Advice For Palliative Care With An Osteo Dx

[Guest mama_mia]

Hi everyone!

I am looking for some tips on palliative care for a hound with osteosarcoma. Our beloved Mia (11.5 years old) was diagnosed earlier this week with osteo in her rear left hock. She appears to be fairly early in her course but is not a candidate for amputation because of other orthopedic issues. For now, her pain is well controlled on Rimadyl and Tramadol. We will progress to Gabapentin when we need it. We've been giving her lots of love and trying to keep her happy. I know way too many of you are experts on caring for a hound with this horrible disease. My question: what are your tips for me? What was the best thing you did for your hound when you were (or are) in our shoes? Thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us!

[MerlinsMum]

I have no experience with osteo, so I have no advice to give. Just wanted to say how sorry I am to hear about your Mia's diagnosis Sending lots of :grouphug I hope you still have a lot of quality time left with her.

[a_daerr]

No advice. Spoil your girl rotten.

[Charlies_Dad]

I suggest you come join us in the Osteo thread in H&M http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/292972-osteo-thread-part-vi/. The first post has good information and there are far too many of us have experience with Osteo. There are several people that have gone the palliative care route and have been able to provide a decent quality of life.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Charlies_Dad

[vjgrey]

I'm so sorry about Mia's diagnosis.

 

I second the recommendation to check out the Osteo thread. It's great for information and for emotional support.

 

You're on the right track with the medications - especially the Gabapentin. It makes a HUGE difference. Find out your hound's maximum dose of each from your vet, just in case you find she's struggling at night or on a weekend.

 

I know it hasn't worked for some hounds, but radiation treatments were a miracle worker for my Gabe. He had Osteo in two legs, so he wasn't a candidate for amputation. I think we did four treatments total. He actually had to be carried into the clinic for two of those, and immediately afterward, he was walking almost without a limp.

 

We also did Pamindronate treatments, which really seemed to slow the tumor's growth.

 

The absolute BEST thing we did for Gabe was to get a referral to a veterinary oncologist. It was expensive but worth every penny. Gabe's oncologist and his staff were beyond wonderful - we couldn't have asked for better care.

Edited January 17, 2013 by vjgrey

[Guest snakes]

My advice would be similar to VJGrey. Know in advance what the maximum dosages and timings are for all your medications. I found we generally increased gradually, but there were a few instances where we suddenly had to jump up due to a sudden increase in pain (usually due to something happening, like jumping around too much).

I would suggest restricting any jumping, running ect.

 

Everyone's pup responds differently, VJGreys Gabe responded really well to radiation, where FedX responded horribly too it. Unfortuantly no way to tell unless you try it.

We had VERY good results from pamidronate infusions, despite their cost.

Pain medication wise we found gabapentin to be the most helpful.

I also found cold weather really hurt his leg, last winter i made a leg warmer for him by taking a human one and sewing it in half. Just that little bit of cover really helped him.

 

Good luck!

[TwiggysMom]

You've already gotten great advice on the palliative care end of things, but I wanted to chime in and say how sorry I am that Mia had osteo.

 

I'll second or third the suggestion to join us over in the Osteo Thread. It has made a huge difference for me in my journey with Twiggy through osteo. I don't know where we would be without the information, support and advice we have received.

Edited January 18, 2013 by TwiggysMom

[45MPHK9]

I'm so sorry for the diagnosis. We let our ten year old Bee Wiseman go eight weeks after being diagnosed with osteo. She was on a combination of Deramaxx, Tramadol, and Gabapentin. With guidance from our vet, we continued to increase the dosages of these meds over the eight weeks. Osteo is very painful. Your vet should not be conservative in upping pain med dosages. You can find lots of information on dosages in the osteo thread.

 

Spoil your baby and take lots of pictures. Osteo is a cruel, terribly painful disease.

[schultzlc]

I don't have any advice for you, but wanted to tell you how sorry I am that your Mia was diagnosed with osteo. Enjoy every moment that you can with your girl!

[gryhnd_adoptee]

I am so sorry. I have been where you are, and all of the other suggestions are good suggestions. I will add just one small one which someone else suggested to me when we went thru osteo with our girlie. As hard as it is to do, you should not show any sadness around Mia. Greys are such intuitive dogs, that they can pick up and mirror your emotions. If you are sad with your pup, she will be sad too. I would come home all happy happy and high pitched happy voice and my girlie would be all waggy butt, then I would lock myself in the bathroom and cry knowing I was going to lose my girlie. Dogs live in the moment, and have no clue they are as ill as we know them to be. If you show happy, Mia will mirror happy.

 

Love and spoil her senseless during this journey.

[Guest mama_mia]

Thank you all so much! I've been poring over the osteo threads-such wonderful information but what sadness in so many cases. To see that so many have been where we are going...