This blog is for my amazing dog, Oreo and her experience as a tripawd.

Around September 2002, a litter of 4 dalmatian puppies was abandoned by the side of the road in southern Utah. They were approx 7 weeks old and brought to the Super Pet Adoption in Salt Lake City. We were notified that they were coming and when we arrived there were 2 females left. Oreo had kennel cough and lost her bladder on me when I picked her up. She and her litter-mate, Cookie, fit in one of my arms. The ladies adopting the other female said, “good luck with 2 alpha-females!” They had to be spayed before we could take them home. They were spayed later that day and we picked them up in a Kamas, UT parking lot. Oreo ran under the car. My husband exclaimed, “the force of mischief is strong in this one,” and that has turned out to be the case, (much to our delight). Oreo and Cookie huddled together on the ride home. They slept curled up together and were best friends from that moment on until June 27, 2013. I’ll get to that later….

They both have been delightful dogs. I joke with people that Oreo is part dalmatian and part clown. She always loves to ham it up and make you laugh.

In 2004, Oreo had surgery on her elbow to remove a fragmented coroniod process in her right elbow, but had a limp thereafter. Our veterinarian told us it was from osteoarthritis and there was not much to be done for it. She did fine, but would limp after running long distances – which she loved to do (too much).

April, 2013: Although 10+ years old, the dogs have only just slowed down this past year (to 2-mile hikes instead of 6-mile runs). However, after one flat hike in April, Oreo was limping greatly, and the next day she would not put any weight on her right front limb. I took her to the veterinarian who prescribed some pain medication for her. He stated there was not much to be done for the arthritis at this point and that we might want to consider fusing the joint, or amputation if the meds didn’t help.

In the meantime, we had moved and found a veterinarian closer to our home to get the girls established with so, we wouldn’t have to drive for an hour for care. We love this vet, (she is adorable). She was doing routine blood work and discovered Oreo’s AKLP was 1641 (normal range is 23-212 micograms/Litre)! They then did radiographs and ultrasound imaging, along with liver function tests, all which turned up fairly good, if not normal results for her liver function and we thought we could manage her with diet/,monitoring. Then, radiographs were done of her elbow –

The veterinarians who looked at the radiograph thought there was a soft-tissue mass, and a week later, Oreo was brought in for surgery to remove the mass. My uncle, who is a veterinarian said if it turned out to be osteosarcoma, that is an aggressive cancer and would mean Oreo probably would not live long. The surgeon, however, disagreed that there was a mass of any sort and thought it was just arthritis, so the surgery was not completed. Oreo was sent home with more pain meds. We thought at this point her liver dysfunction would be managed through diet. The vet said point blank that Oreo would, “not live to be an old dog, her joints/body will fail her first.” We returned home to enjoy our time with her. But, something didn’t feel right to us. I am a physical therapist and the problem seemed to be below the joint (distal to the elbow), not in the joint. I could kick myself for not speaking up. Oreo kept giving me this look of not feeling good:

In the meantime, our other dog, Cookie had an abscessed tooth. After a few tests, we found out her kidney function was compromised. After a week in the clinic to get fluids, we thought we could manage her kidney insufficiency with diet, too. A few weeks went by. Cookie, who usually was a voracious eater, stopped eating except her very favorite foods. My husband took her into the veterinarian and found out she was in kidney failure. Our instructions were: enjoy her, let her eat whatever she wants. Devastated doesn’t even begin to describe….but, this was only the beginning of our devastation.

One night, I was volunteering at a silent auction and I bid on a veterinarian exam that no one else had bid on and won it. I took Oreo to get a second opinion (third opinion), and this veterinarian stated we should biopsy the now apparent mass below the elbow. The result came back June 10, 2013: Osteosarcoma. By now, I could see the mass and this whole time, Oreo had not put any weight on her left front leg.

Double (or triple) devastation!!!

Now came the decision: to amputate or not? The veterinarian who did her biopsy consulted with me for a couple hours (!) and recommended amputation. Of course I poured over the research. My Uncle and our other veterinarian did not recommend amputation. They stated that osteosarcoma is so aggressive that even if her lungs were clear now, the cancer had probably already metastasized there and that we might only buy a couple more months with her – (my uncle said he wouldn’t want to put an old dog through that surgery). Unfortunately, our other dog, Cookie was simply, miserable. Oreo was in so much pain that we were on course to have them both put to sleep. I (maybe selfishly) could not stand to lose them both. Voices around me suggested, “they came into this life together, maybe they want to leave together,” and my vet suggested she could put them down together. Cry cry bawl bawl scream scream cry cry cry. A decision needed to be made, and quick. It just came down to my husband and I looking Oreo in her painful eyes and realizing she had more life to live…. as long as she did not have that horrible pain. The dog that loved to run, far and fast, would be getting her front right limb amputated.

More research…. found the Tripawds site (awesome, positive, hope).

To be continued: