Sheba's Osteosarcoma Story

Perusing through tripawd blogs and various other online sites has helped us to develop what we think would be a diet to support Sheba through her battle against OSA. For the complementary therapy components, we consulted with a veterinary oncologist who is doubly IVAS Certified and has training in traditional Chinese medicine. Hopefully, our east meets west concept will give cancer the boot!

Sheba is 31 lb and gets two meals a day consisting of the following:

*note: We break open all of Sheba’s pills and mix only the contents with her meal so that she doesn’t get all the junk from the capsules.

Breakfast

-1 scoop rehydrated Stella and Chewy’s Savory Salmon and Cod Meal Mixers – this is our way of adding high quality raw proteins into her diet. About 30% of the time, Sheba will get cooked chicken/fish/egg protein in place of this

-1/2 cup Orijen Adult formula – this is a high quality, grain free, kibble made of 80% meats. It is low carb and low glycemic

-1/2 teaspoon Pet Kelp vitamin and mineral supplement

-1 capsule of wild salmon and fish oil (1000mg)

-1/4 teaspoon MUSH medicinal mushrooms from Fungi Perfecti

-a cooked vegetable (usually greens like broccoli, spinach, bok choy, occasionally carrots)

-400iu Vitamin E (we do not give for 5 days before chemo and 10 days after chemo in case the antioxidant properties antagonize chemotherapy)

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Dinner

-same as breakfast except milk thistle (1000mg) is given instead of Vitamin E – this is to support her liver against the toxic effects of the drugs

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Snacks and other supplements

-2-3 pieces of healthy treats that support her low glycemic diet  (eg. freeze dried beef liver, salmon skin)

-1 slow release turmeric pill (Meriva SR) – turmeric has shown some promising anti-tumor properties

-a wallop (~2 tablespoon) of lactose free plain yogurt before bed. This is taken with a 500mg pill of vitamin C (we do not give for 5 days before chemo and 10 days after chemo in case the antioxidant properties antagonize chemotherapy)

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So far she is doing great on this diet. She is holding a stable weight, energetic, and hasn’t exhibited any negative gastrointestinal effects. In about a week’s time we will be starting Sheba on her prescribed course of traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture  to complement her therapy. More to come on that!

 

 

 

Amputation was completed on June 17^th. We decided to have the amputation performed by a board certified surgeon.  We were able to visit her the next day and were quite happy with how she was doing.  She was quite dopey with all the meds but otherwise was her regular self.  It was such a relief to see she was doing ok.  She spent one more night at the clinic and we took her home the following day.  The first day home she was almost her regular self.  She was eating well and could walk ok, however we limited her activity and let her rest for the rest of the day.

The next couple days were a much different story.  She was down and not interested in anything but her food.  We could not even get her to go out for a pee and had to carry her.  She also was not drinking much.  We were not too worried as we had read this is common.  The only concern we had was she refused to pee.  After 38 hours of not peeing we made an appointment to see the vet.  By the time we made it to the vet it had been 46 hours without peeing.  We were quite worried.  When we got to the vet, we put Sheba on a patch of grass at the vets before going in.  She of course peed almost immediately, as if to say, “look I can pee, let’s not go to the vet”.  Since then it has been smooth sailing and she has improved daily.

Today is 17 days post amputation and she is pretty much her normal self.  We are taking her on her regular walks (just shorter than usual).  She is peeing and pooping on her normal schedule and she is eating and drinking her normal amount.  She is also happy and enjoying life.  She has been getting around extremely well and is able to go up and down stairs and is now running some of the time on her walks.  It is no longer necessary to carry her anywhere other than getting her in and out of our SUV, but that is more us not allowing her to do so than her inability to do so. It is so amazing to us that she is doing so well.  She is quite inspirational.

In the summer of 2014 Sheba was rescued by the SPCA from a cruelty situation.  She was left outside on a metal prong collar 24/7 and was not well cared for.  She was malnourished, infected with fleas, had ear and skin infections, and was missing much of her fur around her neck area.  The SPCA had nursed her back to health and when we adopted her in October she only had some small issues left to deal with.  We worked with a local vet to resolve these issues and put her on a healthy diet.  Her health was excellent after resolving these issues and she was a very fit and happy dog.

In April 2015 Sheba had yelped while turning at the top of stairs and once while running on a hike.  Both times she quickly got over the pain and continued on.  There was no limp and after examining her closely we found no issue.  It was easy to explain away as just tweaking something or possibly stepping on something sharp.  Two weeks later we noticed her limping with her front left leg and took her to the vet a few days later.  The vet examined her and listed some possibilities, and she was given metacam for 5 days.  For several days after finishing the metacam she had no limp and was doing her regular activities, but then started limping again a few days later.  We took her back to the vet and they x-rayed her leg, which showed an abnormality.  We were referred to a specialist at a nearby clinic and were in the next day for more tests.  The specialist felt the x-ray showed either a cyst or cancer, and because of her age and how the abnormality showed on the xray, he felt a cyst was more likely.  More x-rays were performed and we decided to do a Fine Needle Aspirate as it was less obtrusive than a biopsy, although would not be as definite.  The results came back and showed it was likely cancer.  We discussed the results with the specialist and vet.  We were in denial, how could this be cancer?  The best option seemed to be amputation.  We struggled with this decision as we did not have definite results.  It was decided a biopsy should be performed.  We wanted to be sure we were doing the right thing for Sheba.  The biopsy came back with 100% confirmation of Osteosarcoma.  Amputation was completed a few days later.

 

Adoption Day, Oct 2nd 2014:

 

A few days before diagnosis, out for a good run in the park:

Home from the Vet, 3 days post amputation:

6 days post amputation, out for a short pee walk. 3 legs? No problem:

 

10 day Ampuversary, chilling in the shade on the back porch.  Healing up very nicely at this point:

Sheba is 4 years old and came to us from the SPCA in October of 2014.  We fell in love with her after spending only a few minutes with her.  She loves spending time with her people and loves to cuddle.  Like all dogs, she also loves her walks and running off leash.  She is also a food hound and seems to enjoy food more than the average dog, if that’s possible.  She is mild mannered and very well behaved.  She is also intelligent and very easy to train.  For us, she is the absolute perfect dog and we love her so much.

It was very sad to learn Sheba has Osteosarcoma in her front left leg.  She was diagnosed in June and amputation was completed June 17^th.  It is now 11 days since amputation, and she is doing amazingly well.  This is her story so far.