Hi Everyone! I am so grateful for this forum. I typically just lurk in the background and read posts, but I find myself looking for guidance now.
My partner and I adopted an 8 year old Rottweiler last November, named Honey Bee or "Bee" for short. She has absolutely stolen our hearts. In late August, Bee started limping on her hind leg and after a week of pain medicine with no improvement, we opted for x-rays. The x-rays showed structural changes to her femur, which her vet is almost certain is bone cancer/osteosarcoma. The vet also ran bloodwork, which showed mildly elevated ALP and eosinophilia. We started her on gabapentin and carprofen 2X daily to manage her pain, and we are keeping her quiet (no off-leash running, jumping) to reduce the risk of a break. Since the diagnosis, her limp has gotten worse and she often pauses during walks to rest the leg, but she is eating normally and still excited whenever she hears us pick her the leash for a walk or car ride. She isn't showing any signs of significant pain aside from the limp and needing to rest her leg... though I know that rotties can be very stoic.
Our primary vet has recommended palliative care for Bee, with medication for pain management. He gave us an expected survival period of around 3 months. He did not recommend more aggressive treatment (amputation, chemo or radiation) given her age, size and preexisting conditions. He felt that aggressive treatment would not add significant time to her expected survival period, and would likely harm Bee's quality of life more than help. Bee will be 9 years old next month and is just under 100 lbs. She has some mild arthritis and her x-rays also show minor hip dysplasia.
We met with an veterinary oncologist today, for a second opinion. The oncologist suggested we consider amputation and chemo, or radiation. She felt that amputation or radiation would help Bee with her pain, and might extend her life for "a few" more months. The oncologist also mentioned bisphosphonates but said she has only seen mild success with those drugs.
We also had a consult with an integrative/holistic vet, who advised against amputation but suggested some alternative treatments - high-dose vitamin C infusions and acupuncture.
My partner and I are completely heartbroken and struggling to process all of this conflicting guidance. Our primary goal is to ensure that Bee has a good quality of life - we do not want to put her through painful procedures or treatments unless she has a significant chance at improved quality of life and longer survival period. Our instincts are pointing us toward palliative care with medication and perhaps acupuncture, but we do not want to be left wondering if we could have done more for our girl. The oncologist did make a strong case for adding radiation, but Bee does not particaurly enjoy vet visits and the through of her being sedated/anesthetized multiple times gives us pause, particaurly if we will only be giving her another month or two.
I know from this forum that many others have been faced with these difficult choices, and I would be forever grateful for any experiences, perspectives or opinions that you all are willing to share. We have already discussed home euthanasia for our girl when the time comes, but we want to be sure that we are doing the "right" things until then.
My partner and I adopted an 8 year old Rottweiler last November, named Honey Bee or "Bee" for short. She has absolutely stolen our hearts. In late August, Bee started limping on her hind leg and after a week of pain medicine with no improvement, we opted for x-rays. The x-rays showed structural changes to her femur, which her vet is almost certain is bone cancer/osteosarcoma. The vet also ran bloodwork, which showed mildly elevated ALP and eosinophilia. We started her on gabapentin and carprofen 2X daily to manage her pain, and we are keeping her quiet (no off-leash running, jumping) to reduce the risk of a break. Since the diagnosis, her limp has gotten worse and she often pauses during walks to rest the leg, but she is eating normally and still excited whenever she hears us pick her the leash for a walk or car ride. She isn't showing any signs of significant pain aside from the limp and needing to rest her leg... though I know that rotties can be very stoic.
Our primary vet has recommended palliative care for Bee, with medication for pain management. He gave us an expected survival period of around 3 months. He did not recommend more aggressive treatment (amputation, chemo or radiation) given her age, size and preexisting conditions. He felt that aggressive treatment would not add significant time to her expected survival period, and would likely harm Bee's quality of life more than help. Bee will be 9 years old next month and is just under 100 lbs. She has some mild arthritis and her x-rays also show minor hip dysplasia.
We met with an veterinary oncologist today, for a second opinion. The oncologist suggested we consider amputation and chemo, or radiation. She felt that amputation or radiation would help Bee with her pain, and might extend her life for "a few" more months. The oncologist also mentioned bisphosphonates but said she has only seen mild success with those drugs.
We also had a consult with an integrative/holistic vet, who advised against amputation but suggested some alternative treatments - high-dose vitamin C infusions and acupuncture.
My partner and I are completely heartbroken and struggling to process all of this conflicting guidance. Our primary goal is to ensure that Bee has a good quality of life - we do not want to put her through painful procedures or treatments unless she has a significant chance at improved quality of life and longer survival period. Our instincts are pointing us toward palliative care with medication and perhaps acupuncture, but we do not want to be left wondering if we could have done more for our girl. The oncologist did make a strong case for adding radiation, but Bee does not particaurly enjoy vet visits and the through of her being sedated/anesthetized multiple times gives us pause, particaurly if we will only be giving her another month or two.
I know from this forum that many others have been faced with these difficult choices, and I would be forever grateful for any experiences, perspectives or opinions that you all are willing to share. We have already discussed home euthanasia for our girl when the time comes, but we want to be sure that we are doing the "right" things until then.