# My dog has bone cancer - anyone else been through this?



## Foxy girl (21 December 2012)

Found out on Wednesday that our dog has bone cancer in his shoulder. He's a black flatcoat retriever and is only 8 years old. he started limping, I took him for an x-ray and they are 80% sure it's bone cancer. He's on strong meds but we're struggling to get him to eat and he's obviously in pain. 

Just want to know how others have dealt with this, how best to help him and when to know he's had enough? :-(

thank you
x


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## Amymay (21 December 2012)

A friends dog was diagnosed with this at a younger age.  Dog was put down on the day of diagnosis.


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## Foxy girl (21 December 2012)

Really amymay? Gosh that's awful... I can't bear to see our boy in pain and if he won't eat then he's not getting all the meds he needs (some of them have to be taken with food or they cause internal bleeding). I can't believe 2 weeks ago he was racing around like a loon and now he's so poorly.


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## weaselwords (21 December 2012)

I'm so sorry. We discovered our dog had it in his shoulder/ upper foreleg when he slipped on the floor and couldn't weight bear afterwards. He'd had a tumour in his gut area the year before. I suspect the bone cancer was a secondary. We had him put to sleep whilst under the anaesthetic for the X-ray.  Not a very heartening tale for you and I am so very sorry xx


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## Mellis (21 December 2012)

Big hugs as such poor prognosis


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## Amymay (21 December 2012)

Foxy girl said:



			Really amymay? Gosh that's awful...
		
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Not really.  The end was far less distressing for all involved.  No watching the dog deteriorate, no pain or suffering.  Just sadness and goodbye.

Quality, not quantity.


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## Surreydeb (21 December 2012)

Hugs to you - not been through this but mine currently has oral cancer so I know how you are feeling. We are keeping our boy going while he is eating and happy and leaving it to him to tell us when it's his time. Enjoying every precious minute. 
Ours wouldn't eat after his biopsies as he was so sore but he did eat scrambled eggs so I put his metacam in those and once that relieved his pain he was happy to eat other things. Vet also suggested warming his dog food up as it smells more appetising and basically trying anything!   Ours always had dry food but we have switched to tinned meat and he is loving it! 
Just try whatever you can to get him to eat and you can then syringe the painkillers into your dogs mouth.
We will both know when it's our dogs times  - have a hug from another who understands your pain xxxx


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## Maesfen (21 December 2012)

amymay said:



			Not really.  The end was far less distressing for all involved.  No watching the dog deteriorate, no pain or suffering.  Just sadness and goodbye.

Quality, not quantity.
		
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Have to agree with this, I'm sorry.
One of our bitches had a lump on her jaw, no bigger than a pea when we first saw it; a week later it had trebled in size, she was put down straight away.  There is no option and just because vets are now able to treat some forms of cancer does not make it ethically right to make the dog suffer for our benefit.

I'm sorry, but for his sake alone, you should let him go with dignity very shortly.


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## Alexart (21 December 2012)

My neighbors 12yr old lurcher had the same thing in her shoulder and went suddenly lame, she was put down on the table when the x-rays were done too as her shoulder blade had broken it was so riddled, she had gone off her food so wasn't fair to prolong the inevitable and make the dog suffer.  
I had one who was diagnosed with leukaemia at 9 and we had him put down as soon as he went off his food and wasn't happy in himself, and another friend had a ridgeback who suddenly one day was very tender along his back - she thought he'd bruised himself while playing and took him to the vet for painkillers - 2 days later he started to scream and had to have an emergency op at 2am, they found a massive kidney tumour which had spread to his spine so he wasn't woken up from the op - he was only 2.5yrs old and she had rescued him 8 months before so she was gutted!  
It's always a heart wrenching decision but it's the kindest thing to do especially if they are not themselves and it's a terminal illness.


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## Dobiegirl (21 December 2012)

Foxy girl Im so sorry about your dog, unfortunately it seems prevelent in this breed.

Make the most of your time , dont grieve yet, make every day count.

I wouldnt criticise anyone for wanting to spend more time with their dog under these circumstances, as long as they are pain free and are eating, I dont see anything wrong with this. I also dont have a problem with people putting down their dog when they get the prognosis, we all handle these situations differently.


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## {97702} (21 December 2012)

I have just been involved in the re-homing of a rescue lurcher with bone cancer, the animal shelter claimed their vet said he had 3-4 months left (on suitable painkillers) but my own vet put him to sleep 2 days later as he was suffering too much 

I know it is a matter of time before one of my own rescue greyhounds/lurchers has it, I am absolutely dreading it, but I also know I would ask the vets to PTS whilst the dog is under anaesthetic for the x-rays which confirm it, especially having seen the poor rescue lurcher in so much pain this week


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## djlynwood (21 December 2012)

Sorry, no advice. Didnt want to read an run. Thinking of you and your dog. Hugs x


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## Elsbells (21 December 2012)

We had a lurched years ago that had it in his hock. He was eating and drinking and didn't appear to be in pain but our vet said I had to choose a day for him to go, as one day he would get up and it would snap, then it would be an emergency. 

He had one last glorious summer and two days before a house move I had him PTS. Best and most loved family member ever!

My thoughts are with you OP.


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## cbmcts (21 December 2012)

I'm really sorry OP - it's a b**stard disease.

I lost my rottie at 8 yo to it in October.  He'd been to the AHT 2 months before and had an MRI scan (for a completely unrelated issue)which showed no sign of the typical lung tumours. He'd had a couple of weeks of mild lameness in October which the vets and I put down to muscle wastage because he'd stopped hydrotherapy for a few weeks as he had an infection at his mouth biopsy site. It spread that fast - to the extent that he came in the back door, turned and the bone in his foreleg snapped. I was very lucky that I was home and could take him straight to the vets. I dread to think how he would have suffered if I was out for any amount of time.

This dog had a scare with bone cancer a few years ago,unexplained lameness that didn't improve with rest and an xray showed a faint shadow on the bone. I wasn't offered an MRI for him that time so we decided to wait and xray again in a month. In the meantime I did a bit of research and found out a bit about this horrible disease. By the time the dog is showing symptoms the cancer had usually spread, often as small clusters of tumours in the lungs. In a lower leg cancer amputation is offered purely as pain relief - while the tumour is growing inside the bone it is agonising and as you have discovered standard pain relief doesn't touch it, vets usually offer a morphine derivative that dopes the dog - and then the dog has chemo to try and give it extra time. A year seems to the time aimed for but there are a lot of dogs PTS  before the hair has grown back on the op site. For practical reasons (bad back legs) amputation wasn't an option for my dog and even if it was I would have chosen PTS asap as major surgery and chemo just to extend life by such a short time goes against everything I feel about quality of life. JMHO.

Unlike other cancers, this one is exceptionally horrible because at any time the dog's bone can just fracture causing terrible pain (other cancers tend to show when it's animals time in less violent ways) and then you are dealing with an emergency rush to a vet - any vet that can stop the suffering.  

I'm sure there are success stories but sadly when I was looking they were very few and far between.

I'm sorry to be so pessimistic but I still feel sick when I think of how much pain my dog was in, even if it was only 20 minutes before he was put under for an xray at the vets once the bone fractured and I would hate anything else to suffer that.


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## FlaxenPony05 (21 December 2012)

Big hugs ((())) my late flat coat had spleen cancer and died aged only 6. It's terrible when they die young, feel awful for you  After diagnosis we just carried on as normally as possible with his daily routine and on the day he died he had been running around on the heath looking for foxes to chase. Flat coats are _such_ brilliant dogs XXX


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## Pendlehog (21 December 2012)

So sorry to hear about your poor flatcoat 

I've lost quite a few work dogs through bone cancer, if the xrays show cancer I've always let them go under the anaesthetic.  Cbmcts is right that they can cause the bone to become terribly brittle -  a friends son suffered from bone cancer last year, within a couple of weeks it had gone from a shadow on the xray to having eroded most of his tibia, the bone shattered when manipulated by one of his doctors.  The agony must have been unimaginable.
If any of mine had stopped eating at this stage, I'm afraid it would be the end of the line.


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## MissSBird (21 December 2012)

We lost our bernese at 8 to this (though that is old for that breed). He had a couple of painfree weeks with us and then told us it was time to go. 

I am so sorry, thoughts are with you right now.


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## Booboos (21 December 2012)

Just for another perspective...Dizzy was diagnosed with bone cancer following x-rays for lameness, all three vets in our local practice concurred. We got a second opinion from a specialist and it turned out to be an infection. Six weeks of antibiotics later and he was fine, so it's definately worth going to a specialist for a definitive diagnosis.

While we thought it was bone cancer I did a bit of research on the disease and for some dogs life can be prolonged with amputation and a new chemo regime that is being used in the US (this was two years ago so perhaps it has reached the UK). There are quite a few positive stories and resources here:

http://tripawds.com/


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## aintgotnohay (21 December 2012)

my scotty is nearly 11 he has tumours on his back and really bad teeth.vet put him on some strong painlillers,steriods and told to give him dental rinses.didnt want to operate on old dog with bad heart .he is happy eating drinking and playing.when it gets too much he will be put to sleep without delay.


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## Foxy girl (21 December 2012)

Thank you all for your messages - my main concern is to prevent him suffering - but I need my vet to tell me 100% that it's bone cancer (and not a bone infection etc).

He's just come in to see me for a fuss - going to treasure these precious times while I can.

Thanks again 
xx


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## Amymay (21 December 2012)

Amputation is just delaying the inevitable. And chemo would be a no goer for me I'm afraid. A terrible thing to put an animal through.


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## fallenangel123 (21 December 2012)

We lost our ten year old Dane x rotweiler to this just this time last year. He was just a little lame and doing ok on painkillers so we kept him going thro Christmas for the kids mainly. ( I'd spent the previous Christmas on life support so really needed a normal Christmas) 
  On the 29th he didn't want to get up or eat so was pts the following day. 
  You'll know when it's the right time for your dog, and nothing wrong with getting a second opinion if you want to be certain either.


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## MurphysMinder (21 December 2012)

I am so sorry, what a horrible time for you. I can understand you want to get the diagnosis confirmed.  Hopefully you will be able to get him eating and thus taking the painkillers soon and this will give you some time with him, however if this doesn't happen fairly quickly I am afraid I would make the decision to end his suffering.


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## Booboos (21 December 2012)

amymay said:



			Amputation is just delaying the inevitable. And chemo would be a no goer for me I'm afraid. A terrible thing to put an animal through.
		
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These were my first thoughts, however that was before I looked into it. The website I mentioned has a tons of stories of three legged dogs coping extremely well (front leg amputations), and provided they are good candidates for amputation they seem to have their lifespans extended by a couple of years. Of course it's an individual decision, but 2 years is quite a delay, and a significant part of a dog's overall life.

Chemo for dogs has far, far fewer side-effects than it does for humans and is used relatively often. This version had even fewer so it was not a burdensome treatment overall.

I am only mentioning this to suggest that even if it is bone cancer it is worth exploring treatments and alternatives. Depending on the stage of the disease there may be some hope.


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## Maesfen (21 December 2012)

Booboos said:



			Chemo for dogs has far, far fewer side-effects than it does for humans and is used relatively often. This version had even fewer so it was not a burdensome treatment overall.

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Tell that to the dogs who are so horrendously ill after weekly treatments, can hardly move, off their food usually until the day before the next treatment and so on and this is from a vet who has been watching this treatment develop.  He can't understand how owners are so willing to put their dogs through that especially when the results are so negative and short lasting, the success rate is very poor but at what cost to the dog?  Sorry OP.


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## twiglet84 (21 December 2012)

As u may of seen on my thread my rotties just been diagnosed with Histocytic sarcoma and I have decided against chemo. Quality of life not quantity is important, theres many risks and side affects associated with chemo. Osteosarcs are incredibly painful and very aggressive, I presume they did chest radiographs? 80% of dogs with osteosarcs have already got metastasise in the chest before being diagnosed, therefore as amy may said, amputation is just prolonging the inevitable. Most clients we have do euthanise under anaesthetic. Also as others have mentioned the potential for pathological fractures and I have seen this happen and very quickly too. I know from the experience I'm having that I'm going to ensure my baby is happy, pain free and gets ad lib tlc! When she isn't happy anymore I'll know what to do xxx sending u hugs. Please see a second opinion for diagnosis if your concerned xxx


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## Dizzydancer (22 December 2012)

From the little i no about bone cancer its very quick- by time symptoms show they are usually riddeled. Especially in the lungs.
However do get a certain diagnosis our Newfy we were told had a 80% chance the hock problem was cancer- multiple tests later and biopsys no cancer, no infection we don't no what it is even 12 months on. She is managed on low dose pain killers and anti inflammatorys. With hydro.  
Get a referral asap ino its xmas so its a bad time but best to no. However all i no who have had it diagnosed for certain with xray have been pts while under for xray as prognosis so poor and very painful.
Fingers crossed its not- i would be getting them to xray other areas especially lungs to see if anything there if not its unlikely to be cancer from what we were told at liverpool.


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## AngieandBen (22 December 2012)

We lost our little Cairn a year ago to cancer, it was in his jaw. 

One day he was fine, the next he couldn't eat; we took him straight to the vets, they kept him in, diagnosed the next day, we bought him home to say goodbye to the kids and our other dog, the vet came the next day and that was it, he was gone  so so quick, but glad he didn't suffer too much.   Broke my heart, but I could never of let him be in such pain.

Hugs to you and everyone else going through the same


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## satinbaze (22 December 2012)

My first Flatcoat had bone cancer. I was very lucky as she had 2 years of good quality life post diagnosis only treatment being analegesia. She had sudden onset of lameness in her front leg but she became sound on Rimidyl. I know Inca was a very lucky dog to be able to control her pain so easily. We are thinking about you and your lovely boy. Just out of interest is your boy neutered and if so how old was he when this was done?
If you want to email me privately I will tell you more of Incas story
Flatcoat licks sending good thoughts


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## Crazycob06 (22 December 2012)

I haven't read any of the other posts! 
My lab had bone cancer in his shoulder at the age of 8-9 (we didn't know his exact age) 
We did have a few options but I left it down to the vet as I wanted to do 'the right thing'. 
We jointly agreed to pts. Amputation was an option if I really wanted to but the cancer had started to spread already so really was unfair to put him through it for possibly a short space of time. The other option was to bring him home on pain meds but I knew I would never take him back! And I didn't want to see him suffer! He was already at the vets sleepy from his X-ray so I drove down there and laid on the floor with him as he was pts. God do I miss that dog, he truly was the best!


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## Booboos (22 December 2012)

Maesfen said:



			Tell that to the dogs who are so horrendously ill after weekly treatments, can hardly move, off their food usually until the day before the next treatment and so on and this is from a vet who has been watching this treatment develop.  He can't understand how owners are so willing to put their dogs through that especially when the results are so negative and short lasting, the success rate is very poor but at what cost to the dog?  Sorry OP.
		
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I am not too sure why you are being so combative. I am not forcing the OP to do anything, nor suggesting that I can predict the experience of all dogs that might undergo chemo! I am merely passing on information I found when looking at the disease which might be helpful to her. Of course it may not apply to her dog and she needs to be guided by her vet to make a reasonable estimate of the benefits and risks of all options, but it would be odd to not pass on information that might be useful to her.


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## ecrozier (22 December 2012)

My Rottie was diagnosed a month or so ago. He was suddenly quite lame, then improved after a day or two on metacam so assumed a tweaked muscle, but then two weeks later was VERY lame and in a lot of pain. Straight to vets, diagnosed via X-ray, vets did say could be an infection but their gut feel was Osteosarcoma. They discussed three options with us, PTS straight away, amputate, or leave and biopsy. I couldn't leave him in pain so we opted to amputate. They did biopsy the amputated limb, and it was cancer, but he's now 3 weeks post op, recovering brilliantly, all stitches out, he's walking fine, going out twice a day for 10-15 mins. Many will argue I should have had him PTS on the spot, BUT, that was his weakest leg anyway (cruciate op a few years ago), a hind leg (believed easier than foreleg to manage without), they scanned his lungs and found no evidence yet of tumours there, he's well in himself otherwise, and on the selfish front I couldn't face the idea his last night with us he was in pain and unhappy. Fortunately he has always been a fairly lazy creature and is currently loving the extra walk (used to be a one a day routine), extra cuddles and special expensive 'treat' dog food. I am fully away that he may go downhill at any point, and when the decision needs to be made, it will be made and quickly, and he won't be having chemo under any circumstances. However we have already had an extra 3 weeks with him and he's back to his normal chirpy self (every time the fridge door opens he's there, as normal!) so I don't regret the decision one bit.


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