THUNDER HAS BONE CANCER

Is Thunder a dog, a cat, a horse?

Most treatment will just stress the animal and cause more pain. Amputation might be an option, but it's expensive and not always a cure. Make your pet's remaining days as happy and pain free as possible. Miracles are few and far between, so focus on lots of treats, hugs and pain killers if necessary. I'm sure you've given him a good life and you can now give him the dignity of a good ending. Wishing you both the best.

I'm very sorry to read this. It's what Green Witch said, you may very well be better off simply making Thunder's remaining time as wonderful as possible.

Assuming Thunder is a dog (and probably a big one), and assuming he's got a fairly typical osteosarcoma (bone tumor)...

Amputation is the only thing available to most people that will remove the cancer at that site. There are a few surgeons who perform "limb-sparing" surgeries -- I know of one in Colorado -- but it's very expensive, recovery is long and difficult, and the likelihood of local recurrence is higher than with amputation.

Most of the time (over 90%) the tumor has already metastasized to the lungs, even if it doesn't show up yet on X-rays. If chest X-rays don't show anything yet, though, it might be worth a shot if you can afford it and if Thunder can get around on his remaining three legs. If he's very overweight or has arthritis or orthopedic injury in the other front limb, amputation may not be a good option. If the cancer is visible in the chest, then he probably won't even have time to recover from the surgery.

These tumors are very painful. There are some options available for pain control. The most effective are also the most expensive, and are only likely to be prescribed by a specialist. The more common and cheaper pain management available will likely involve a combination of drugs called Rimadyl (basically ibuprofen for dogs -- more effective and far less toxic to them than the human equivalents) and a drug called tramadol, which is a mild narcotic.

When Thunder's quality of life has deteriorated to the point where he should be put to sleep is going to be your call. I've been through this, and I made the call at the point at which I knew my dog was going to spend more time in misery than happy in the future. This depends very much on the dog's temperament -- dogs who are happy lounging on the couch probably enjoy a higher quality of life when they are on pain meds and inactive than dogs who live to chase squirrels through the woods.

I'm very sorry you're going through this. I hope for a good outcome for Thunder and for you, but I would also caution you (not knowing much of anything about the case) that most dogs in Thunder's position have very little time left. My heart goes out to you.