Dogs & Dog Training
Bone cancer
Good news! Moose has responded quite well to the antibiotics. The swelling is gone & he has no lameness around the house and yard. He still showed a slight limp after a short hunt last weekend but it went away by the next day. I took him back to the vet for a follow up & the xrays showed some improvement. If it really was cancer it should have gotten worse. He's back on the antibiotics for another six weeks hopefully it is just an infection. It may be a merry Christmas afterall!
Kills me to even revisit this topic as I lost "The Best Lab in The World" October of '06 to bone cancer. Started just like yours on a training day in late June. Went away and again got REAL bad in mid-July. Late July they said it was bone cancer after a biopsy. The gave her 3 months, 6 at the outside.
One of the worst days of my life was 10/28/06 when we put Aunt Bea down; 3 months to the day we got the news. The last 2 days were the worst, I even went at far as trying to move the appt. ahead to spare the pain but couldn't.
I second the recommendation of visiting the UW Madison Vet Hospital! My local vet diagnosed my 11 year old lab with fatal cancer with nodes in his throat, heart, and lungs visible in X-rays. Said there was nothing that could be done but try to manage the pain and keep him comfortable.
After all the effort and memories he has given me I couldn't get comfortable with letting him go that easy and contacted UW and made an appointment. They are great folks and really spent time testing him and talking to us; turns out not a cancer cell in his body.
Personally I wouldn't give up on him without another check up by people who have the right equipment and expertise to make a recommendation and discuss options with you.
esetter,I lost mine to the same cancer a year ago. It was in his hock and I was told the same by my vet as you were that 90% chance it had already spread. Usually to the chest. I could tell by the look in my vets eyes that putting my dog down was the right thing to do. Best wishes
Sorry to here about your dog. I just lost my best friend on 12/11. (heart attack) I think. He just tip over right in front of me and he was gone. He had no health issues. He was a good dog not a good hunting dog but he did his best (Gun shy) he loved to go any where with me. He was only 5yr old. I would just like to give you my best of luck with your dog.
