hi all,
my eleven year old lab/boxer mix was just diagnosed over the weekend (at the ER) with bone cancer.
he's been on deramaxx for a couple of months now for what we thought was arthritis. it seemed to be helping with a limp he developed in his right shoulder. this week it got worse despite the deramaxx. i had planned on taking him to my vet today but he couldn't get out of bed on saturday and as i was trying to help and feeling around on him, i found a lump in his armpit, so we went to ER. they did x-rays of both front legs and his lungs and found the cancer. it hasn't spread to his lungs yet that they can see. without a biopsy they don't know for sure if it's osteosarcoma or another kind of cancer but it's definitely a tumor/growth on the leg and in the bone. the good leg is white and normal and the bad one is almost see-through in places and has a lot of dark spots in the bone. ironically, the lump i found appears to be a fatty tumor and not part of the cancer but that's not important anyway at this point.
i see my vet tomorrow for a consult regarding treatment. i am not going to opt for amputation and chemo. bosco is too old and his other legs are arthritic. being in the shoulder too, i don't even think amputation would be an option no matter what.
all i'm really asking for here is some advice on what pain-relievers might be best. i will probably continue with the deramaxx. it's a pain reliever/anti-inflamatory but i would also like just a pain killer for when he goes to sleep at night. he doesn't appear to be in too much pain yet. he still wants to take walks, although we've shortened them now and he still has energy to play a little. he's eating normal and seems, on the whole, pretty good so far. the ER vet has given him a couple of months at best. i know this is a very aggressive cancer and i will not prolong his life if the pain becomes obviously too much for him.
thanks in advance for any answers and support..........this will be a very hard time for us as you all know. debi
ps. the picture was taken some years back-a healthy, happy bosco.
This message was edited Jan 14, 2008 11:22 AM
