Bone Cancer In Dogs

Question by : Anyone know what to do about this?
My father-in-law recently passed away about a week ago. He had bone cancer. It’s long, but let me explain:

About two years ago, he was diagnosed with a different kind of cancer (can’t remember what kind). It was localized in the throat. He went through chemo and radiation, and got rid of it. Then, about 8-10 months ago, he was hospitalized to have a cyst removed from his testicles. When he was leaving the hospital, he fell on his way out. They helped him up and let him go home. He was complaining that he had pain in his arm where he had fallen. He continued to complain of this pain in his arm and there was a noticeable lump there. He went back to the doctor and they ended up telling him that his arm was broken. They did nothing further than telling him it was broken – no cast of any sort, no x-rays, nothing! This arm continued to get worse and worse. Finally, they told him that it was not broken, but that he had arthritis. They sent him for physical therapy. He then started complaining of back pain. He got to the point that he could not walk. He also had a noticeable lump in his lower back. Again, they told him arthritis. Still no testing of any sort. Finally, when he went to a doctors appt. and could not get out of the car because of the pain, they sent him to the hospital. They questioned him and sent him for an MRI (I believe that’s what its called). The doctor came back to tell the family that he had advanced bone cancer and it was at a point that it was not treatable. The doctor said that he believed that it began in the arm that he had “broken.” He had lumps (tumors) in his arm, back, hip, head, and neck. It had also metastasized to his lungs. All that time, he had been telling them about the lumps and pain, and they did NOTHING. He lived for a month after that. My questions are: Shouldn’t they have done more testing? Why were they so nonchalant about his pain? Also, is there anything, legally, that can be done to the doctor that treated him? The family is not interested in money, but they would like for the doctor to have some kind of action taken against him. Is that possible? What would be the process? They spoke with someone about it but they didn’t really understand the process. Whoever they spoke with (I wasn’t there), said that it would be very hard to get anywhere with it because “doctors will stick up for other doctors.” Those were his words. What can be done? Am I correct in thinking that more could have been done? It just seems that it was almost like it’s one of those situations where the dog is sick and Grandpa says, “He’s got the mange, so I’ll just take him out back and shoot em’.” I’m sure that he probably wouldn’t have lived a normal life span, but to just not treat the illness? It seems like willfully withholding medical treatment to me. All info and answers are greatly appreciated.

Best answer:

Answer by Zoran
I do not have any type of experience in this field but just from everyday life experiences i went through a situation similar to yours with my grandpa suffering a stroke with doctors giving us mixed messages about how he was going, unfortunately he passed away and so my parents raised a complaint with the hospital and then called the actual health department that controlled this specific hospital. That’s all i can recommend, speak to someone higher in the chain and alert them to this stupidity and obnoxiousness. Sorry i can’t help you out more buddy, anyways good luck with everything

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Question by bean: pet insurance- Anyone out there with some good feedback?
Is it even worth it? I have read many reviews about people having to pay the bill up front the insurance carrier determines whether they will reimburst you or not. Many complaints about compaines giving the run around. We just got a dog and she’s 6 years old. We had her sister but she passed away due to lymphoma. We spent lots of money on her treatment but eventually couldnt afford it. She relapsed and it consumed her in about a month. I would really like some kind of coverage for the dog we now have because I dont want to go through that again. Thanks

Best answer:

Answer by TrupanionPetInsurance.com
Hi bean,
If you’re in the US then all pet insurance works in such a way that you pay the bill up front and send the invoice and claim form to the pet insurance company to be reimbursed. This allows you to go to any veterinarian of your choice.
At Trupanion, we have a pre-approval process in which you can get your veterinarian to send us an itemized estimate of costs for a procedure that is needed and we can tell you in advance whether or not the claim will be approved.

My advice is to select a deductible that you can afford to pay, that way you’ll have lower monthly premiums, and anything above that amount is covered by insurance.
Just like insurance for auto, home, etc. pet insurance is worth it (of course I’m biased) for the peace of mind. It allows you to give your pet all the necessary treatments in times of need without having to choose between your money and your pet’s life.

Feel free to visit our website for compare charts or call with questions!

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Question by Rosebudd/BT: I was just wondering if anyone has heard that microchip your pet can cause cancer?
I have an 11 week old Shih Tzu puppy. I really worried my neighbor said that microchip can cause cancer in your dog. If you are a dog owner can you please help me?

Best answer:

Answer by lorraine12937
i have heard that myself i wouldnt have one in my zoey.
in cities i think its great cause you can always track them if they should get stolen so you have to just weigh the odds whats best

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Question by tazzmainiandevils: Does anyone know about using natural progesterone cream in dogs to prevent cancer?
I know natural progesterone cream is beneficial to opposing estrogen in mammals during pregnancy. I also know it’s good in preventing all kinds of cancer. If my dog had a couple heats before being fixed, would it be helpful to try supplementing with some natural progesterone for a couple months, to counter act the estrogen she was exposed to? I thought we were going to breed her and I’d never owned a dog before. I feel bad that her risks for cancer is now increased. The vet told me this today, and the dog was spayed two years ago (she’s now 3.5 years old).

Best answer:

Answer by Magen Brown47
If she has been spayed for two years with no problems yet, she should be fine.

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Question by tate064: Has anyone ever experienced with their dog the symptoms described below? If yes, how and what happened?
I have a seven year old Brittany. She has always been very healthy. However, over the last month or so, she has stopped eating her normal dry kibble, and increased her water intake quite a bit. She’s gone from 38 to 28 lbs, and we can now see her backbone, hips, and ribs more clearly, not to mention that she barks much less frequently. We took her to the vet for testing: her urine, fecal, and blood testing all came out normal, with the exception of a higher white blood cell count in her liver. We also did chest x-rays, and found nothing unusual. To get her to eat, we now have to use cold, soft food (cheese, hamburger, moist dog food, etc), sit on the floor with her, and convince her to eat. She is on antibiotics 3x a day in the event of a bacterial infection, and prednisone steroids if it’s something more serious like lymphoma, as well as to make her hungry. Other than that, she still seems pretty normal in her behaviors…she has never ingested anything she shouldn’t (like chip bags) either. My family kind of suspects her throat is hurting her, so maybe something is wrong there?

The vet said he’s never seen anything quite like this, but I was wondering if maybe someone else had.

Best answer:

Answer by hvn_fun2
I’m not a Vet and have no idea.I just want to tell you that I know how much you must love your furbaby.My thoughts and best wishes are with you.

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Question by Linda S: has anyone ever had a dog with cancer in their gums?
I am searching for treatment… the vet explained that she may have a year to live if we have her jaw removed but about 6 months out of that year she would be healing… The groth is getting bigger by the day and I sit here in tears trying to figure out the right thing to do… The good part is she is not in pain.

Best answer:

Answer by meena_miya23
God bless him … i can only do that … i m really sad about it coz i love animal… i was had one kitten whom i loved so much ..and stillin missing her ………. when she was died i was really lost.. take car of her u too…

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Question by Stevie c: Does anyone know about dog liver cancer?
In small words we are only in the 5 grade!!!

Best answer:

Answer by jerry f
Not alot of information about this type of cancer in dogs. But a holistic veterniarian can help possibly prolong and make the dog feel better through herbs and accupuncture.

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Question by rimbaudrambo: A Medical Puzzle… can anyone piece it together?
Long rant for context (ie: we’ve tried everything… probably *literally* everything)…

I have a 16 year old dog, Norwegian Elkhound mix (though recent things suggest some direct wolf-lineage)… For over a month now, he’s had varying degrees of diarrhea, vomiting, etc… It started with the vet just saying to put him on a bland diet. Worked for a few days then got worse. Then a canned bland diet… same thing. Tried metronidazole, but that caused a rather atypical reaction of absolutely no bladder control. He was wetting the bed, several accidents in the house (which he’s never done before), etc… Took him off metronidazole and that went away in a couple days. The vet said it could be an age related issue (bladder muscles no longer what they were), but considering that went away, I highly doubt it. In the meantime, I had them run a blood test… everything came back perfect for a dog half his age, no kidney, liver, thyroid, etc… problems, except slightly high cholesterol which has been an issue for some time now, but just at the very high end of normal). I finally got pissed off at his regular vet so started taking him into the ER vet as a regular practice for a week (started because he couldn’t eat anything without vomiting and the vet said, “oh, bring him in in 3 days”… not acceptable for a 16 year old dog who had been having related ongoing problems). In the 4 times I took him in over a week, they ran an abdominal x-ray, ultrasound, standard fecal test (no parasites), diarrhea panel, gave him fluid injections, prescribed various medications (antacids, an onsite kaopectate dose, and on and on), etc… Every diagnostic came back fine, no indication of a problem whatsoever (except the x-ray appearing gassy), no tumors, etc… The ER vet even said “if there’s a dog to clone, he’s the one!” (given his age and not even slight issues). However, the vomiting stopped (though it only lasted 1 day throughout all of this), but the diarrhea continued – actually got worse, the point of being pure liquid. This past Monday, I took him in to see a specialist who ran a chest x-ray (came back fine, no sign of anything) and ran various other tests (vitamin deficiencies, full pancreatic test, etc…), as well as looking over the other x-rays, ultrasound, tests, etc… He found that my dog has a slight B12 deficiency, but extremely slight and way less than he’d expect of a dog who’s had diarrhea for a month. But otherwise, again, everything looks perfect (no problems with his pancreas, no indication of intestinal lymphoma, no chest tumors or other issues, etc…). He put him on enrofloxacin (Baytril) as a best guess (and gave him a B vitamin injection, and a supplement of Metamucil) – the reasoning being it’s gone on too long and some definitive treatment needs to be attempted, so hoping this was the right one. So far, so good. He went a day without pooping, and now his stool is firming up. No problems with urination. But we’ll see how that works in the long run. The one issue is that he selectively threw up the Metamucil, so we’ve stopped that… supposedly selective vomiting is common in wolves, but not believed to exist in domestic dogs (hence the new genetic mystery).

In the meantime, my girlfriend’s dog (a miniature poodle.. we all live together, so easy exposure) suddenly, this past Tuesday, had HORRIBLE diarrhea… extremely bloody, pure liquid, but no other symptoms. We got her into the vet and they put her on metronidazole and ran a fecal test (the fact that she wasn’t showing any other symptoms, is about 3 years old, and we live somewhere where parvo is extremely uncommon made them confident it wasn’t that, which I’d certainly agree with). She had no temperature, was only slightly dehydrated, and had quite the appetite and as bouncy/hyper as always. The fecal test came back today negative for any parasites.

However, here’s the kicker… the metronidazole, while it’s stopped the diarrhea, is also causing her to pee a lot! Not as bad as my dog (she hasn’t had any accidents), but she has to go out for a walk every couple hours. I’ve asked the vet she went to to switch her over to Baytril, and am having my dog’s records faxed over to show them precedent for why… But at this point, it’s entirely symptomatic. There is no concrete reason *why* they’d both appear to be healthy yet have diarrhea, and respond to metronidazole in the same very atypical way. It seems there should be a link, but I certainly can’t figure it out and no vets can either.

Does anyone have experience with an extremely rare bacteria/virus/whatever that’s not detected in tests and causes increased urination when treated with metronidazole?

Sorry that’s so long, but at this point it’s puzzling me, my girlfriend, 3 ER vets, 2 regular practice vets, and a renowned internal medic
They’ve gotten no table scraps, and that wouldn’t explain why both have the same weird reaction to the same medication (Elkhound vs poodle… not likely to respond to things that similarly for no reason) and that far apart, nor why it’s gone on so long. And I’d say if 6 vets (actually 7, as there were 2 who saw my dog at the regular practice) are all stumped, I think it’s less an issue of the vet and more an issue of something extremely odd. I appreciate input, so I mean no disrespect, but I’m largely looking for people who have had experience with something that would cause this, or have heard about it before.
My dog’s not at the end of his life (and I honestly don’t appreciate such a patronizing remark)… every single diagnostic confirmed otherwise. And, hypothetically, if he were, how would simple old-age be contagious to a 3 year old poodle?

Again, we’ve had every diagnostic under the sun. A 16 year old and 3 year old of very different breeds are having the same symptoms. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, as I appreciate responses, but both responses so far are overlooking countless big details.
Sorry for editing so much, but I’d also like to add that no one dies of “old age”… Old age leads to a reduction in the ability of one of body’s systems which results in death, but “old age” (simply chronological age) doesn’t cause someone to die (heart failure, liver failure, cancer, etc… caused by a slowing of hormone process, body’s synthesis of nutrients, etc… causes death, and none of which apply to him according to every test by various vets). Based on every blood test, x-ray, ultrasound, etc… my dog would be extremely healthy for a dog half his age. He enjoys walks, playing, cuddling, etc… and I think it’s very irresponsible and patronizing the imply someone should have their otherwise healthy dog put to sleep just because of age. Again, his only medical problem is diarrhea, which a 3 year poodle now has with the same symptoms/medication reactions, and every test indicates he’s freakishly healthy.

Again, I’ve outlined every variable… I would REALLY appreciate seri
ous responses (I’d be so grateful), but please read what I wrote.

Pamela: No, apparently I can’t. Even with a long rant with every variable outlined, people still apparently won’t read it/ignore 90% of what was said. :\ I can only imagine how people would skew it if I tried to leave details out (ie: said I was at several vets, someone says to find a new vet… said diagnostics show my dog is healthy and a 3 year old dog is having the same, someone suggests my dog is dying of old age and I should kill him… wtf?!)

Best answer:

Answer by Giagal
You need to find another vet. Only they can help you. Table scraps are the main cause of diarrhea in dogs.

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Question by swtmelon012: Has anyone had a dog that suffered from cancer?
Just curious because my dog seems to be weak, lose a lot of fur and cry a lot. What are the symptoms and what can you do to help?

Best answer:

Answer by 88
GO TO A VET PLEASE!

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Question by Jeanniegirl: does anyone out there know anyone who is married………?
and one of the couple has osteosarcoma? this is a type of bone cancer, usually kids about 13 get it, my husband was old to be diagnosed at 20 actually. he passed away in april, and im just wondering if anyone has had an experience like mine…….

Best answer:

Answer by LVieau
No bone cancer in our family but there’s breast and colon cancer on my mother’s side and she has had a breast removed and 3 bouts of cancer in her colon. This last spring she at 84 had another surgery to remove the growth and has survived, and is recovering fast.

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