“It’s cancer,” the vet told us over the phone. The cancer was a two inch mass in our golden retriever’s top right jaw and half the jaw was already deteriorated to the horrid disease. When we added his poor immune system and obesity to the mix, neither amputation or chemotherapy was an option. We called an oncologist at another hospital to be told they would have to reconfirm the osteosarcoma via biopsy, more tests, and thousands of dollars just to figure out what the appropriate action was. As we looked at the bills piling up, we knew we couldn’t do anything and had to trust our vet when she said it just wasn’t feasible to do amputation or chemotherapy.
Osteosarcoma is bone cancer for dogs. The vast majority start in the leg while others appear in the jaw. While it can pop up in other parts of the body, these are the two common sites where it first pops up. So long as there is no mestastis (traveling through the blood to infect the lungs), the best course of action to fight the cancer is amputating the limb infected (this is to remove the tumor and help alleviate the pain for the dog, but does NOT stop the spread of cancer or get rid of the cancer), followed by chemotherapy or radiation. This is the traditional, aggressive approach to conquering cancer. However, the odds of survival even when putting your dog through all of that is not very feasible. We were told if we started immediately, we might be able to get another month or two if we were lucky. Cancer almost always reappears in the same spot or in a different spot later down the road.
With traditional, aggressive medical approaches not feasible for us based on our dog as well as finances, I turned to friends and family to see if they had any ideas. Then I began long research online. While I figured out potential causes of bone disease and read the morbid survival rates, I couldn’t find any information that could help me find support or anything to help me with my dog’s cancer. I then found the yahoo groups, bonecancerdogs. After joining and introducing myself and our case, I was told about another group, artemisinin_and_cancer where I finally began to get answers and the support I needed.
The group on the artemisinin yahoo group use hollistic approaches and supplements to help rid their dogs of the cancer toxins. It spawned from Dr. Singh and Dr. Lei’s cancer research using Artemisinin to help get the body of cancer in the hopes of finding a cure and dog lovers taking it into their own hands to use their research to come up with a way to prolong the life of their cancer dog. Here you will find information on how to administer the Artemisinin, as well as other supplements. What is great is this is a support group who won’t ever tell you, “It’s just a dog.” Many also partake in other yahoo groups and supplements. We unfortunately did not get to experiment with any other remedies as our beloved dog, Indy, ended up passing away three weeks after his initial diagnosis.
So whether you have an animal that has been diagnosed with cancer or have a friend or family member who has been dealt this lethal blow, tell them to join the yahoo groups to look for answers. We found out there were clinical trials made available to dogs with certain cancers, which is something I never would have even thought to look for online. The knowledge and resources made available to you will be the most valuable information you can possibly get your hands on when learning how to deal with your pet’s diagnosis of cancer. Together maybe we can find a cure to this horrible disease.
