Cats and Dogs differ in the way bone cancer matures and how
treatment should be administered.
Because of the rapid nature
of osteosarcoma, treatment should be sought as soon as possible.
The only trouble
is that the most common sign, lameness and pain
usually happens when it is
already taken firm hold. It is also
mistaken by owners at first as arthritis,
stiffness or pulled
muscle
in which veterinarian care is usually not immediately
sought.
Osteosarcoma is the most common long bone tumor in dogs and cats. This is a very
aggressive
tumor causing lysis (disintegration of bone) or bone production or
both. There is some degree
of soft tissue involvement and metastasis (transfer
of the disease to another part of the body)
is common in the early part of the
disease.
Canine Osteosarcoma Treatment
There are several available options for the treatment of osteosarcoma.
Chemotherapy
in combination with surgery are considered to be the primary
therapy in dogs without any
detectable metastasis. Amputation or limb sparing
will resolve the primary tumor and resolve
the pain and lameness associated with osteosarcoma. However, on cases where surgery alone
is performed, 90% of
affected dogs will die of metastasis within one year.
The goal of surgery is to remove the tumor along with a clean healthy cell
margin. This is
usually accomplished by amputation. Limb sparing could also be
done with insertion of an
allograft after removal of the affected segment of
bone. An allograft is a graft of tissue taken
from a donor of the same species
sufficiently unlike genetically to interact antigenically.
Also, chemotherapy significantly prolongs the survival of dogs with osteosarcoma
when
used in conjunction with surgery. Medicinally, Cisplatin alone or in
combination with
doxorubicin markedly improves survival time to a median of 8-10
months with the percentage
of dogs alive after 11 months at 50%. Carboplatin
another drug with less renal toxicity
has the same survival time as Cisplatin.
Furthermore, radiation therapy is also used in the treatment of osteosarcoma.
This is very
important for limb saving procedures, since it aids in local
control after marginal resection
(removal). It usually provides pain relief
after the 3rd or 4th session. This option is attractive
for those who do not
want to pursue amputation procedures.
Most animals adapt mentally well to amputation. Probably because survival is a
basic instinct
and they do not have any social pressures associated with it.
Physically, animals that are
young and not overweight adjust the best. As a
veterinarian, I find that the immediate
key to a successful amputation is the
aftercare and the ability to keep the pet from licking
or biting at the wound.
Animals that are not compulsive in this manner require less care and
heal more
quickly with less chance of additional infection.
Feline Osteosarcoma
Unlike its canine counterpart it has a much lower rate of metastasis and longer
term survival
can be expected with complete excision. Median survival for cats
with osteosarcoma is
approximately 2 years with many cats outreaching that. Due
to the slow metastatic rate,
radiation therapy can play an important role in osteosarcoma that cannot be totally excised.
Though, chemotherapy is not
routinely warranted due to the slow metastatic nature of feline
osteosarcoma, it
should be considered in a case to case basis.
Conclusion:
This actual pet owner's testimonial says it all:
"In August of last year, (2001) our 7 year old dog
was diagnosed with a fast growing type
of bone Cancer. Since there was nothing
that our vet could do for him, and we were told
that his bones would eventually
become so brittle that they could break with him just going
up and down the
stairs of our home, it was decided that we would have to have him put to
sleep.
My husband and I did not want to face his death so soon
so decided to wait and see how
things went. Over the next few weeks he almost
gave up eating altogether and had lost
about 20 lbs. We felt bad for him because
his ribs were sticking out and so we scheduled
to have him put to sleep later
that same week.
I received a call a few days later from a friend that
told me about
Transfer Factor Plus Tri-Factor
and so
we decided to give it a try. What did we have to lose?
We
began giving him 2 capsules a day
for about 2 months. He seemed to be improving
so we stopped giving it to him. After a few
weeks he
stopped eating again and he
was
dragging his front leg again.
We thought that
we were beginning to lose his
battle with Cancer.
We did not realize that with someone as sick as our dog
was, their immune system is weak
and they need the constant help of Transfer Factor Plus Tri-Factor to stimulate
the immune system to
continue working. So once again
after a follow up call from my
friend, in February, we
decided to start him back
on 2 capsules of
Transfer Factor Plus Tri-Factor
in the morning, and 2 in the evening.
It has been 7 months now since we first got the bad
news, and much to our vets amazement,
our dog is continuing to improve. We will
have another x-ray in a few months to see how the
bone is healing, but the
swelling has totally subsided, and he is once again running and
playing with his
friends again. The neighbors really feel as though this is truly a miracle,
and
I tell them no, it is what our bodies are designed to do when our immune systems
are strong. Sammy, our Dog is continuing to improve, and we still give him 2-4
capsules of
Transfer Factor Plus Tri-Factor a day. I will be anxious to see what his x-rays show in a
few
more months."
