u/Mr_Biizon

Made the hard choice to have the vet come to our home today and put her down. She got have some of her favorite treats again and had some ice cream and steak and we had a great time at the park this morning too. She went surrounded by familiar sights and smells and sounds on her comfy bed at home and was so so loved and I'm going to miss her so so much. Heartbroken right now but she's no longer in pain and sick and can run on all 4 legs and enjoy all of her favorite things again.

Just want to say thank you to everyone for all the support and advice we've had together leading up to for the 5 weeks she was a tripawd after her surgery. Knowing all the information I had at the time I would have done it for her again in a heartbeat, and it was just to give her a better chance.

We had some pretty awesome adventures, road trips and campfire nights, many many happy relaxing peaceful nights at home, lots of loving head and back scratches and silly moments together. Rest well Maya ❤️‍🩹

Just spreading some positivity and a pic of Maya at our 4th week - it's been so amazing talking with people here and the amount of support we've gotten.

Unfortunately from our last post, she hasn't improved much despite doing as much as I can and working very closely with our vet - small tablespoons here and there of mashed up blended hills onc care to try and keep her going and recovering, but it seems like she gets better for a few days and then back to square one with being unable to keep anything down and vomiting, Cerenia and Omeprazole or not. Bloodwork and x-rays came back perfectly clear as well on wednesday so still no clear cause. We got her off the pain meds and it made a small improvement but after a week it's impossible to judge if she's made any meaningful recovery or steps towards truly being better or not.

Her energy has still been great, and she's still giving tail wags and having happy moments, not lethargic at all and drinking and staying adequately hydrated on her own but when she's not doing great, it's really rough on her and I'm not sure how much more has left. Ready to talk about quality of life depending on how she is over the next few days but I don't want her to keep suffering and slowly starving essentially, she's already lost a lot. I'm so sorry and I hope it isn't morbid or so discouraging for some people here who are preparing to go through surgery with their beloved pets. I have to keep a frame of mind that Maya was already a very old senior, but even so with the knowledge I had at the time and the happy life she was still having I would have made the same decision to carry on with surgery again. The small happy moments we had were worth it - I hope we get to have more together but I'm not sure. It's just been so much for her.

Sadly an upcoming commitment with the military will mean I am about to be forced to leave her for a few weeks and I just can't stand the thought of not being there for her when she needs it most, if she does start to show signs of improvement and keeps fighting. I don't know what to do or feel and I'm heartbroken right now for her. And id hate the put the responsibility of making that decision on somebody else, it's absolutely not right.

Again, don't let this be a discouraging post for anybody looking for information. There is so much support and joy and happiness in this community - but I just wanted to share where we are currently at.

After the two week mark, Maya started to do significantly better but on Monday we started to see a significant setback. She started throwing up after her meals, always with a slimy white foamy substance. Only once a couple days ago I saw a little bit of yellowish bile in it. Immediately switched to bland chicken and rice strictly again in small amounts and it developed into her not being able to keep any food down at all, even a couple tiny shredded pieces of chicken would make her clearly super nauseated. She's been on gabapentin and carprofen still. Stopped giving the carprofen, tried witholding for 12 hours, then introducing small amounts again, no difference. Today I picked up Cerenia or the maropitant citrate tablets and gave her a half tablet as instructed before giving her about a quarter cup of food. She did great and about an hour and a half later I tried to give her about a quarter cup more in small amounts by hand slowly. TW here. She started vomiting again but this time we had a bit of a scare - she tried to fight it and swallow it and started choking. Thankfully we got her to cough it all out and breath normally but I'm so distraught. I'm really fearful for the worst and it hasn't even been a month after her surgery. I did a little bit of reading and I think dogs typically do well with Cerenia and recover after about a week from similar cases? I'm just really scared for Maya. She's still been showing appetite anyways and willingly drinking water enough to replenish fluids and her gums are still pink and normal. In the evenings she's very lethargic and having a hard time standing, but in the mornings when I'm she is all tail wags and seems normal. This has been going on for a few days now. I've been calling our vet every day and we have a follow up visit for tomorrow morning... I'm not asking for much, but I definitely am praying for at least a little bit more time for her to have some truly comfortable and happy days again. Any advice at all from anyone with senior dogs going through this? I also just really needed to rant and get something out

Update: the vet checked her out during the visit and did not recommend x-rays or blood work. instead they gave her an anti nausea Cerenia injection and we'll try the food again and see how she does. Fingers crossed for her.

Almost two weeks later and Maya is doing so much better! The vet gave us the green light to get some small exercise in for her, and she got to go hop around the park which was really exciting for her. She even used her new doggy ramp to get in and out of the car and did amazing! Then when we got home she was feeling well enough to go up the stairs for the first time since surgery all on her own like nothing changed. Just wanted to share this because I was so proud of her yesterday. When we got home she was super tired but definitely seemed quite pleased with herself to be back up in her favorite spot in my room for the first time in two weeks.

I hope as we keep the activity up and get her stitches out next week, she gets her confidence and some more of her happy personality back. It could be the meds but I feel like she still acts really out of it, and just seems sad right now in general. I know the gabapentin is strong and dampens her mood a bit but it's still seems to be having a far bigger effect on her then compared to when she was on it before her surgery for the pain in her leg. I understand she's still healing and it's a process and I'm proud of her for doing so well but just can't help but want her to be 100% her old self already!

It's been 24 hours officially since Maya has been home. She's doing a little bit better since I've had the chance to give her both the carprofen and the gabapentin now. We had a few calls to the 24/7 vet overnight just to get some post care advice and trying to get her comfortable.

The biggest challenge has been her standing and panting and just being so uncomfortable. every time she gets up it turns into an ordeal getting her back down, just now it was about two hours of patiently sitting by her and holding my hand against her and giving slow calming pets while she stands there panting and stress licking her lips until I finally got her sitting and then eventually laying down again, which she insists on doing on her own and won't accept help. I expect she'll probably go through the same motions again at a few hours from now. However, this morning she got up and went pee all on her own outside, I was so proud of her for being strong but I just wish I could do more to help. The hardest part is just getting her comfortable and its painful to see her so uncomfortable standing and panting. I know a few people have commented very similar experiences and terrible nights with no sleep the first few days.

I also want to thank everyone here on the community whose been so supportive and caring on the comments this far. I hope to keep updating on Mayas progress as she gets better.

About 3 weeks ago you all saw Maya - 14y.o w/ osteosarcoma front leg. Today she had her surgery and joined the club. It's only been a few hours since she's been home and it's been tough, not easy getting her settled and comfortable especially with how out of it she still is from everything and the heavy meds still. I seriously wish the vet had said, we'll hold her for a few more hours so come and get her later when she's had more time for it to wear off because it was tough. Or maybe overnight. But I'm happy I can be there for her and comfort her but I also feel so terrible and cried so much when I got her settled but I know the first few days will be the toughest but she'll get better and return to her happy playful self soon.

I was thinking on tying my shemagh around her shoulder like a little doggie sleeve bandana maybe, - any advice for something that might be good to help cover the stitches and protect the area while it heals, after the sensitivity goes down a little bit? I also plan to build her a ramp for getting in and out of the car. I was surprised at how easily she jumped into it but getting her out of the car was really hard. Didn't want to be picked up at all and cried from the stitches. I know it'll get better. But tough navigating it anyways no matter how much research you could do. Just sharing this update and will check back in soon so everyone can see how she's doing.

This is Maya, shes my 14 year old girl (about 35lbs) - about 2 months ago she had her first vet visit where we thought something was up, excessive licking on her leg that slowly turned into a limp. At first we, and the vet thought it was just arthritis with age, seemingly confirmed with x-rays. Rounds of medication without progress, and noticeable swelling over the past week let to follow up x-rays today that gave the confirmation that its bone cancer in her front leg and has developed aggressively.

I'm devastated but - I know if the chest x-rays and blood screening come back clean from the specialist obviously that has to be evaluated first but its scary for sure.

Needless to say, she's going to be having lots of happy moments in the park and at the mountains on the weekends relaxing on a blanket so she can sniff clean air and listen to birds chirp in the trees. Every day is a blessing and I want to spend them with her while I can, since I don't know for sure yet if it's the right treatment for her.

While I could be frustrated at how this should have been diagnosed much sooner, and its terrible news to receive, I want to reach out to people in the community who maybe, have had similar cases with their senior dogs. I know it's hard to gauge, no two cases could ever be the same, but for people and their pets who went through it together - what would you recommend? I want the best for her of course. What did you do before and after and what was the recovery process like and what to expect? Etc.

Pretty much my first time posting on reddit - just looking for sound advice and support. Thank you all.