Bone cancer

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sonjafoers

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My 11 year old rottie possibly has bone cancer and it will be confirmed tomorrow when she has an x ray.

She has been limping for about a week and is intermittently unable to put any weight on one of her back legs. In addition she has days where she is completely off food and doesn't wish to go out.

When she first started limping I thought maybe she had sprained something so stupidly I didn't take her to the vet thinking I'd give her a few days rest and see how she felt. Of course over the bank holiday weekend she started not bearing any weight on the leg at all so I got her to the vet today for him to say he thinks it could be bone cancer and has booked her in tomorrow for x rays. She has lost 8kgs since she was last weighed which is only a couple of months.

I am so worried that it will be bad news tomorrow. My husband works in Iraq and is away at the moment but we have always said we won't let any of our animals suffer when the time comes.

Does anyone know of the prognosis if cancer is diagnosed? I wouldn't want her to have any aggressive form of treatment that would make her feel unwell but my vet has mentioned cortisone injections can give back quality of life in the short term. If this is the case I would like her to maybe have these at least until my husband comes home so we can make the decision together.

I know she hasn't been diagnosed yet and I am hoping with every hope that it isn't cancer but if it is can anyone offer me any advice please.

Thank you
 
Bone cancer has a poor prognosis, but if it has not spread amputation is an option.
However the symptoms you describe could be any number of things, has she got a swollen/lumpy leg? Until you get the results of the xrays there is no point in worrying, it could be a cruciate ligament or anything really, best of luck though.
 
Thank you for your reply SusieT, amputation is definately not an option for her partly because I wouldn't put her through it and partly because she has arthritis in a foreleg and I wouldn't want extra strain on that.

I'm very emotional at the moment but I still know that the decision has to be made for her and not us, so there's no way I would let her suffer. You saying that it has a poor prognosis really brings home the fact that if she does have it then we have to have her put to sleep.

I will take all the advice my vet can give but I just wanted to hear from anyone here who had any knowledge on this.
 
Thank you Kate, it's really kind of you to post, I do appreciate it.

I've just spoken to Andy and am now in floods of tears again - the daft thing is we don't even know if it is cancer yet. I may get there tomorrow & the vet says it's a bad sprain bur realistically all the signs point to it.

I should know by tomorrow lunchtime - here goes for a sleepless night :(
 
I had the fear of this horrible disease with my boy a couple of years ago.

Again unexplained lameness that didn't resolve with rest and metacam, the first xray showed a 'shadow' so the decision was made to rest him and xray again in a month. Thankfully that xray was clear - it was elbow displacisa in the end.

But while waiting for the 2nd xray I did a lot of research (and crying) and found that treatment provided, at best some time. Usually (and this is just my understanding as I'm not a vet!) by the time the dog is showing lameness let alone pain there are little tumours throughout the body often in the lungs. So amputation while it will remove the pain of bone cancer in that limb is really only buying time, same with chemo. More often than not, the cancer will come back, usually within 12 months.

I made the decision that if it was bone cancer in my dog that he wouldn't be woken up from the GA for the xrays.

We were very lucky and I really hope that you will be too. Best wishes for tomorrow. X
 
Thank you cbmcts, I'm glad it turned out ok for your boy but what a horrible time you must have gone through worrying. I've had the conversation with my husband tonight as to whether she should go tomorrow and not be woken from the GA like you say. The heartbreaking thing is she really is my husbands' dog, they absolutely adore each other and whilst he is away 8 months of the year and it's me that spends every day with her I know where her heart lies!

From what my vet has said tonight he thinks it is very early stages. My husband will fly straight home once he hears from me tomorrow so he will be home in 2 or 3 days and I think for all of us that he should be there when she goes. The only thing that will change this is if the vet looks tomorrow and says she is in a worse state than he thought and that she would suffer if we wait for my husband. In those circumstances I think it best that she is let go there & then.

The strange thing is some days she is still full of life, eating and wanting to go out so I am hoping this means she won't be put to sleep in the vets tomorrow - that would be the worst thing.
 
My rottie succumbed to bone cancer last year. We had a biopsy done and the vet gave me a time line of maybe 3 months left before the tumour would break down the shoulder. Unfortunately it spread very quickly and I had to make the decision to have her put down. Even my vet was surprised as to how quick it had grown - literally 3 weeks after the biopsy was done I called the vet in. I am convinced the biopsy accelerated the rate of growth. I too, would not of gone for amputation if it had been an option as I know I would of been delaying the inevitable.

I truly hope it is only a bad sprain and that you get good news tomorrow.
 
Bone cancer is common in rotts:( it metastises pretty quick, the weight loss is usually a early indicator, unless it was something like hip dysplacia then pain alone would see a dog off its food or lose weight, Im paranoid when regan (my rott) has a limp, when she bust her cruciate I automatically thought the worst and thought (bone cancer) like you amputation is not something I would contemplate with such a large weight bearing breed.
My whippet had bones cancer when she was Xrayed for a fractured leg, it was suppose to be a simple repair and I let her go under the GA:( it had already spread to her chest.
I think given the breed and age I would see her comfortable for aslong as possible and then let her go if it is indeed bone cancer.
Fingers crossed for you and your girl for the best outcome xx
 
OP my faithful old cat developed bone cancer in his back hip. That side of his leg wasted away very quickly. The vet did offer amputation for his back leg but he was an old cat. sounds like the same site your rotti has.

Im sorry, the prognosis is not good. I was given morphine and after a few weeks i had him pts.
im so sorry about your dog. Fingers crossed for you with the x rays. x
 
sonjafoers said:
My 11 year old rottie possibly has bone cancer and it will be confirmed tomorrow when she has an x ray.

She has been limping for about a week and is intermittently unable to put any weight on one of her back legs. In addition she has days where she is completely off food and doesn't wish to go out.

When she first started limping I thought maybe she had sprained something so stupidly I didn't take her to the vet thinking I'd give her a few days rest and see how she felt. Of course over the bank holiday weekend she started not bearing any weight on the leg at all so I got her to the vet today for him to say he thinks it could be bone cancer and has booked her in tomorrow for x rays. She has lost 8kgs since she was last weighed which is only a couple of months.

I am so worried that it will be bad news tomorrow. My husband works in Iraq and is away at the moment but we have always said we won't let any of our animals suffer when the time comes.

Does anyone know of the prognosis if cancer is diagnosed? I wouldn't want her to have any aggressive form of treatment that would make her feel unwell but my vet has mentioned cortisone injections can give back quality of life in the short term. If this is the case I would like her to maybe have these at least until my husband comes home so we can make the decision together.

I know she hasn't been diagnosed yet and I am hoping with every hope that it isn't cancer but if it is can anyone offer me any advice please.

Thank you
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I am really sorry to hear your news. I had a 13yrs lab cross who had bone cancer, the first we knew was when he greeted us at the door lame. Rushed him to the vets and the upshot was we could have his leg amputated which would have given him another month or say our goodbyes.

We said our goodbyes.
 
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