Osteo Thread

[Guest suzanne]

Hi everyone! I'm finally registered to post here - I have been trying to register for weeks but my email wouldn't allow me to for some reason so after some help from ADLorenz and the support tech, I'm in. I've been reading these Osteo threads for nearly two months now and I've read all the previous osteo threads. Firstly, I want to say well done to everyone going through this with their hound at the moment and thank everyone, past and previous, for sharing their experiences of osteo, it's been so helpful to me. I'm writing from Ireland and as yet have not found many forum threads dedicated to osteo in the Irish or UK sighthound forums so this place has been a god send.

 

My beautiful girl, Freya, aged 8, was diagnosed 7 weeks ago. We are going palliative care only and have been advised 6 months (from when we were told, i presume) is the best life expectancy we can hope for. It's very hard to fathom BUT she has actually improved in some ways in the last week or two and is back to her happy, cheeky self. Her osteo is her hind leg and she doesn't use this leg at all anymore. While her mood is good, she can no longer go on long (or even medium) walks, requires regular rests on walks and seems to rest a lot at home, though so do our healthy hounds. It's a greyhoundy thing, after all.

 

Freya is on one dose per 30kg dog of metacam a day and half a paracetamol twice a day. We also have tramadol which we give as per pain. We had a real scare a few weeks ago where she was horribly uncomfortable one night and we couldn't do anything to help. We rang our vet who said that this was Freya's way of saying it's time to let her go we were in bits all night and the next day bringing her into the vet but she had perked up considerably and the vet said it hadn't progressed the way she'd feared and that things were ok. Thank god. She gave us the tramadol then and while we've used it a few times since, it hasn't needed daily use.

 

The vet says there are spots on Freya's lungs and that her heart is enlarged. She felt amputation wasn't an option because of the spots and eitherway, I don't think it would have suited Freya as an option.

 

We are trying to enjoy every day and take the good things as they come. I'm a lot more positive in the last week or two because every morning I've woken up and Ms Frey has been roaching She wouldn't do that if she was in bad pain!!

 

Freya now eats whatever meat she likes and the naturediet wet food with supplements including a double dose of salmon oil. Her appetite is great.

 

Anyway, that's a brief intro to our story. Any help/advice appreciated.

 

I'll post a couple of pics because my girl is beautiful and it's nice to share

 

We adopted Freya from the Orchard Greyhound Rescue in January 2011 (yes, this recent ) We had been planning to adopt our other greyhound, Kelsis, after seeing him on the website and went to visit him in November 2010. That day, the owner of the rescue rang to say she'd be a bit late because a fawn greyhound had been found abandoned in a bog and was so ill she didn't know if she'd make it. We arrived later on and the moment we walked in the door, this stunning but skeletal fawn with bandages covering big wounds, swollen joints and a scarred face, walked shakily right up to us for cuddles. We said we wanted her immediately! It was truly love at first sight. I don't know who mistreated her so badly but she has blossomed now and looks so beautiful. She is an amazing girl.

 

Here's a before and an after pic:

 

 

 

Edited August 26, 2011 by suzanne

[45MPHK9]

Post deleted.

Edited August 31, 2011 by 45MPHK9

[Guest suzanne]

Hi! thanks for your reply! Bee is STUNNING! Nice to hear from someone else is the same boat as I remember seeing you're going the palliative route as well. What age is Bee and how is she doing? Freya can no longer use her bad leg but gets around well on three.

[45MPHK9]

Post deleted.

Edited August 31, 2011 by 45MPHK9

[greysmom]

You're more than welcome Suzanne! Your Freya is a beautiful girl. I'm glad she's getting along well.

[Guest roselle]

Berkeley was fine (and roaching!) after we got home from the vet, ate dinner fine... and now ~7 hours later is very restless. He's whining a lot and also drinking and drinking and drinking.... is it nausea? I have no idea what's wrong, just that he's clearly unhappy.

 

First round of chemo went fine - no issues at all. They used the same dosing this time, supposedly, but it also wasn't our regular onco vet so I don't know if something was different this time?

 

 

Grace had 6 treatments with carboplatin. She had an anti-nausea drug in her I.V. before leaving the hospital and I followed up with oral anti nausea meds for 4 days. She did very well and never experienced chemo side effects other then slight loss of appetite the day of treatment. I hope this helps. Hugs, white light and prayers to you. Roselle

[Guest roselle]

Hi everyone! I'm finally registered to post here - I have been trying to register for weeks but my email wouldn't allow me to for some reason so after some help from ADLorenz and the support tech, I'm in. I've been reading these Osteo threads for nearly two months now and I've read all the previous osteo threads. Firstly, I want to say well done to everyone going through this with their hound at the moment and thank everyone, past and previous, for sharing their experiences of osteo, it's been so helpful to me. I'm writing from Ireland and as yet have not found many forum threads dedicated to osteo in the Irish or UK sighthound forums so this place has been a god send.

 

My beautiful girl, Freya, aged 8, was diagnosed 7 weeks ago. We are going palliative care only and have been advised 6 months (from when we were told, i presume) is the best life expectancy we can hope for. It's very hard to fathom BUT she has actually improved in some ways in the last week or two and is back to her happy, cheeky self. Her osteo is her hind leg and she doesn't use this leg at all anymore. While her mood is good, she can no longer go on long (or even medium) walks, requires regular rests on walks and seems to rest a lot at home, though so do our healthy hounds. It's a greyhoundy thing, after all.

 

Freya is on one dose per 30kg dog of metacam a day and half a paracetamol twice a day. We also have tramadol which we give as per pain. We had a real scare a few weeks ago where she was horribly uncomfortable one night and we couldn't do anything to help. We rang our vet who said that this was Freya's way of saying it's time to let her go we were in bits all night and the next day bringing her into the vet but she had perked up considerably and the vet said it hadn't progressed the way she'd feared and that things were ok. Thank god. She gave us the tramadol then and while we've used it a few times since, it hasn't needed daily use.

 

The vet says there are spots on Freya's lungs and that her heart is enlarged. She felt amputation wasn't an option because of the spots and eitherway, I don't think it would have suited Freya as an option.

 

We are trying to enjoy every day and take the good things as they come. I'm a lot more positive in the last week or two because every morning I've woken up and Ms Frey has been roaching She wouldn't do that if she was in bad pain!!

 

Freya now eats whatever meat she likes and the naturediet wet food with supplements including a double dose of salmon oil. Her appetite is great.

 

Anyway, that's a brief intro to our story. Any help/advice appreciated.

 

I'll post a couple of pics because my girl is beautiful and it's nice to share

 

We adopted Freya from the Orchard Greyhound Rescue in January 2011 (yes, this recent ) We had been planning to adopt our other greyhound, Kelsis, after seeing him on the website and went to visit him in November 2010. That day, the owner of the rescue rang to say she'd be a bit late because a fawn greyhound had been found abandoned in a bog and was so ill she didn't know if she'd make it. We arrived later on and the moment we walked in the door, this stunning but skeletal fawn with bandages covering big wounds, swollen joints and a scarred face, walked shakily right up to us for cuddles. We said we wanted her immediately! It was truly love at first sight. I don't know who mistreated her so badly but she has blossomed now and looks so beautiful. She is an amazing girl.

 

Here's a before and an after pic:

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Suzanne welcome to our support group. I'm so sorry you have to be here. My Grace was diagnosed last july 2010. We went the amp/chemo route and had her for one year after diagnosis. We had to let her go last month. I wanted to go the way we did to have more time with her and prepare myself to losing her. I've learned that the grief is there if you let them go day 1 after diagnosis or get to keep them for a year. For me it was a wake up call to be mindful of every moment I spent with her. She also slowed down on her walks and finally stopped taking them. I found other things for her to do. My 5 year old granddaughter who is a very good reader read to her each day. Grace loved being read to. We went to our local small dog park and she sat on a blanket with me and visited with human and dog friends. Most of all she loved car rides. I'm sure you'll come up with a few. This group held me up, moved me forward and kept me going. I could NOT have gotten through this without them. If I put out an S.O.S. in the middle of the night I had helpful answers by morning. Sending you hugs and prayers.

[45MPHK9]

Post deleted.

Edited August 31, 2011 by 45MPHK9

[Guest carla7]

Hello everyone:

 

My beautiful and sweet Great Pyrenees girl (age 8) was just dx with osteosarcoma this past Sunday. Since then I have been a wreck. I have been reading up on various sites about this horrible cancer and have been trying to assimilate it all.

 

She woke up the Sat am prior and was almost non-weight bearing in her front left leg. I thought maybe she had stepped on something or pulled a muscle. On Sunday we went to the vet.....xrays showed a large "moth eaten appearance" at her carpal area. We started her on Tramadol 100 mg twice daily and Rimadyl 100mg twice daily. Almost immediately after her first dose of Rimadyl, she was hardly limping. So far we have maintained this medication regimen and she is now back to her normal self......playing with her "babies" and walking without any lameness.

 

I want to add that approx one month ago, she started doing this thing where she would bark and then kind of gag as if to vomit but didn't actually vomit. It happened intermittently maybe once a day or so..........(I don't know if this is indicative of mets to the lung or not but..)

 

Anyway, we have decided not to amputate as she has a rather long body and was really unable to get up from a lying position those two days when she wasn't bearing weight on her leg. So we think she probably would not be a good candidate for an amputation. We are scheduled to meet with an oncologist/radiology on Sept. 7 to discuss palliative radiation and also treatment with Pamidronate.

 

After reading LOTS on the cancerdog website, I have started home cooking for her high protein, high fat, low carb. I have also decided to try flax oil w/cottage cheese twice daily and the artemesinin. Other people have seemed to have some success with Essiac tea........I am also considering this.

 

One question I do have is has anyone done the palliative radiation and found that their dog ended up with a bone fracture........I am scared to death about this happening and she loves her walks but now I am so very frightened (after the vet told me that just standing can cause a break in the bone w/dogs that have osteosarcoma)........to continue walking her.

 

Thank you so much to anyone with any suggestions, comments or thoughts. As you can imagine, I am devastated and am having some trouble being able to "live in the moment" and I am trying so hard to stop crying so that she won't sense my sadness.

Thanks

Carla

[KF_in_Georgia]

Carla, I am so sorry to read this.

 

I don't have much advice. I had a dog break a leg standing in my living room. (It was never diagnosed as osteosarcoma, but really--what else could it have been, even if it didn't show on x-rays?) It can happen, and it's horrible. It was awful enough with a petite greyhound I could lift and carry to my car. And it happened while I was home. I came home from work, the dogs were fine, I went outside to fetch the groceries, and she started screaming while I was in the carport. I hate thinking what it would have been like for her if I'd been at work when it happened. The very size of your girl is going to present more problems for you...and perhaps increase the likelihood of a fracture. And if you're away from home on a walk... Think through how you'll cope, who you'll call to come get the two of you... Things like that. (And never leave the house with her unless you've got your cellphone with you so you can call for help.)

 

Meanwhile, see if you can push to see the oncologist before September 7. That's a long time (17 days from diagnosis to appointment) to wait to just start talking about treatment.

 

Others will chime in, I'm sure, about pain meds and diet and things like that. I never got that far with Oreo; she threw a blood clot and died in surgery (since we didn't realize it was cancer, the surgeon was implanting a pin in the bone).

 

Best wishes to you and your girl.

Edited August 28, 2011 by KF_in_Georgia

[Guest snakes]

Carla,

Sorry to hear about your girls diagnosis. We all know how overwhelming it can be!

FedX was diagnosed in january, and due to a series of incidents in March we went to the oncologist to discuss palliative radiation. I had already opted to not amputate.

We did one dose of palliative radiation (our vet had had good results with her dog) and his pain was worse, we waited a few days because sometimes the manipulation of the limb for radiation can be painfull, but it never got better. The oncologist said it may take more than 1 dose to see a difference, i wasn't willing to risk him more pain. So we started pamidronate and it has made a wonderful difference! He just got his 5th treatment and he is doing great! I have posted before this and you can search and find it, but it has been wonderfull for FedX, however it can be costly.

WE keep walking and just pay close attention to what FedX tells us he can handle, he tells us if he wants to walk or not.

Good luck!

[Guest azlorenz]

Hi everyone! I'm finally registered to post here - I have been trying to register for weeks but my email wouldn't allow me to for some reason so after some help from ADLorenz and the support tech, I'm in. I've been reading these Osteo threads for nearly two months now and I've read all the previous osteo threads. Firstly, I want to say well done to everyone going through this with their hound at the moment and thank everyone, past and previous, for sharing their experiences of osteo, it's been so helpful to me. I'm writing from Ireland and as yet have not found many forum threads dedicated to osteo in the Irish or UK sighthound forums so this place has been a god send.

 

My beautiful girl, Freya, aged 8, was diagnosed 7 weeks ago. We are going palliative care only and have been advised 6 months (from when we were told, i presume) is the best life expectancy we can hope for. It's very hard to fathom BUT she has actually improved in some ways in the last week or two and is back to her happy, cheeky self. Her osteo is her hind leg and she doesn't use this leg at all anymore. While her mood is good, she can no longer go on long (or even medium) walks, requires regular rests on walks and seems to rest a lot at home, though so do our healthy hounds. It's a greyhoundy thing, after all.

 

Freya is on one dose per 30kg dog of metacam a day and half a paracetamol twice a day. We also have tramadol which we give as per pain. We had a real scare a few weeks ago where she was horribly uncomfortable one night and we couldn't do anything to help. We rang our vet who said that this was Freya's way of saying it's time to let her go we were in bits all night and the next day bringing her into the vet but she had perked up considerably and the vet said it hadn't progressed the way she'd feared and that things were ok. Thank god. She gave us the tramadol then and while we've used it a few times since, it hasn't needed daily use.

 

The vet says there are spots on Freya's lungs and that her heart is enlarged. She felt amputation wasn't an option because of the spots and eitherway, I don't think it would have suited Freya as an option.

 

We are trying to enjoy every day and take the good things as they come. I'm a lot more positive in the last week or two because every morning I've woken up and Ms Frey has been roaching She wouldn't do that if she was in bad pain!!

 

Freya now eats whatever meat she likes and the naturediet wet food with supplements including a double dose of salmon oil. Her appetite is great.

 

Anyway, that's a brief intro to our story. Any help/advice appreciated.

 

I'll post a couple of pics because my girl is beautiful and it's nice to share

 

We adopted Freya from the Orchard Greyhound Rescue in January 2011 (yes, this recent ) We had been planning to adopt our other greyhound, Kelsis, after seeing him on the website and went to visit him in November 2010. That day, the owner of the rescue rang to say she'd be a bit late because a fawn greyhound had been found abandoned in a bog and was so ill she didn't know if she'd make it. We arrived later on and the moment we walked in the door, this stunning but skeletal fawn with bandages covering big wounds, swollen joints and a scarred face, walked shakily right up to us for cuddles. We said we wanted her immediately! It was truly love at first sight. I don't know who mistreated her so badly but she has blossomed now and looks so beautiful. She is an amazing girl.

 

Here's a before and an after pic:

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome Suzanne. I'm glad we finally got you where you need to be. Freya is beautiful.

[Guest snakes]

I know I don't post much here but i check in often, I don't know if i need advice or support or anything in between.

FedX was diagnosed January and has been doing well over all (some good some bad weeks). We have been doing palliative care with pain meds and pamidronate and recently he has been walking well and a generally happy go lucky boy. I never really entertained amputation due to the survival statistics and his medical history of seizures and a mast cell cancer on a rear leg (his OS is in front distal radius).

Today he tweaked his leg by jumping down with a slight run that he shouldn't have (my fault really, but that is aside the point). So now he is limping badly again, which in the past he has done and it takes 2-4wks to recover from. Each time his leg seems more swollen.

He has so far lived longer than I could have ever hoped for (amp or not amped) and I am grateful every day for that. however he has done so well so far i am now wondering if he could be one of the few that if amped he would live a longer happier life. I am wondering if maybe i should reconsider...i just don't know.

I do know i would not do chemo or radiation (no second thoughts on this). I also know that the two weeks following amp we would have to live elsewhere due to the fact i live up two flights of stairs and could never carry him post amp without significant pain and possible trauma to the surgical site (i am carrying him down now and could due it after healed).

Sadly finances are part of it as well, i don't know if i can afford amp, i don't know how much it is since i would only due the amp, not the chemo/rediation.

Any thoughts are welcomed....i wish i had xray vision and was psychic to know what the future holds....

[45MPHK9]

Post deleted.

Edited August 31, 2011 by 45MPHK9

[Guest carla7]

Carla,

Sorry to hear about your girls diagnosis. We all know how overwhelming it can be!

FedX was diagnosed in january, and due to a series of incidents in March we went to the oncologist to discuss palliative radiation. I had already opted to not amputate.

We did one dose of palliative radiation (our vet had had good results with her dog) and his pain was worse, we waited a few days because sometimes the manipulation of the limb for radiation can be painfull, but it never got better. The oncologist said it may take more than 1 dose to see a difference, i wasn't willing to risk him more pain. So we started pamidronate and it has made a wonderful difference! He just got his 5th treatment and he is doing great! I have posted before this and you can search and find it, but it has been wonderfull for FedX, however it can be costly.

WE keep walking and just pay close attention to what FedX tells us he can handle, he tells us if he wants to walk or not.

Good luck!

 

I am so glad to hear that FedX is doing so well with the pamidronate tx. It makes me hopeful that persephone will be able to also do well.

 

Have you changed diet/added any supplements? At this time, we may hold off a bit on radiation tx as she only has a slight swelling of the tissue around the tumor and it is barely noticeable on her wrist area. I am so frightened that radiation may weaken the bone further. Also she doesn't seem to be in pain as she is still very playful with her toys and such.

Carla

 

Carla, I am so sorry to read this.

 

I don't have much advice. I had a dog break a leg standing in my living room. (It was never diagnosed as osteosarcoma, but really--what else could it have been, even if it didn't show on x-rays?) It can happen, and it's horrible. It was awful enough with a petite greyhound I could lift and carry to my car. And it happened while I was home. I came home from work, the dogs were fine, I went outside to fetch the groceries, and she started screaming while I was in the carport. I hate thinking what it would have been like for her if I'd been at work when it happened. The very size of your girl is going to present more problems for you...and perhaps increase the likelihood of a fracture. And if you're away from home on a walk... Think through how you'll cope, who you'll call to come get the two of you... Things like that. (And never leave the house with her unless you've got your cellphone with you so you can call for help.)

 

Meanwhile, see if you can push to see the oncologist before September 7. That's a long time (17 days from diagnosis to appointment) to wait to just start talking about treatment.

 

Others will chime in, I'm sure, about pain meds and diet and things like that. I never got that far with Oreo; she threw a blood clot and died in surgery (since we didn't realize it was cancer, the surgeon was implanting a pin in the bone).

 

Best wishes to you and your girl.

 

Thanks for the well wishes. We are going to try for an earlier appt.......but that is all they had as of yesterday. Maybe we will just do very short walks and I will make sure that her "daddy" is with us also in the event that he needs to get the car in an emergency. I think I will also keep a harness on her while we do our walks. Alternately we could do no walks but I want her to enjoy what time she has left and she really lives for her walks. I'm so sorry about your Oreo. I just hate that these fur babies have to go through this!!!

Carla

[Charlies_Dad]

Suzanne, I am sorry to read of Freya's diagnosis. Freya is beautiful and thank you for opening your home to this angel. From what I know of palliative care, your timeline of 6 months is usually at the high end of estimates however it depends on so many factors. We chose a different path for our Charlie (amp & chemo) so I can't really provide you with advice however Jen (Neylasmom) and FedX's mom can as they both have gone the same path you chose and have fought hard for their pups. Again I am sorry Freya was diagnosed as it's obvious she has a strong spirit and deserves a lot more time with you.

 

Carla, I am sorry to read of your girl's diagnosis as well (what's her name by the way?). One med you may want to consider getting is Gabapentin and you may have read about this in earlier posts in this thread. It helps a lot of pups and isn't as expensive as Tramadol. I understand your concern about her fracturing her leg as it can happen anytime and the best thing you can do is have a plan as Kathy suggested.

 

Snakes (sorry I don't know your name!), you never know with this disease as to what is the best path, there are just too many factors involved. The only advice right now I can give for you is to have x-rays done for FedX on his leg and lungs to try and determine whether the cancer has spread. If it is not in his lungs, then amputation is still an option and it will provide pain relief as you know. And yes, finances are something to consider as it varies by vet/hospital and how long the pup stays in there. I believe you can expect the cost to range between $2500-5000 and that's a guesstimate only. We were at the high end of that range because we kept Charlie at the hospital for 5 days. Some pups have come home as early as two days after so that would cut the cost significantly. One other thing to remember is your decision was not a wrong one, it was what you felt best for FedX and he has done very well so far.

[Guest snakes]

 

I am so glad to hear that FedX is doing so well with the pamidronate tx. It makes me hopeful that persephone will be able to also do well.

 

Have you changed diet/added any supplements? At this time, we may hold off a bit on radiation tx as she only has a slight swelling of the tissue around the tumor and it is barely noticeable on her wrist area. I am so frightened that radiation may weaken the bone further. Also she doesn't seem to be in pain as she is still very playful with her toys and such.

Carla

 

 

Carla,

I have changed his diet, he gets a higher protien kibble (TOTW) now with veggies mixed in (i was lucky both mine love veggies). He was already getting raw chicken 4x week/1meal and we continue with that.

 

Supplements, yes, we added fish oil, cod liver oil, calcium, multivitamin, flax, and a herbal remedy (one of his vets practices with chinese herbs). He was already on curcumin for his mast cell tumor. I also added in artemisinin. Recently I also added in boswellia. Also he was already on glycoflex for his arthritic toe

[Guest carla7]

Hi everyone! I'm finally registered to post here - I have been trying to register for weeks but my email wouldn't allow me to for some reason so after some help from ADLorenz and the support tech, I'm in. I've been reading these Osteo threads for nearly two months now and I've read all the previous osteo threads. Firstly, I want to say well done to everyone going through this with their hound at the moment and thank everyone, past and previous, for sharing their experiences of osteo, it's been so helpful to me. I'm writing from Ireland and as yet have not found many forum threads dedicated to osteo in the Irish or UK sighthound forums so this place has been a god send.

 

My beautiful girl, Freya, aged 8, was diagnosed 7 weeks ago. We are going palliative care only and have been advised 6 months (from when we were told, i presume) is the best life expectancy we can hope for. It's very hard to fathom BUT she has actually improved in some ways in the last week or two and is back to her happy, cheeky self. Her osteo is her hind leg and she doesn't use this leg at all anymore. While her mood is good, she can no longer go on long (or even medium) walks, requires regular rests on walks and seems to rest a lot at home, though so do our healthy hounds. It's a greyhoundy thing, after all.

 

Freya is on one dose per 30kg dog of metacam a day and half a paracetamol twice a day. We also have tramadol which we give as per pain. We had a real scare a few weeks ago where she was horribly uncomfortable one night and we couldn't do anything to help. We rang our vet who said that this was Freya's way of saying it's time to let her go we were in bits all night and the next day bringing her into the vet but she had perked up considerably and the vet said it hadn't progressed the way she'd feared and that things were ok. Thank god. She gave us the tramadol then and while we've used it a few times since, it hasn't needed daily use.

 

The vet says there are spots on Freya's lungs and that her heart is enlarged. She felt amputation wasn't an option because of the spots and eitherway, I don't think it would have suited Freya as an option.

 

We are trying to enjoy every day and take the good things as they come. I'm a lot more positive in the last week or two because every morning I've woken up and Ms Frey has been roaching She wouldn't do that if she was in bad pain!!

 

Freya now eats whatever meat she likes and the naturediet wet food with supplements including a double dose of salmon oil. Her appetite is great.

 

Anyway, that's a brief intro to our story. Any help/advice appreciated.

 

I'll post a couple of pics because my girl is beautiful and it's nice to share

 

We adopted Freya from the Orchard Greyhound Rescue in January 2011 (yes, this recent ) We had been planning to adopt our other greyhound, Kelsis, after seeing him on the website and went to visit him in November 2010. That day, the owner of the rescue rang to say she'd be a bit late because a fawn greyhound had been found abandoned in a bog and was so ill she didn't know if she'd make it. We arrived later on and the moment we walked in the door, this stunning but skeletal fawn with bandages covering big wounds, swollen joints and a scarred face, walked shakily right up to us for cuddles. We said we wanted her immediately! It was truly love at first sight. I don't know who mistreated her so badly but she has blossomed now and looks so beautiful. She is an amazing girl.

 

Here's a before and an after pic:

 

 

 

 

Hello Suzanne:

 

I'm sorry to hear about Freya's dx. My Persephone was also recently dx. Have you thought of trying to Pamidronate tx? It is supposed to help w/pain and also to strengthen bone. They use it w/people as well.

I would also suggest that you may want to try artemesinin. I have begun using it with Persephone, and she seems to be more energetic since we began it.

 

Also what is "roaching"? I notice some others on this board using that but am not sure what it means.....is it something that only greyhounds do?

 

I will keep you and Freya in my thoughts and prayers!

Carla

[Guest carla7]

 

Carla, I am sorry to read of your girl's diagnosis as well (what's her name by the way?). One med you may want to consider getting is Gabapentin and you may have read about this in earlier posts in this thread. It helps a lot of pups and isn't as expensive as Tramadol. I understand your concern about her fracturing her leg as it can happen anytime and the best thing you can do is have a plan as Kathy suggested.

 

My girl's name is Persephone. Thanks for the thought about Gabapentin.......I will ask my vet about that. With regards to bone fractures, she's been quite feisty lately and running about chasing her balls..(giving me a nervous breakdown!!).....and although she is a lady, she is NOT delicate when she plays! I wonder if there is some type of brace/bandage that I could use to give her leg more support?

Carla

 

Bee Wiseman waiting out Hurricane Irene today.

 

Precious!

[KF_in_Georgia]

Also what is "roaching"? I notice some others on this board using that but am not sure what it means.....is it something that only greyhounds do?

 

Carla,

 

This is roaching:

 

My just-adopted girl, Silver Hornet

A dog sleeping on her back with her feet in the air...like a dead bug.

[45MPHK9]

Post deleted.

Edited August 31, 2011 by 45MPHK9

[Batmom]

Some basic info about Essiac: http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/69215.cfm

[45MPHK9]

Post deleted.

Edited August 31, 2011 by 45MPHK9

[Guest Betsy]

My heart goes out to all of you on this thread. We lost our very first grey to Osteosarcoma and have gone on to be on our 4th grey. We just lost our 3rd grey (had 2 at one time) to hemangiosarcoma on July 1 which was hard but we thought we can get through it as we still have our 4th grey, Taylor's Moonbeam. We found out about 3 weeks after Dixie passed that he also has hemangiosarcoma and had multiple tumors removed. I had found another one and took him into the vet for that plus some lameness and was shocked to find out that the hemangiosarcoma is the least of our worries. He has Osteosarcoma high up in the back hip near the spine. Because of the location, amputation is not an issue and the vet said that chemo won't work for this kind of osteo. So Pallative care is our only option. We will go back to the vet on Thursday and get a second round of xrays to see how fast progressing this case of osteosarcoma is. That will determine a lot of things but right now he is on Tramadol and Deramaxx. I will say that since we started the medication, he is back to his old self-no lameness, running, rambunctious and happy. We know that there will be an end much sooner than we care for but I haven't been ready to part with any of the previous three.

 

All of you will be in our thoughts and prayers. I don't understand why greys seem to get cancer so much but I know that we have loved every one of them and life has been richer for them and us.

[Guest carla7]

Also what is "roaching"? I notice some others on this board using that but am not sure what it means.....is it something that only greyhounds do?

 

Carla,

 

This is roaching:

 

My just-adopted girl, Silver Hornet

A dog sleeping on her back with her feet in the air...like a dead bug.

 

Awww........my Persephone does that also.......I think they are adorable when they sleep like that!

 

Other people have seemed to have some success with Essiac tea........I am also considering this.

 

Can you elaborate on this, Carla?

 

There are many people on the cancerdog board who have been using the Essiac Tea. They seem to feel that it was helpful for their pups with osteosarcomas. Persephone won't drink it unless I mix it in chicken broth and I only started it yesterday so I will let you know if I find any difference in her with it. I'd also be careful not to give too much as it can cause diarrhea. Persephone is getting 2 oz. twice a day right now.

Carla