Has anyone dealt with their dog having bone cancer

[Rorey]

My granddog was diagnosed with bone cancer yesterday. Personally, I would have probably held him while he crossed the rainbow bridge, but my son and his wife decided to bring him home and love him and spoil him until the time comes.

He's a very large dog, probably 130 pounds. Last year he tore his CCL (ACL in humans), and the vet said he wasn't really a good candidate for the surgery to repair it. He would limp for a few days periodically, and then get better. This time he wasn't getting better and pain killers weren't helping, so they took him to the vet. Long story short, he has bone cancer.

Does anyone here have any experience with this? He's on Rimadyl and Gabapentin now, and they seem to be helping with pain, but I also know that dogs won't show pain if they can help it.

[Botany]

1. It is all about the quality of life of the dog.

Bringing a dog home is a good thing and if she or he can still eat, drink, pee, poop,
they are not undergoing organ* shut down, they are not having "night terrors", and they
are not in extreme pain home is where they should be but if any of the above "things"
are going on then it might be time to have them put down. I know it hurts like a bastard but
it is the best thing they can do.

Have them talk to the vet. He or she should be very skilled @ what should be done.


* kidney and or heart

BTW dogs are the best people.

[Rorey]

4. He does enjoy eating

I had not heard of "night terrors".

Yes, I agree that dogs are the best people. This guy only likes a handful of people, and I happen to be one of them. My son and his family moved in with me about a month ago while having a new house built, and I had some reservations about having Barkly here because of his aggression, but he's been great as far as that goes.

My last dog left me four years ago, and I thought maybe my heartbreak over losing a dog was behind me. Now i have to do it all over again.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. If the cancer is only in one leg, best solution would be amputation.

My 11 year old had his right front leg removed after months of treatment. He lived another 5 years.

[Rorey]

3. They talked about that.

This guy is only around 7 years old, but he's definitely a very large dog, and he's had arthritis for a couple of years. The vet they saw at the clinic is awesome, and his advice was to make him as comfortable as possible until the time came. He was the vet I always took my own dogs to, and I respect his expertise.

I'm so glad it worked out well for your guy and you got those 5 bonus years.

[CountAllVotes]

5. My dog had cancer

I did not want to let him go!

I put him through one surgery and I was told it would give him another six months to a year to live.

I hoped for better results.

Come Christmas eve, there he was in front of the furnace with his tumor showing for everyone to see.

He was in severe pain and the veterinarian was closed for the holiday.

The crying and the whining went on all day and all night.

I took him in as soon as I could get him there and had him put down.

I had not had a dog in many years (I inherited him so to speak).

I was crying my eyes out for the longest time.

Nothing could change the sad reality.

Do what you think is the right thing to do!

That is the only advice I can offer other than best of luck to you and your family.

[Rorey]

7. A big fear I have...

I'm worried that he'll be home alone and something will happen, like he'll fall and be helpless. I feel like someone should be here at all times.

I let my now-ex-husband talk me into waiting one more day to take my Rottie in a lot of years ago. I feel it was purely selfish on his part. That was about 14 years ago and I still greatly miss my old dog, but letting him go was the right thing to do.

[CountAllVotes]

13. He was so obviously ill and in pain

I was trying to find a vet to come to the house and put him down. The vet decided over the phone that it was not his time yet because he was still eating!

That tumor had became enormous and had a vein popping out of it!

I have three cats (they all loved the dog) and they would not go near him, they kept their distance and looked and looked. They knew. Why didn't I know too?

When I look back on the whole thing, I think I would have maybe not done that horrible surgery on him being he was terminal. It took a huge toll on him and I do not see what good it did for him.

Of course, there are treatable forms of cancer, do not get me wrong. His cancer was not treatable.

I was pretty sad I could not find anyone to come to help!

I took him in on my own and took care of business.

It hurt yes, but the dog probably hurt a whole lot more that I knew.

It was so sad. That is the awful part.

I have a rainbow bridge thing I wrote for him on my old laptop.

I'll try to find it and I will send it to you as it is really quite beautiful!

You are being a good dog parent, that is what I think.

I am sure you will know when to do the right thing. Again, really sorry to read about this.

[irisblue]

6. Peanut had mast cell cancer. She lived with it for 18 months

She turned down cottage cheese & potato chips, I made the apointment the next day.

[Rorey]

8. Yeah, when this guy turns down food, we'll know for sure

I had a vegan burger for lunch and he had to have some of it. Unbelievable.

[Bayard]

9. I had a retired Greyhound years ago

A big sweetheart. He fell one day, actually at the vet's office, and seemed to injure the leg he fell on. With xrays, it turned out to be bone cancer in his hip.

We took him to Ohio State, and the best they could come up with was amputation. I said, this dog has lived to run his entire life. I can't do that to him.

They gave him 8 months, and he lived a year beyond that. When his quality of life went downhill, we put him down.

I've had several other dogs since then that developed cancer. Its so heartbreaking, feeling so helpless. But at least it gives you a little time to say goodbye, and give them the best remaining life and love.

[Rorey]

10. A little time to say goodbye

That's what I was telling my daughter-in-law, Barkly's "mom", this morning. At least we have some time to give him some extra doses of love and attention. Yesterday was my 16 year old grandson's birthday, and it would have really sucked to have his dog die on that day. I'm very worried about how the 2 1/2 year old grandson will handle losing his "best friend".

[iscooterliberally]

11. I went through this with two large dogs that I had.

A little over two years ago my large female GSD mix broke her black leg while she was playing. She was 11 and she went running through the house and slipped on the tile floor and her leg snapped. We rushed her to the vet only to find out that she had bone cancer. She was in severe pain, but the vet gave her some morphine. We did x-rays and the vet said that there was no way to save her. She weighed in at 110 pounds and the cancer was all through her bones. Euthanasia was our only option. A few months ago our big lab mix started limping and his front paw was all swollen. I tried pain pills with ice and even an ace bandage. We tried to get the swelling down, but it just wasn't getting any better. We did x-rays and it turned out the one of the two bones in his fore-leg was completely eaten away by cancer and all his weight was being born by the other bone. It wasn't a matter of if, but rather when that leg was going to snap. He was going to hit the ground in severe pain and he weighed 105 pounds. He had already had the CCL surgery a few years earlier so this meant that he really only had one good leg left to stand on. We scheduled the euthanasia a few days later on a Saturday so we could go home and grieve. Our dog had just turned 10 and I felt like we should have had at least a couple of more years, but I had to let go. I did not want him to suffer they way our girl did. There was nothing we could do to improve his quality of life. All options would make it significantly worse. I didn't want to put him down too early, but I really didn't want it to be too late. My vet said that it's better to put him down 2 days early than 2 seconds too late. When both my dogs started getting older, I thought it was arthritis and just old age that made them slow down, so I gave them pain meds like carprofen and joint supplements. You can treat the pain, but it does nothing on the cancer. If the dog feels no pain then it might over-do playing and break a bone. Based on my own experience I would say my good-byes and help the dog over the rainbow bridge. I know it's hard. You have my empathy.

[Rorey]

15. Better too early than too late

Thank you so much for posting that, and what your vet said about it being better to say goodbye two days early than two seconds too late. I'm going to tell my son that when he wakes up in the morning before he leaves for work. He told me this evening that he was going to take him in next week.

Your post really put things in perspective.

[iscooterliberally]

18. I'm glad I could help.

Dogs are the best and I love other peoples' dogs too! Even the ones I will never meet. We are obliged to do right by our best friends.

[Rorey]

19. He's not hurting any more

My son and his wife took him in this morning. The house feels so weird without Barkly here. But I know they did the right thing. I'm sure going to miss him.

[lark]

12. Our old Golden Lab/Weimaraner mix had it at almost 9 years old.

He had a big bump on his chest, it'd been there a few weeks and wasn't getting better and when I took him to the vet it was the head of his long leg bone which had exploded due to the bone cancer. He said Astro wasn't in pain, but the pain would come and be unbearable and he'd need to be put to sleep right away. He said we'd know, because he'd start acting very differently. The day after he became afraid to go outside down the steps, about 4 weeks after he was diagnosed, we had a local nurse who would do home visits come and put him to sleep. He was a big dog, 80 lbs and we couldn't carry him up and down the steps without hurting him and it hurt too much for him to go down them by himself. We were all there, including his best pal Bud, and it was so sweet and sad at the same time.

[Rorey]

16. You have to be there

That's how I always felt whenever I've had to have an animal put to sleep. I had to help them leave.

[lark]

17. It's the last act of respect and love.

It was so nice being able to have this best buddy since he was 8 weeks old beside him as well as my husband and I. Astro was very comforted .

[Rorey]

20. I wasn't able to be there this time

I stayed home with my toddler grandson while my son and wife took Barkly in for his final visit to the vet.

[cpamomfromtexas]

14. Read this website mycancerstory.rocks