April 29, 2021

“Dogs are really three-legged animals with a spare tire.” – Dr. Fowler

The vet called us during dinner.  We had been waiting to hear how our sweet Mick was doing during his consultation. He had been limping for almost a year, favoring his front right leg. Originally we thought he had injured himself slipping on hard wood floor or jumping off the couch and landing wrong. Every once in a while, he would seem to tweak the sore leg worse and we would ice it to help with pain. His ankle was swollen and it never really healed. Perhaps it was arthritis, we thought. We reduced his food intake slightly as the vet recommended he lose some weight. We didn’t expect to hear what the vet had to say when she called during dinner.

No, it wasn’t sprained and no, it wasn’t arthritis. Mick had osteosarcoma – a type of bone cancer.

Of course. We were somewhat surprised in ourselves that we didn’t think of this before.  The lump was not arthritis or a swollen joint. It was a tumor.

Shocked, we were slightly skeptical of the diagnosis. Should we get a second opinion? Should they do a biopsy? How does this work for doggies? The family vet referred us to an oncologist in town to do further work up on Mick’s lump.

99.9% confirmed. It was a cancerous tumor of the bone.  And of course with cancerous tumors, the obvious next concern we had was if it had spread. Had it metastasized? Thankfully, it was determined that it had not…or at least not visibly.

Emotional and shocked, we processed the new information. It all was so surreal. What do we do from here? Did we wait too long? Should we have gotten him looked at sooner? Do we need a second opinion? What can we do now to make sure he has the best, most comfortable life possible? What were our treatment options?  Chemo? Radiation? Amputation? How much does this cost? How do dogs respond to each treatment?

Our vet handed us a brochure with a break down of general cost, time frame of recovery, and projected length of life after the treatment. What to do…what to do?

Radiation seemed way too expensive. We learned that amputation was not curative necessarily, but more palliative for the dog. We were intrigued by the very last option listed: The Elias Vaccine Trial. This study basically uses his tumor cells to create an individualized three series injection that teaches his body how to fight these cancer cells. Added bonus, the researchers will use Mick’s tumor cells to further learn how to treat osteosarcoma in dogs. We are thankful to be a part of something that may help other dogs in the future with this diagnosis.