So, our Siberian Husky has a tumor on his left leg. Not sure yet if it is cancer, and if so, what type of cancer it is and how fast it's growing.

Dakota is 10 years old and the only medical problem he has is related to his eyes - he can see but it's not great.

Our vet is sending us to an internal medicine vet to get a second opinion, and a more precise diagnosis. That's tomorrow. Right now the options seem to be surgery to remove the tumor (if localized) or remove the entire leg (Siberians have a tendency toward hip displasia so that's a huge concern of ours - plus his age.)

Anyone else have a pet that had cancer? What did you do?

Jordan .

Jordan, we went through this about 10 years ago with Lakar, our black lab mixed breed female dog.  She had been a super athletic dog.  Jumping, running, leaping.  She was really something.  One summer day -- it was a Saturday -- we noticed her limping on her front leg.  We checked her paw.  Nothing.  It seemed overly cautious but I took her to the vet because the vet was in. They did an X-ray and told us she had bone cancer.  I wasn't ready to accept that.  He sent us to an oncologist who determined it was a fast growing bone cancer and that there were three choices.

1.  Do nothing.  In which case he guessed she would die within a couple months.  (she was about 12 at the time)

2.  Amputate the leg.  In which case she might live a year.

3.  Amputate followed by chemo.  In which case she might live a year and a half or more.

We chose the third category.  There were to be three chemo sessions.  We only did the first because we had another dog at the time.  They needed to be separated during the process because of radioactivity, I think.  The two dogs were miserable moaning and crying out for each other.  They were both the same age, btw.  

The first week - two - after the amputation, I truly felt it had been a mistake.  It was heart wrenching and she needed so much help to walk.  She was weak, in pain and disoriented.  The chemo made it worse.  But after a month, she was hopping down the street with three legs.  She lived a year and a half before getting sick with a secondary tumor and we had her put down at that point. 

Two things changed after she healed from the surgery.  She was no longer the dominant dog who ate first before the other.  And she never again went into the pool which had been a regular practice of hers.  I think steps became too difficult for her.

It's a big step to go through with and requires a lot of love and care, especially with a big dog.  

Good luck.  I feel your pain.

Susan

PS front leg or rear leg?  Lakar's was a front leg, which, from what I recall, is easier to cope with.  

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Jordan .

Good luck and let me know how it goes, okay?  I think I may have mentioned to you that our Lola, now 8, has a retinal atrophy and is almost blind.  For all I know she may be completely blind now but she knows all her regular surroundings so well that you can only notice her handicap when she's in a completely new locale.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

They don't believe he is in pain, but the tumor will continue to grow until he can't use leg to walk anymore.

Jordan .

I also wish you good luck with this situation, I've never lived this particular case (cancer) but I know how painful it is to go through it... Unfortunately I've loved and lost many pets...

My best wishes for Dakota! And yeah, keep us up to date...

Fortunately the dog's not in pain. I sincerely hope Dakota will be able to enjoy a happy three legged old age with you once the procedure is over.

I've never had a pet die on me yet. My current dog (a 15 months old Golden Retriever) is my first. Cancer is supposed to be the number one cause of death among Goldens.

Not to politicize this thread, but I guess there's not much in the way of affordable/effective health insurance for pets available in your country.

I spoke to one of our local vet teaching hospitals. They do amputations for half as much, and in talking with him, he was suggesting that we gather more information before we make a decision. Do some x-rays, see how big it really is, do some xrays to see if it has spread anywhere. If it has then it's pointless to do anything, he said.

And after mentioning it to one of my pastors, he gave me a name of a church member who is a vet so I've sent him an email too.

Jordan .

When I was in high school, our dog Blackjack got cancer -- lively dog, loved to run.  Huskie/Black Lab/German Sheperd mix.  He had been acting off but we didn't see anything. A short time after, my father passed away (he was more dad's dog than anyone's).  Then the limping started.  A few weeks later, Blackjack stopped walking all together and would drag himself.  He had growths on his front legs and shook if you touched him.  Mom took him in and they recommended he be put down because he was suffering.  I couldn't go with because my dad had been buried a few weeks earlier -- so I held him for several hours and said goodbye before mom took him away.  We got Blackjack when I was 5...so that would have made him 11.

I hope they can help and your Dakota can be healed.

We got pet insurance for Lola when she was a pup.  At 8 now, it hasn't really paid back but when a dog lives long enough, stuff happens and it's expensive.  We use ASPCA insurance -- the top category and pay about $700/year.  When we got Lola her "cousin" Golden Retriever had two knee replacements!  That's what made me go ahead with the insurance knowing how costly those things are without it.  Probably, when all is said and done, the several years of paying will outweigh the cost of any medical procedure -- I actually hope so.  But when the big stuff is in quadruple digits, it's good to have coverage.

So sorry to hear Dakota is going through this problem and hope he comes through the surgery well.  It is rough but dogs are so much resilient than we are.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

the visit with the vet is on Tuesday.

The vet from our church said that if it's a certain type of cancer, that even with amputation, if you don't do chemo, there's an 85% chance the dog will die within a year. Often times the xrays don't show other signs of the cancer and then it shows up sometime in the next year.

that's put a lot into perspective

Jordan .

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Jordan .

That sounds like potentially very good news!  Best of luck to Dakota and keep us posted on any updates.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Jordan and I discussed at length in December that we were just going to keep him comfortable, and that we would not do the amputation. Good thing, seeing that it's not a localized issue and that it's the kind that spreads.

He's doing fine. He's not in any pain that we can tell right now (even with pressing on the tumor). He runs around just fine, plays around like any other normal dog. Trying to make the best of the situation and enjoy whatever time we have left with him.

Kelly

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