I have seen three typical scenarios with bone cancer:
- a sudden, and often extremely painful limb, with or without a history of injury.
- a 1-3 week duration of a progressively worsening limp that doesn't respond to traditional rest and medication (antiinflammatories).
- a dog who breaks a limb under unusual circumstances. For example, jumping up on a couch. This type of fracture is called a pathologic fracture, and happens with very little pressure to the bone, due to the amount of bone destruction going on within the bone from the cancer activity.
This is not meant to cause undue alarm if your senior pet starts limping! Thankfully, bone cancer is not that common. However, if your pet does not respond to rest and therapy and / or becomes excruciatingly painful for no "obvious" reason, then it is prudent to radiograph the leg as soon as possible and take a look inside.
At this time, I would like to introduce Jan Ziech, a writer, and one who went through this with her own dog, an Irish Setter named Cruiser. Jan has done an exquisite job of researching this disease -- from diagnosis and treatment options, to what to realistically expect with aggressive therapy. She also provides a very honest look at Cruiser's life and his battle with osteosarcoma. My heartfelt thanks for Jan's excellent work on this subject, and for her generosity in sharing it with the readers of this site.
Canine Osteosarcoma by Jan Ziech
Text: Copyright © Janet Tobiassen Crosby. All rights reserved.
