Osteosarcoma Puns

I posted earlier today already, but now that I've had some time to process and research, I am posting with a new outlook.

I am aware it's a death sentence for my sweet Lily. I just need any and all information I can get right now.

Lily is a 6 year old female Rottweiler. At age 1, just weeks after adopting Lily, she tore both of her CCL's. We took the conservative management route and got Lily two hind braces for support which she has worn for 4 years and had a great quality of life (running, wrestling, swimming, hiking, etc). Lily is a very happy girl and people often mistake her for a puppy because she is so full of life.

4 weeks ago Lily slipped on some ice and shattered her tibia. This was the straw that broke the camels back. We opted for surgical repair of the tibia based on the information we had at the time. Today in her follow up x-rays it was clear the bone wasn't healing and the "moth-like" bones indicated Osteosarcoma. Her chest x-ray and abdomen ultrasound are clear, but I am aware this doesn't mean the cancer hasn't spread, just that it isn't visible at this point.

I guess I'm looking for what route to take for our sweet girl. We are leaning towards amputation, but given that her "good leg" has arthritis and isn't exactly strong, I'm worried she will re-injure it. That said, the vet seems to think that she is a good candidate for tripod life.

Has anyone done the amputation + chemo route and was it worth it? If anyone also experienced a CCL tear, your experience with that + amputation would also be helpful.

Any and all experiences with osteosarcoma and the route you took for your pup would be helpful as we make the very difficult decision as to what to do.

I’ve had dogs my whole life but this girl is my heart and soul like no other. She was diagnosed with osteosarcoma a few days ago. She is not a candidate for treatment (amputation) so I’m watching her decline and waiting to decide how long to let her go on before letting her go. As of today she’s still eating and can walk so we’re good but it’s a very aggressive cancer that causes a lot of pain so there are probably very few good days left.

I know I should be enjoying her last few weeks (or days? don’t know how long) with me but I’m just too sad. I feel like she is already gone. I feel like I’m failing her by falling apart and crying so much instead of enjoying what little time we have left. Just sharing because I don’t know how to handle this and my heart hurts.

If anyone lost a dog to this cancer and has any advice about what to watch for or what to expect I would appreciate it. I don’t know how I’ll know when it’s time to let her go.

Hugs to anyone who has lost a pet and is reading this. They are family and this loss is so freaking hard. I’m so sorry for what you are going through ❤️

My 17 year old male cat started limping His right hind leg in September. He limped for a few days, afterwards He walked normal again for the next few months, until in the end of November the limping started again.

We took Him to vet 30th of November, they suspected arthritis. 2.5 weeks later we took Him to the vet again because the limping got worse, now they started to suspect some other problem, and told us to visit a vet that has an X-ray.

22th of December we got the X-rays done, they told us He has a tumor (most likely an osteosarcoma) in the femur of His hind leg.
I thought in worst case scenario it would be something related to His ACL, so I was pretty shocked after I heard the tumor diagnosis.

After getting home, I started reading about tumors, I found that there's some bacterial and fungal infections that can look very similar to osteosarcoma in X-rays.
He's an indoor-outdoor cat, who gets dozens of ticks, and eats dozens of mice every year. So He could be susceptible to these kinds of infections?

I also read that alkaline phosphatase value should be elevated in the case of osteosarcoma, which was only 59U/l (15-100) in His lab results from 30th of November.

Here's His X-rays: https://imgur.com/a/eMf0QR2

Could this be an osteomyelitis caused by a bacterial/fungal infection, or does it look more like a definite osteosarcoma.
Does anybody know if bacterial/fungal infections that can cause osteomyelitis are even present in Northern Europe?

Thank you.

Hi everyone,
I am going to try and keep this as concise as I can.

Our 6 year old Rottweiler, Lily, broke her tibia back in December. It was a random accident when on leash where she lunged at another dog, slipped on ice and her tibia broke. At the time, Lily was wearing her bilateral leg braces for a previous CCL tear.

At the vet emergency clinic, the doctor confirmed the break and that surgery would be needed to fix it. She was also clear that she didn’t believe Lily’s leg should have broken how it did based on the trauma we described and recommended an additional biopsy of the bone and a chest x-ray to confirm there wasn’t cancer.

Surgery went as well as it could have. The bone biopsy came back irregular although the doctor couldn’t say with 100% accuracy whether Lily had cancer or not. Chest X-rays came up clear.

Fast forward to today, Lily had her 4 week follow up radiographs and an additional abdomen ultrasound to rule out cancer. Based on the radiographs today, the vet said it looks like the bone isn’t healing as it should and that it appears the bone density has changed which she said is usually an indication of bone cancer. The ultrasound came up clear.

Based on these findings, the vet believes Lily does indeed have cancer - osteosarcoma. She is recommending amputation and then chemo. No idea how many rounds as we need to go to an oncologist for that.

This all happened so quickly, so I guess I am looking for someone (ideally a vet) to confirm that the X-rays attached to indeed indicate cancer.

We are willing to follow the recommendations from the vet for amputation, but just want to be sure that is what is best for Lily. She has already been through 4 weeks of healing from her tibia surgery, so amputating the leg would restrict her life even more.

I’m also skeptical about chemo. From my understanding, the chemo won’t get rid of the cancer and would only give Lily 12-18 months. Could her quality and length of life be the same without chemo? Is there instances where people don’t do chemo and the dog continues to live a good life?

Looking for any advice as we navigate this new terrain. I tried to attach radiographs, but I guess I'm not allowed? Perhaps it will let me post in comments or in private message.

Hi! I'm a non-smoker 6'2" 322lbs (just weighed today at oncologist appt) male with a history of osteosarcoma. My primary tumor is osteosarcoma in the left tibia. That has been treated with limb sparing surgery and chemo. I had a couple lung mets in my left lung that were removed with surgery. My sarcoma oncologist has been monitoring a 3.5cm enhancing kidney mass that says "likely renal cell carcinoma" on the CT report. Sarcoma onco has been monitoring it because he thought I would need to be put into a clinical trial for my osteosarcoma and didn't want the RCC to disqualify me if I needed further sarcoma treatment. I'm now 2 years out from my last osteosarcoma episode so he sees it safe to refer me to a kidney oncologist. What can I expect out of this visit? Will I prob be looking at a surgery or just watch and wait?

Our oldest boy is 11 (today, Nov. 17, is actually his birthday). We took him to the vet for a limp that appeared out of the blue. Yesterday we find out it is cancer. The Dr. says nothing they can reasonably do other than pain management. He said they could amputate the leg but it will just appear somewhere else and being a senior and already arthritic it would put him through too much just to add another few months...

Has anyone else here dealt with this? He seems happy at the moment but the vet says it is going to keep getting worse and quickly, and eventually it will spread to lungs. This is devastating.

30f Caucasian 5'4" 185lbs non-smoker no recreational drug use. Occasional alcohol use. Diagnosed with grade 3 dedifferentiated parosteal osteosarcoma of the right leg with medullary involvement good margins. Started in May recurred twice. First time grew between 3-4cm in 6 weeks. Second time grew over 5cm in 4 weeks. Also diagnosed with ADHD taking 36mg Concerta for that and depression taking 300mg welbutrin for that. Also taking Cymbalta and nurotin(sp?) For never pain. My most recent surgery was an amputation of my right leg.

I'm still trying to understand a good deal concerning my diagnosis since this all happened so fast but mostly I want to know what the recommendation is as far as chemo goes. The decision has been left up to me but I could use advice on what to advocate for.

I'm also curious to know about the difference of using methotrexate vs not using it. Like what are the benefits and should I advocate for using the tri cocktail of methotrexate, doxyirubin, and cisplatin? Or would doxyirubin and cisplatin be enough. Is there any advantage to not using methotrexate such as will it give another option if I do grow another time agree reviving

I do know I don't feel comfortable waiting for another tumor to grow given how aggressive the one in my leg was. I'm concerned that I'll lose another appendage or one will grow somewhere it can't be cut out or off. And this kind of cancer is rare so studies show chemo is controversial.

Hi y’all,

Saturday night, my hound started limping on her walk. She’s just shy of 11, no other health issues, and no injuries I’ve witnessed that could cause the limp. My worst fear is osteosarcoma, so I’m waiting for her recent bloodwork to get sent from her dental vet to her primary vet. Six weeks ago, blood work was totally normal.

My question is this: is osteosarcoma so aggressive that she could have been fine a month and a half ago? I know x-Ray will tell more, but I’m trying my best to have a good outlook until I get my appointment.

I’ve looked over and felt her front legs and there are no unusual growths I can feel.

I just got the bad news yesterday that my 11 year old Standard Poodle George has osteosarcoma (bone cancer). There really isn't anything they can do for him. They could amputate his leg, but the cancer will just come back somewhere else - it would give him another few months maybe; but the quality of life during those few months having to deal with the surgery; having a hard time getting around (he already is arthritic)... the vet didn't recommend amputation.

My question for those of you who have been through this... I know I can search Google and get a thousand answers --- but when is the right time? I can't bear to see him suffer. Would it be selfish of me to take him in before he starts really showing symptoms? Or should I wait until he is in very obvious pain? I want him to be comfortable for his last days; and our last memories of him to be positive. The vet told me that his leg can also shatter as a result of the tumor; and I don't want it to get to that point.

This is perhaps the hardest thing I have been through in my life, and that is coming from someone who has a career that deals with human tragedy. There is something about pets that just makes them seem immortal - like you don't think about the fact that they live 1/8th as long as we do, and they go downhill so fast when the end comes it is like BOOM, its here; and we are totally unprepared emotionally. I think about when my most recent grandparent passed - she was sick for years. We knew every year, 89, 90, 91, 92 --- 98 etc could be her last. I spent a 1/3rd of my life preparing for that. Now to see my beloved boy go from chasing his pals in our yard just weeks ago to limping around on 3 legs knowing he will never get to run or play again; it kills me.

Looking for any stories of survival after amputation/chemo due to osteosarcoma or any tips on diet changes/exercise during chemo that is GP specific and recommended by vets.

We lost our GP Luna due to osteosarcoma in August, 3 months after her diagnosis, and now our other GP Argos has been diagnosed with the same cancer less than 3 months later. We’ve been told not to hope for a better outcome than we had with Luna, but we don’t want to completely give up hope yet.

Our beloved house cow was diagnosed this morning. We‘ll keep her comfortable for as long as we can; the vet says we might only have a few more weeks. This is going to hurt… Give your goofs an extra hug tonight.

Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone tumor in children and adolescents.

However, some patients with osteosarcoma develop resistance to chemotherapy, leading to a poor clinical prognosis. Hence, effective therapeutic agents that can improve the response to chemotherapy drugs to improve the prognosis of patients with osteosarcoma are urgently needed.

Cordycepin has recently emerged as a promising antitumor drug candidate.

This study aims to explore the effect of cordycepin in suppressing osteosarcoma in vivo and in vitro and the synergistic effect of cordycepin combined with cisplatin and to demonstrate the underlying molecular mechanism.

Full text :

- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12935-021-02411-y

So he was actually fine. No signs of an issue at all. Until the German Shepherd crashed into him a month ago. Took x-rays the next day cause he was very sore. X-rays clear, shouldbefine in a week or so.

Two weeks later he was still limping badly so took him back again, rechecked the x-rays and they reckoned soft tissue and he should get better soon.

Two weeks after that. No improvement at all, figure there must be a crack or something we missed. Took new x-rays. Bone lysis and pitting at proximal humerus. Fuck.

He is at the teaching hospital now waiting for a ct and chest x-rays. Then we hear what the next steps are, certainly amputation and possibly chemo. I know it's likely a loosing battle but I really love my boy and just want a bit more time.

He isn't great with people in general and gave me the most pitiful looks when they took him away. Feel terrible leaving him but it's too far to keep driving back and forth.

Update: So it is almost definitely an osteosarcoma on the CT, but looks like the lungs are clear (waiting for specialist to check). We are going back Wednesday for final results and to schedule amputation and chemo