EffieGrey

We used Canna Companion - https://cannacompanionusa.com/We started with the regular strength capsule for large dogs once a day, eventually increased it to twice a day. I think we then did a capsule and a half in the PM but I'm not positive about that (it's been a while and her medication regime was extensive). We then went to the extra strength capsule for large dogs which was too strong for her and made her vomit. That was very soon before we had to put her to sleep, so all of her meds were at the highest dosages.

We used it for both of our greys during their palliative care for osteo. I do feel that it gave them pain relief, of course in conjunction with the regular pain meds and treatments. We did have to increase the dose over time, and the high dose at the end made Effie vomit. We cut it back and she was OK, but it was scary (she'd had tie-back surgery, so could easily aspirate).

We did palliative radiation for Effie, starting in August 2014. We caught her osteo pretty early. She got about 4 really good months out of the first session (she was getting pamidronate monthly as well). We had to do another round in December, and it did help again, but not quite as dramatically. We also switched her to zoledronate monthly at that time. She lasted until early March 2015, and then the pain was too much and we had to put her to sleep. The cancer had also metastasized at that point (she started coughing up blood the day we euthanized her). Edit to add, her tumor was in her right humerus.

My Carmen ate Honest Kitchen only for years, and did great with it. She doesn't need a dry food with it, unless cost is a consideration.

We used pamidronate for Effie until it stopped working and then switched to zoledronate. Her cancer was quite advanced when we switched, and we were only able to get one dose in her (the day that we planned to adminster the second dose, we ended up having to euthanize her). However, it helped her tremendously - it was much more effective than the pamidronate, and she got a lot of relief from it during that month. It was much quicker to administer than the pamidronate as well, and that was a huge relief as she really didn't like going to the vet. If I had to go through this again, I would start with the zoledronate as I think it's more effective.

My girl finally lost her battle with osteo last Tuesday. She was in a lot of pain, and had started coughing up blood which means it had probably metastasized to her lungs. We had a vet come to the house and it was a very peaceful passing with lots of cookies. We miss our sweet Effie so much and we were so thankful to get 7 good months after diagnosis with her. She was only a couple of months shy of her 14th birthday.

My very picky dog didn't like it, but your mileage may vary. Costco will take it back if you don't have good results.

Did he improve at all on the antibiotics? My osteo girl just had a UTI, and culture came back completely clear. 2 weeks on ABs cleared her up and she's been doing great since. She was drinking tons and peeing whenever she slept no matter how often I took her out. I would say it probably took about a week before I noticed a distinct difference on the antibiotics.

I wanted to post this for anyone who is dealing with osteo and going the palliative care route. Effie was diagnosed with osteo on August 10, 2014. She is 13 years old, and we decided to do palliative care to treat the symptoms based on her age and other factors. We did radiation therapy and a pamidronate treatment a week after diagnosis, and pamidronate treatments once a month thereafter. In the beginning of December, she started to decline - walking became difficult, lots of pain. We increased her pain meds and did another radiation therapy, neither of which gave her much relief. We tried zoledronate in place of pamidronate on January 11, and at first saw no difference. I told my husband that if we didn't see improvement, it was time to discuss euthanasia because she was so uncomfortable. That week, she started to improve tremendously. She's now back to where she was before she declined in December, living a full and happy life with little pain. She'll get her second dose of zoledronate this weekend, and we're hopeful that it will continue to help as well as it has this month. Our oncologist was hesitant to use it at first due to cost, but I'm so glad she decided to try it.

The app is amazing - so fast and easy and you just take a picture of the invoice with your phone.

We are going through palliative care right now with our 13 year old greyhound who also has osteo in the shoulder. We've gotten 5 months past diagnosis with her, although the last month has been tough and she is going downhill. If you can afford it, the radiation therapy gave us the best pain management, and combined with monthly pamidronate treatments gave her about 4 months of truly happy, pain free life. Zena should also be on tramadol at this point (unless her kidneys prevent it?) and we've recently added Amantadine to Effie's lineup due to breakthrough pain. We did two radiation therapy rounds at two treatments each round. One round was at the very beginning and one was recently due to her pain worsening. We will be trying out zoledronate this weekend for her, it's supposed to be stronger than pamidronate. Our vet is a fantastic oncologist who specializes in palliative care, so I know Effie is getting the cutting edge treatment. Best of luck, this is truly a horrible disease and every hound diagnosed breaks my heart. Dr. Couto did consult with us when first diagnosed and our regular practice vet wasn't positive, and confirmed the osteosarcoma diagnosis. He is excellent at reading the x-rays.

Jennifer, we are right there with you. We're at 4.5 months past diagnosis, and they were good months of virtually no symptoms. Then a week ago, she got up from a nap and could hardly put weight on her leg. Microfractures. She's now limping constantly and sometimes severely. We did another pamidronate treatment, upped her pain meds and added amantadine but the amantadine and the gabapentin take a week to truly take effect so we're still not sure if they're helping at current levels. She's still eating well and in good spirits, so I don't feel it's time yet, but I know she's hurting. We'll try another radiation therapy treatment before we decide she's had enough, but it really upsets me that she's in pain. This disease is truly heartbreaking. We had her in to emergency (we were also concerned she'd fractured her leg) and that vet gave her a fentanyl patch which helped the pain but made her groggy and unwilling to eat. I hope that Willie still has some time left with you.

I highly recommend the Help Em Up harness. http://helpemup.com/ My osteo grey wears one every day to navigate stairs (we live on the second story). I hold the handle and walk with her, and if she trips, I am able to easily grab her and prevent catastrophe. Effie only wears the front harness, but if I need to actually carry her up and down the stairs, I can add the back harness and lift her easily like a suitcase. It's comfortable for her and gives her peace of mind that she isn't going to fall.

My regular vet diagnosed Effie based on her breathing, but the actual diagnosis under anesthesia was made by a board-certified surgeon (just before the tie back surgery).

Give Echo a little time to adjust to the pain meds. When Effie started them, they would make her tired, but now that she has taken them for some time, they don't seem to affect her. I would definitely speak to your vet about adding in the gabapentin.