Tumors And Daily Behavor

[Guest memadeit]

I took my Pazzo in to the vet's to have a dental done and while he was out cold, to have two corns removed. (He has been limping since the day that I got him almost two years ago.) I asked before he went in if they removed corns before and they said yes, well, they cut his feet up real good getting them out. He seemed to recover slowly with his feet, but when he finally started to get a little spunky, he hit the kichtrn floor at a scamper,and he slid into a chair and screamed. (Pazzo is the silent strong type) We ended up talking him back to the vet''s with a swollen knee, the doctor said he messed up his knee real good. Any more problems, we would bring him back. He didn't really improve, and a huge lump ended up developing. Back we went to the vets. Did an x-ray and found that he has a tumor affecting the bone. Hubby and I did talk and decided that a biopsy will be done then we will decided how to proceed. Just a tumor, we will have the leg removed and go on, if Bone cancer, then we will deiced.

 

My question is, for those of you whose grey has ended up with bone cancer, Did he act much different after it was found out? Or did he just act like nothing was wrong other then being in pain?

 

Pazzo is acting perfectly normal except a very sore leg. He is eating fine, sleeping fine as long as he hasn't ended up trying to use the leg. The affected leg has gone down hill since he hit it, but as long as the pain pills keep coming, he does almost everything else in the same manor as before.

[Jackandgrey]

I have no personal experience. First I'm so sorry about the tumour. Second from all I have heard and read here, I would really suggest not doing a biopsy. They are extemely painful. A fine needle aspiration is generally what is required for diagnosis of OS and is a much gentler option.

 

for you and your boy.

[Guest memadeit]

I have no personal experience. First I'm so sorry about the tumour. Second from all I have heard and read here, I would really suggest not doing a biopsy. They are extemely painful. A fine needle aspiration is generally what is required for diagnosis of OS and is a much gentler option.

 

for you and your boy.

 

I have already decided that a needle aspiration is what will be done. If comes out fine, then the leg will come off. There is no way that his quality of life will be good with his leg the way it is now. If they do take the leg, then a biopsy of the bone dirrectly can be done AFTER the leg is off.

[Guest HeatherDemps]

Sorry to hear about your pup being in pain....

 

My greyhound started limping one Sunday right around Thankgiving- to the point where he started screaming. Trip to the ER vet led to Rimadyl. He was on that only for a couple of days and the limp didn't come back, so my vet felt it was likely nothing serious. Fast forward to right before Christmas and the limp came back early Friday morning. X-rays showed a bone lesion in the front right leg. We scheduled the biopsy for the morning of Christmas Eve. After learning more about the biopsy, I went to the vet that morning and cancelled the procedure. I decided to do the FNA through an oncologist at the nearby vet school. He told me the biopsy would lead to my dog being lame for a week- no one else had told me that. Anyway, at the school, they were going to use this "real time" x-ray machine to guide the FNA but my dog had a crazy reaction to the sedatives and they couldn't do it this way. After temp and pulse eventually came down, they did it blind. Unfortunately the results were not a diagnositc sample. A week later I went through with the amputation without knowing for sure that it was osteo, which was later confirmed.

 

The 2 oncologists we worked with told us that it was unlikely to be anything other than cancer, given the breed, the location of the lesion, and his age. I was scared to amputate without the confirmation, but the reality was that my dog was in pain no matter what the cause was. He has adapted very well and turned 12 last month.

 

I would suggest having your vet consult with Dr. Couto at Ohio State University- have your vet email the x-rays and he and his staff will give a second opinion. Can also be helpful to consult with an oncologist as well. If it turns out to be cancer, you may also want to join Circle of Grey (just google it) as I have found this to be the best source of information and support when dealing with cancer.

 

Also, pain mangement is very important if it is bone cancer. We found a combination of Rimadyl and Tramadol to be pretty effective with this. Once we started these meds, we couldn't tell at all that our dog was sick. It was pretty upsetting to take him outside and KNOW that cancer was eating at his leg, but not be able to tell a thing- we knew what we had to do but this did seem to make the decision a bit harder.

 

Prayers for you and your hound,

Heather

Edited April 14, 2008 by HeatherDemps

[Guest memadeit]

Right now he is taking rimadyl 75 mg. He can not do any weight baring at all on his leg without screaming. I saw the film myself and the best I can describe it is flowering around the bone itself. or another way to describe it is cotton balls piled around the bone. But my vet is a small town vet, and the xray is regular film. But I am lucky on the lines of he got a new partner recently, and she has worked with greys in the past. He wanted to get her option before doing anything and she took off for a few days. I looked up the cancer site and was going to print out the pages for when we went back in. Going to call tomarrow to see if she looked at the films yet. I am in MS, so if there is an oncologists around here, I would have no idea. I will talk to him about it.

 

He has been limping ever since we got him and his limping has gotten worse over six months ago. My DD questioned me about how good he looks and how he hasn't really lost any weight and for how long he has been limping. So I am hoping that its not cancer.

 

But one thing I do know is that I am not ready for him to cross the bridge. I saw the films and the tears started to come and didn't stop for over four hours. But if he does have to go, I am glad that I did get him out of the kennle that he sat in for over eight months after being bounced and took him into a family that everyone ended up falling in love with him. At least I can say he has been happy.

[Guest jurishound]

I am so sorry to hear about your boy. Please do have your vet forward the radiographs to Dr. Couto - I'll find his email address - and if O (can't say the word) is confirmed, your vet may also suggest doing radiographs of the chest. Dr. Couto will be able to guide you. Good luck - and hoping for the best possible outcome for your boy.

 

ETA: Dr. Couto's email address: couto.1@osu.edu

Edited April 15, 2008 by jurishound

[Guest HeatherDemps]

I understand how upsetting it is to find out that your baby may have cancer. Definitely do check out Circle of Grey- there are so many wonderful, supportive people there with (unfortunately) a lot of experience with this. You might want to google vet schools if there are any near you. I'm fortunately in that I live about an hour away from the University of Illinois so I was able to get Demspey in to see oncologits there.

 

For the x-rays, my vet uses regular ones too, but I guess they took photographs of the x-rays and emailed those to Dr. Coutu. Although the quality is not as good as digital, it was still helpful and also helpful to my vet to be able to speak with him.

 

Perhaps also talk to your vet about adding a pain med to the Rimadyl. As I mentioned, we had good luck with Tramadol and I know others have used something else that starts with a "D".

 

We were very fortunate in that Dempsey was in perfect health, other than the cancer. We don't know how soon we caught it, but I am hopeful that it was early.

 

Also, I found this website to be pretty informative and helpful when we first found out and were trying to get more info on cancer and treatment options-

 

http://www.bonecancerdogs.org/

 

Heather

 

 

I don't know where this is in relation to you, but here is what I found for your state-

 

Kim Johnson

Mississippi State University, CVM

P.O. Box 6100

Mississippi State, MS 39762

Phone: 573-882-7821

Fax: 573-884-0705

 

Specialty: Oncology

[Guest memadeit]

GREAT!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!

 

That is very very close to me, as in a 30 min. drive. I will deffently talk to my vet.

 

 

I understand how upsetting it is to find out that your baby may have cancer. Definitely do check out Circle of Grey- there are so many wonderful, supportive people there with (unfortunately) a lot of experience with this. You might want to google vet schools if there are any near you. I'm fortunately in that I live about an hour away from the University of Illinois so I was able to get Demspey in to see oncologits there.

 

For the x-rays, my vet uses regular ones too, but I guess they took photographs of the x-rays and emailed those to Dr. Coutu. Although the quality is not as good as digital, it was still helpful and also helpful to my vet to be able to speak with him.

 

Perhaps also talk to your vet about adding a pain med to the Rimadyl. As I mentioned, we had good luck with Tramadol and I know others have used something else that starts with a "D".

 

We were very fortunate in that Dempsey was in perfect health, other than the cancer. We don't know how soon we caught it, but I am hopeful that it was early.

 

Also, I found this website to be pretty informative and helpful when we first found out and were trying to get more info on cancer and treatment options-

 

http://www.bonecancerdogs.org/

 

Heather

 

 

I don't know where this is in relation to you, but here is what I found for your state-

 

Kim Johnson

Mississippi State University, CVM

P.O. Box 6100

Mississippi State, MS 39762

Phone: 573-882-7821

Fax: 573-884-0705

 

Specialty: Oncology

 

[Guest HeatherDemps]

Awesome!!

[iluvgreys]

I'm so very sorry to hear that Pazzo has a tumor on his leg. Poor pupper... if it's bone cancer, it's likely that he needs a stronger combination of meds, such as Tramadol + an NSAID. I've lost 3 hounds to this monster. The aggressive form of OS progresses quickly, to the point that I lost them within 6 weeks of the first limp. Amputation will give him instant pain relief, but will take 3-4 weeks for healing of the site. Definitely get involved with the Circle of Grey yahoo group HERE and send the x-rays to Dr. Couto for his opinion. Keeping your sweet boy in my prayers...

 

PS. And yes, their behavior was "normal" until close to the end when the pain began affecting appetite and mobility too much. Dogs live in the "now" and don't realize what's ahead. Be strong for your boy.

Edited April 15, 2008 by iluvgreys

[Guest trevdog]

I would do the aspirate and get another opinion on it. I find it odd but not impossible that a sudden fall that created a bump on the knee has become a tumor. Is this the same location as the tumor or is it somewhere different in the leg? Sending lots of prayers.

[Guest memadeit]

I would do the aspirate and get another opinion on it. I find it odd but not impossible that a sudden fall that created a bump on the knee has become a tumor. Is this the same location as the tumor or is it somewhere different in the leg? Sending lots of prayers.

 

 

He hit the outside of the leg (knee area) on the dining room chair. His whole knee swelled up. But the lump was there big as anything after the swelling went down. It was not there to be seen before the accident. The lump itself is right above the knee joint. I can see the lump being there undetected and then the accident agrevated it enough for it to get bigger afterwords. The lump itself is on the hard side to the touch.