What was a limp on a dog that had not had any issues before turned out to be my worst nightmare. A few weeks ago Keno raced off the porch a little too hard and hurt his ankle on the stairs. I figured he had just sprang it and put him on reduced exercise and bed rest for a while. Well, it didn't get better and about a week and a half ago it started having swelling issues I couldn't get to go away and he could no longer put weight on it at all most of the time. So we managed to get into the vet this morning, they took x-rays and it looks to be that keno has bone cancer. The joint in his front right ankle has essentially fallen apart because it's eaten by cancer. We go in later today to pick him up and discuss "options", which will be go to a cancer specialist and start chemo once the whole leg is removed, or Pump him full of pain meds and mitigate until we can't anymore. Ugh, I really had hoped it was just a sprang ankle.

Ouch! That's not the kind of surprise I'd want to see from my dogs ... and your quandary is a really tough one.

I've had to watch Sasha age and she's getting to the point where a ramp up the porch is getting to be needed. She was in good form Saturday when she went out for a run with Sky but I noticed that she was real reluctant to climb the steps to come in and then missed her footing a time or two ... she's independent and doesn't want 'help' so she's on her own for a while.

In either case, yours or mine, it's a matter of time and we love them as best we can. << tears >>

Im sorry thats really horrible.

We are loaded with pain meds, a steroid, and an antibiotic. From his ankle midway up his leg the bone has deteriorated. Basically all the innards of his leg bone are pushing outward to a thinning bone wall. It isn't showing up in his chest yet which is where it goes when it's far progressed but even if we were to take the leg and did the chemo it would only maybe add a year to his life, and it would be a miserable year. Bone cancer is terribly aggressive and terribly painful (my grandpa had it). Right now we are facing a couple of weeks to maybe a month or two with him.

I’m so so sorry to hear this I hope he’s not in any pain bless him

Jenn, I'm so sorry to hear the news. I know you'll keep him comfortable as long as you can and let him go when the time is right. Hugs to all of you

We are going to make a foray into Keto diets for dogs and see how it goes. Or at least if I can wrap my head around how to calculate it all we are going to try that. I have fed and calculated for PMR raw, BARF raw, and balanced homecooked without an issue. Doing the calculations for Keto is a different animal when you feed wild game that doesn't come with a tag telling you exact grams of fat in a part. Going to start with Dr. Harvey's Paradigm base mix to tide me over until I learn more. We are also adding cbd (the good stuff) to our regimen when it shows up, and turkey tail mushroom powder along with an MSM supplement. My counter is a pharmacy right now. Bone cancer moves terribly fast so it can be frustrating waiting for anything to arrive in the mail but so much we can't actually get in a store around here.

Jenn, i am so sorry to be catching up on this sad news looks like you are trying the best you can right now. would any splinting on the leg help with the weakness?
hugs heading your way, do what you can till you can't. hang in there

I asked the vet about it and he said adding a splint of any kind would likely just make him more uncomfortable as it would rub at the swelling point. The cancer in the joint causes the joint to swell and retain fluid. While we have him on medication to assist with this as it progresses the medication won't be able to keep up and swelling will worsen creating a fluid pocket on his leg. Our main goal with the leg is to not let him jump up or off anything and we aren't letting him go up and down the back steps anymore since we have a two-story deck the dogs have to go off of to pee. Sometimes he wants to go down anyway though. He seems to get down the steps fine. It's getting back up that's the trouble. He's always used his front legs heavily to pull himself up things since his back hips don't work really. Now he's lame at both ends a bit which poses the most challenge when going up.

I "think" I have keto figured out. At least the first part of it to try to get to ketosis. So much math. Getting to nutritionally balanced keto is the next challenge. We had a spurt where he would refuse to eat in an attempt to avoid the copious amounts of medication hidden in the food that tasted nasty. Cream cheese and butter has helped with this, along with not using ground meat. The grind seems to make it easier for him to taste the pills through, unlike chunk meat.

I'm sorry to hear your story. Lots of encouragements and love. It shows you really care for Keno, you gave him a great life.

Thank you. We did have a bit of a scare the other day. We've been battling a suspected reaction to one of the medications that he is on. He breathes heavily much of the time, and not in a way that makes me think it's just stress from pain breathing. I believe the reaction is to the tramadol. The vet decided to wean him off the prednisone but didn't want to take him off the tramadol because it's supposed to be his painkiller. Within a few days of starting to wean him off pred he started to suffer significantly. He could barely walk and was miserable. I worried we were going to be making the "decision" soon. Since it seemed like the lameness came on so suddenly after limiting pred I decided to put him back on it fully and now he's back to getting around well. So apparently the pred is more useful than the tramadol, which I've read that tramadol is mostly pointless before. My vet just doesn't seem to want to use anything else.

I feel so sorry for you and him, it must be so heart breaking! My heart breaks for you! Sending our love!!
Liv Storm and Apollo

Jen, I am so sorry to hear about Keno.

We are going into 4 months since keno's cancer diagnosis. We have only been doing pain management. No amputation or chemo/radiation. We swapped to a keto style diet, he's getting a couple tramadol pills and prednisone with his morning and evening meal as well as some CBD/THC. He is getting around well but the leg is starting to swell more. This is normal as the cancer progresses. We are up to a lump around the size of a pickle ball now. All-in-all he has outlasted what google gives as a lifespan for pain management alone. From talking with others who have been through the same it isn't completely uncommon for dogs to outlast the two months max that pops up on a google search. Some of the dogs that are on pain management alone are outlasting dogs who have been put through the expense of amputation. One day at a time.

So sorry to hear about Keno's diagnosis. Pamper him and love on him.

Nice to hear he's getting along ok living with the cancer. My best hopes for as long as possible with decent quality of life and then a quick, loving end. My heart goes out to you Jenn.

i would say i hope he feels better soon but i know thats not the reality. Im glad he is still ok for now tho

My encouragements. You're giving him the best care in the circumstances and you should be proud of that.

glad to see you are managing it ok, keep loving him every day like you do and he will let you know when the time comes.

Headed to the vet this evening. Meds have been a bit problematic causing water retention for keno from the start. He's gotten pot bellied enough that it's causing discomfort for him to lay down. Going to see if there's anything the vet can give to assist in the water retention. He's puffed up a bit like a toad. When he's up and moving around he's doing great but not being able to get comfortable while you sleep because belly in the way, well, women who have been pregnant can I'm sure commiserate with him right now. I'm sure they will do x-rays and tell us how far into his lungs the cancer has spread which I'm sure will be a lot. I would like to say I'm prepared to hear it is throughout but hubby will be along and he gets a bit emotional which pesters my clear headed reserve sometimes.

I’m so sorry! I hope all goes well at the vets have faith things can be better than you thinklet us know how he is

Thinking of you this morning, Jenn. Hoping for the best.

Going to put him on some liver support. Run him through some milk thistle and dandelion. His liver is a bit puffed up from the pred. Lungs still showing clear. Cancer is getting deeper in the leg and a bit higher. It's when it spreads to other organs that time gets real short though. Vet was surprised how well he's holding up still and said to keep doing what we were doing.

Happy to hear... Though the inevitable lies upon the horizon. My hats off to you for giving him such good quality at the end of his life. And hugs to you and hubby, I'm sure this weighs in the back of your mind 🥰

Oh, so sorry to hear this!

It sounds like you are taking great care of him, and it's amazing that in twice the expected time, it still hasn't spread to his lungs.

Wishing you both more good, happy days (as many as you can get together).