Worried about diagnosis

[SheWolf1990]

Hey all,

I'll try to be brief! I'm momma to a 7 year old pitbull. I adopted her 4 years ago, until about 1 year old she was a stray.

Since her adoption she had a limp on her right leg. In the beginning it was only when running and it got progressively worse, meaning happening more often. Turns out she had an old fracture that has healed from her stray days.

Recently she started showing difficulty when walking and also jumping on the bed. She yelped in pain.

I took her to an orthopedic vet and he did scans on both her legs and her torso. He said the right leg has a small wound that's close to nerves and that's why she is in pain.

However, the scans on her left leg show osteoarthritis on the top part (I think it's called femur?) but he also said it might be osteosarcoma. He proposed that we have surgery and do a biopsy.

Other than that she eats as usual, plays as usual and doesn't show any signs that her left leg is in pain.

I'm obviously worried that he said it might be osteosarcoma. I'm not seeking for medical advice, I'll get a second opinion but just wondering if any of you have any relevant experience? I'm losing my mind.

I’m sorry you’re having this worry and sorry for your pup. Osteosarcoma would usually be a lump that comes incredibly quickly. If you are catching it before the lump then the prognosis should be quite good. 7 is quite young for treatment. I lost a rottie to osteosarcoma but there was a lump and he was older.

our current dog looks to have osteoarthritis and we are about to book scans to diagnose severity. He’s an Akita so quite difficult to do. His symptoms sound very similar to yours so fingers crossed it’s that rather than osteosarcoma.

hope you can get some answers.

Thank you! Can you talk a bit about what you noticed between your two dogs? Any differences or similarities besides the bump?

Apart from affecting one of their legs, there wasn’t really any similarity. With osteosarcoma a large solid lump appeared practically instantly. I’m certain it wasn’t there when I left for work and it was when I got home. We took him to the vets straight away and she was certain that it was cancer and advised what to do next. He started to limp a week or so later, the lump was stopping him to be able to filter fluid out of his leg and it became swollen. 3 weeks and 6 days later we put him to sleep. It was very clear what it was and the effects it had.

with the osteoarthritis,we were walking one day and he moved his leg in a way that hurt him, squealed and then wouldn’t put weight on it. After a minute or so, he limped off. We thought it was a torn ligament or similar so tested him but could also see that rest made it worse so he gets short walks only. He limps but also walks around just fine. If he’s been lying he will seize up and if he walks too much he will be very sore. He’s permanently on metacam and will have some scans to see what’s best.

hopefully the second version resonates more.

Thank you. No lump on my pupper thankfully. I'm sorry you went through that. I can't imagine what I'd do without her. She literally saved my life and been my whole life since. Hope all goes well with your pupper too!