Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been passed on details of your forum off a member of another forum who felt you maybe able to help and give me some advice on my situation. To give you a little background I have a Rottie bitch who is 5 at the end of this month, she developed a limp and swelling to her right rear hock approximately 10-days ago, after a couple of days we took her to the vet, who suggested she have an xray, which she had yesterday. Prior to this she was in good health and seemed to be her normal happy self. Having taken an xray the vet has diagnosed Osteosarcoma but has sent her details over the specialist oncolgists at the University of Liverpool, they will then hopefully advise the best course of action for the future. They have mentioned amputation but advised that for a rottie that this is not really a particularly viable option.

Here are a few more details about my dog: -
Weight: - 8.5 stone - not over weight, trim with defined waist and large amount of muscle.
Food: - Burns Natural Dried Food
Lifestyle: - active dog, who was walked as a puppy steadily as we were aware of the conditions such as hip and elbow displaysia in large breed dogs and didn't want to put any additional pressure on growing joints. As an adult she is walked regularly for both long and short walks and attends the vet annually for jabs and innoculations. She was spayed at approximately 18-months old and only really had dealings with the vet for annual jabs and one trip where she was stung by what we think was a wasp and had a bad reaction, to which we received medication.
Symptoms: - Her symptoms have come on suddenly and as stated before she has intermitent lameness, with swelling to the rear right hock, which has reduced since last week being on anti-inflammatory medication as perscribed by the vet. I am not sure of the name of the medication as my boyfriend has left it at his house and I am at mine but can pass this onto you tomorrow if that is OK.

Unfortunately, we don't know what causes bone cancer, although we do know that it occurs more frequently in certain breeds, Rotweilers being one. There are things we can do to help, meaning anything from curing the cancer completely to slowing down its growth. The first thing is to eliminate carbohydrates, which only serve to feed the cancer cells. So stop all dry food, grains, pastas, bread, potatoes, root vegetables and fruits. Feed meat, fish, poultry and beef bones. There is also a protocol using quark and flax seed oil, which I modify to use cottage cheese and cod liver oil, 1/2 cut and 2 tbsp per meal. Give the immune stimulating mushroom Agaricus blazei, 1 capsule twice a day. I give something I call menadione ascorbate, which is sodium ascorbate and vitamin K3 in a 100:1 ratio, 1/2 tsp twice a day. Give the homeopathic remedy Hekla lava daily in an LM1 or 30c potency. and ask your vet to give a 1ml injection once a week under the skin of large animal Vitamin A and D. Good luck with this, and let me know how you are doing.

Thank you very much for your advice regarding Tia it was very much appriciated. We have now recieved a date to see the specialist at John Moores University on tuesday 9th of this month. Although we are very happy that she has been referred to the specialist we are also still worried of the outcomes of the meeting and wondered if you could help us with any key questions we should ask. We did have a brief chat over the phone and they have not ruled out amputation running along side chemo. Another option they highlighted was radiotherapy. what do you think?

any advice is greatly appreciated

many thanks ian, helen and tia

Amputation and/or radiation may give you aome added time, but I have never seen them stop the cancer. Ask them how much time the dog can expect with the recommended treatment versus nothing, and what is the best outcome they have observed.

Just an update on Tia, its been good news from the specialist, as she has had the all clear on the osteosarcoma. Below is the diagnostic finndings see what you think.

DIAGNOSTIC FINDINGS
Tia presented after a recent bout of severe lameness. Her lameness has improved dramatically since. However Xrays taken at the time had shown severe bony changes and your vets were concerned that she might have a bone tumour.

General physical examination was unremarkable, there was however enlargement of both hock joints.

Xrays of the chest revealed no problems. Xrays of the hocks revealed bilateral swelling of the joints. On the right hand side there was marked bony changes present, however these changes are present on both sides of tyhe hock joint and are therefore more consistent with osteoarthritis. The joint space also seems enlarged and there is more movement in the joint (right hock) than normal.

Our orthopaedics department has examined these Xrays and they feel that it is likely that Tia has osteochondrosis dissecans (OCD) with secondary osteoarthritis. OCD is a disease in which some joints fail to form normally because of this the joints are much more prone to wear and tear than normal. This eventually leads to osteoarthritis. The acute flare up of lameness is probably due to a minor twist in combination with the pre-existing damage.

TREATMENT
As Tia as swollen joints this suggests and active and current degeneratiave process in the joints, in order to slow this down Tia needs a period of rest and reduced exercise as well as pain killers.

At home therefore please continue with the Rimadyl as prescribed by your vet. Please restrict Tia's exercise to 4 x 5 minutes walk on the lead daily.
Do not let her run or jump around.

FOLLOW UP
Please make a follow up appointment to see our orthopaedics department in 5 weeks time to assess whether further treatment is necessary.

As you can imagine we are all relieved, but still wonder if there is anything further we can do to help

many thanks for all the advice given
Ian, Helen and Tia

Rimadyl is especially bad as an anti-inflamatory as it has been shown to cause liver damage and death. Any of the anti-inflamatories, with long-term use, may cause bleeding in the intestinal tract. Some herbs that are anti-inflamatory, and that are safer, are boswelia, white willow bark, and bromelain. There are a number of good homeopathic remedies as well for arthritis.