Anyone with experience with osteosarcoma and chemotherapy?

[serval]

Hi,
My 13 yr old cat Charlie developed an aggressive tumor on his leg. I had the leg amputated and he is doing great! However, the test came back positive for osteosarcoma and my primary vet said I might consider speaking with an oncologist about further treatment. Was wondering if anyone has had this experience and how well your cat tolerated chemo? My main concerns are his prognosis and quality of life, although unfortunately finances are also a concern :/

If anyone reading this is in a similar situation, the amputation has worked out much better than I feared and he is back to his normal self with the exception of needing stools to get to higher places.

Thanks!
Erin

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Did they get it all? All I can tell you is that most cats tolerate chemo much better than humans, but I'm not sure whether or not what you are talking about is purely prophalactic and what that would entail. Have you spoken to an oncologist yet? I, personally, don't have any experience with a cat going thru any type of chemo, but wanted to give you a link to what I could find here on The Cat Site regarding cats with Osteosarcoma, in case any of these cats did go thru chemo. This is just what came up when I did a search: Search Results for Query: osteosarcoma

Hoping that got it all with the amputation and your Charlie continues to thrive with his remaining three legs

 

[fionasmom]

I am sorry that you are in this position but was glad to read that you did have the amputation. I have a three legged GSD due to melanoma and he did have immunotherapy which is not chemo and did fine with it. He has outlived his prognosis by 2 years, even the one given to us by the oncologist.

You probably should meet with the oncologist and bring up your concerns....quality of life, prognosis, and expenses. Do not feel cheap about bringing up the last one as this is not going to be like you don't want to spend a couple hundred to save your cat. The doctors know how expensive this kind of treatment is and you need to know about the prognosis and quality of life in order to make a decision.

Probably you have already done a lot of googling, but have a list of questions based on information you found on reliable websites for cats with osteosarcoma. If the tumor was located quite a ways from the amputation site, does that mean that the cat has a good chance of not having a recurrence? Is that the same thing as a clean margin?