing it. Good progress then regress and progress then regress again. They took images from time to time throughout. Said it looked good. Likely “soft tissue” sensitivity etc.. rimadyl. She went to another vet yesterday (we moved). He took a look. Said this ain’t right. Took x ray. He said he’s “90% sure it’s cancer, 10% maybe an infection”. He even circled it on the x ray I brought from the previous vet that said everything looked good. How could two, three vets be so far apart? She is healthy and strong and eating all just fine. Not using the leg much but slowing making progress. Now this. I do not know what to do now. She’s home. But I’m lost as to what’s next or what to do about this.

What caused the fracture? New vet telling me now it’s cancer. X-Ray. Says he’s 90% sure it’s cancer, 10% infection. I don’t know anymore what to do.

Good responses. Thanks. The PT does not yet entail water treadmill but will soon. Her skin is so thin at the elbow they wanted to wait. She had images again about six weeks ago and they said it’s healing “as expected”. And she was just back to the surgeon (and her vet) last week and both think the issue is pain in the shoulder from muscle atrophy (she never had a cast) that occurred with the fracture. We lowered her pain meds around the holidays and was doing ok, slowly improving. Maybe it was too soon? But she was on them for two months plus by year end. So they recommended we up her rimadyl again. So back to rimadyl. The surgeon is very good and supposedly did a masterful job on her fracture, nice guy too. He did say her range of motion has improved nicely. We also do PT at home daily, she tolerates it just fine. She broke her hine right hock racing about four n a half years ago. That’s how we got her. And you reminded me of that period with your girl. And I recalled that it did take her many more months than anticipated to really start using that leg and she was obviously favoring it for close to two years on. Uses it with no issue now. So maybe I’m just being too worried here? Give it more time. Just that they all constantly tell me she’s “behind” where she should be. We’ll see. Thanks.

Our 7yo girl hound broke her front left leg, humerus bone. She was running around the yard, zoomies. Ran toward me, lost her footing I think and banged into me. But however she landed with her front arm out it caused the break. Was awful. Got her to emergency vet and two days later they put a plate in and gear. No tumor / cancer. They didn’t biopsy but felt it was not due to cancer. That was in late October 2021. It’s healed. Problem is she won’t use it. She was making some slow progress but has pulled back again. Vet says it’s likely pain she’s feeling in shoulder. They upped her Rimadyl. But she needs to start using it and I’ve tried numerous methods and tricks and it’s not working. She gets PT and we do PT at home. Range of motion has improved. But she’s not really using it. We likely have only a limited window of time to get her using it. So any thoughts from any greys that had a similar front leg break or damage and how to get them using it? Thanks. Btw, she’s happy and healthy otherwise. It’s me who’s not. And I’m getting tired of the looks from people.