Question concerning osteosarcoma

[Pawsdedeux]

Sorry if this has been discussed, I couldn’t find a good set of keywords to search.

I’m looking for information regarding early age bone fractures indicating a possible predisposition or link to osteosarcoma later in life.

I understand this might fall under professional opinion and not actual study.  Have you ever heard of fractures at a young age being a yellow flag for later bone issues?  

This is personal.  I have a girl who came off the track at age 2-1/2 with a bad fracture.  Extensive surgery with pins, screws, the works.  It took awhile but she healed well and does not limp. I recently lost Remington, my sweet sweet cowgirl who passed May 25.  Doxie now age 5 is pretty sad looking.  She looked to Remi for clues.  My gpa representative has a 4 yr old brindle who came off the track due to a leg fracture.  This is my worry, if both would likely suffer it later in life.  Again, I know many, too many of our greys develop osteo.  But is an early break part of that?  Doxie is my first grey with a break at a young age, although I have lost 3 to osteo over the years. 

 

[ramonaghan]

Unfortunately, I don't think they know. Dr. Couto sends out the attached PDF when you do a consultation with him. The prevalence of osteosarcoma in racing greyhounds could be down to genetics or the repetitive stress on their joints, or some combination thereof. There are many greyhounds who flunk out of racing and still get osteo, just as there are many who had long racing careers and don't get it. It seems like a total crapshoot. There *is* evidence of old injuries becoming arthritic, and I can attest to that from personal experience with my first hound. In your position I'd probably adopt the new girl (we'll all enable you here!) and start her on a good joint supplement asap. 

I'm sorry for your losses. Having lost my first girl to osteo in 2022 and now dealing with it in a five-year-old, I hate this disease with every fiber of my being. Keep us posted on how it goes with Doxie—and hopefully her new friend.  

OSA HandoutOwners.pdf

Edited October 10, 2023 by ramonaghan

[Pawsdedeux]

Thank you Ramonaghan.  The arthritis will likely occur with Doxie at some point.  Good idea about Claudia, I used to use those supplements.  Dr. Scott and I can work to manage that the best we can.  I admit osteo scares me a LOT; my heart Remi was just walking in our house when she took a misstep and broke her left leg below the joint.  She had never even limped.  It was just in May and I am still heartbroken and crying.  
Thanks, too, for the encouragement. I need to move forward so Doxie can share the spoiling and be happy again. 

[ramonaghan]

11 minutes ago, Pawsdedeux said:

Thank you Ramonaghan.  The arthritis will likely occur with Doxie at some point.  Good idea about Claudia, I used to use those supplements.  Dr. Scott and I can work to manage that the best we can.  I admit osteo scares me a LOT; my heart Remi was just walking in our house when she took a misstep and broke her left leg below the joint.  She had never even limped.  It was just in May and I am still heartbroken and crying.  
Thanks, too, for the encouragement. I need to move forward so Doxie can share the spoiling and be happy again. 

I totally understand how you feel. A leg break was our first sign with Sweep also, and I know all too well the fear of it happening again since I have littermates and one has osteo. But I'm sure you'd agree that the good times outweigh the bad, and we have to "be more dog" and live in the moment with them. I hope you can adopt Claudia to help heal both your heart and Doxie's—and we'll need photos if you do! 

[greysmom]

I'll just second everything said below - no one really knows.  The *may* (may possible, might be) some genetic link that runs in particular sire or dam lines, but there's been nothing scientifically proven.  Yet.  At least one vet I know - who is a former greyhound racing trainer - is collecting data for such a meta-study, but I don't think she has any even tentative results.

I'll pass on what I was told by our orthopedic surgeon.  I also had a 2 year old suffer a catastrophic leg fracture after coming into my home.  We were competing in an AKC 200 yard racing event, and she broke her leg right above the hock.  Her leg was a mess and took us over two years, several surgeries, an external fixator for 6 months, and two rounds of bones grafts to get her back to functional.  Our surgeon is one of the best in our state and he works on greyhounds frequently.  I asked him a question very much like yours, and his answer was interesting.

He said, basically, that greyhound thigh muscles - the ones that power their speed - are so strong that they cause the torc force being put on the bones to exceed the level that their long bones can handle.  Between the ground and the dog's muscles, the bone in between is the weakest point.  Essentially, they break their own legs during running.  This makes sense, since many/most broken legs during a race happen on the turns when the force is going to be at its highest.  Whether some dogs are more predisposed to have this happen isn't really known or understood.

It's heart-breaking to have to go through osteo.  Really.  I've been there, and many, many of us here on GT have been too.  But as far as we know right now developing bone cancer is a complete and total crapshoot.  There doesn't seem to be any correlation between "normal" leg breaks early in life and getting osteo later in life.  They might.  Or they might not.  My osteo boy was a training school dropout who never had a sick day before he broke his leg just running in the yard at 10 years old.  My other greys with serious hock breaks never got it - though several passed from other kinds of cancers later in life.

So.  Start supplements for your girl now and monitor her for developing pain and arthritis.  The supplements form the Greyhound Gang are all good.  We just recently starting using this one:  Canine Process - Musculoskeletal Support  and it's been really good so far.  Both my dogs have perked up considerably, running around, digging, playing with toys and balls.  I've been using one dose per day, every other day with good results.

And adopt that other girl!!!

[Bill419]

When I adopted Bug (bb's Dancing Bug) at a little over 3 years old she also came off the track with bone fractures where she needed surgery and had pins and screws installed. In her case after the bone healed her skin didn't so she had a second surgery to remove all of her pins and screws. She was always very protective of her leg and wouldn't let anyone near it. She also had a hard time walking on tile floors. Other than that she was fine. She ran with my other greyhounds in the backyard. She lived to be 13 years, 6 months without any problems. At the time I had 5 greyhounds and Bug was my alfa.

[LazyGrey]

My here goes out to anyone having gone through the issues with osteosarcoma. My dogs adoption papers it stated "broken leg" (at age 4) and I never got the whole story on what actually happened, but you can tell it was just above the ankle. I haven't seen any issues and the vet doesn't either.

But thinking ahead, if they do break a leg, how do you handle this situation with such a large dog? My dog has bitten me before and has space issues, so I can't imagine how I would physically get him to a vet in such a situation. I do have a carry/lift belt for a large dog just in case, but when they are in pain

and knowing your dealing with a broken bone, how do you get them safely to the vet? 

[Remolacha]

If you don’t already have a muzzle for your dog, get one. It doesn’t hurt him and will protect you ( and the vet ) whenever you have to do something he may not like.

[ramonaghan]

I believe @Time4ANap has posted about a stretcher before for just such a situation. Try searching the forum for "stretcher" or maybe he will see this and chime in.

I will add that Sweep could be reactive too (sleep startle and space issues around her bed) but when she broke her leg, she must have been full of adrenaline and was able to walk (tripodding) with help. We used her harness to get her into the car. (A help 'em up harness and Ruffwear's Flagline or Webmaster are great options.) We honestly were shocked she'd broken her leg because she was so stoic. Definitely not everyone's experience but just sharing ours. Adrenaline makes a difference for everyone involved.

[LazyGrey]

Never occurred to me to think of getting a stretcher! Great info, I will check it out. Seems like a good thing to have even if you hopefully never need it. I have a muzzle that I would definitely use

in such a situation.