Definately!!  My giant schnautzer had her rear left leg amputated last September.  It is now March and apart from the obvious visual sign - she eats, walks, runs, chases, pees, poos and even jumps ditches like a 4 legged dog!!  Within 3 days of the op she was chasing a cat!  She is fine.  The best decision I ever made.  It is us humans that have the problem with amputation not the animals!

Personally I wouldn't put a dog through a major op just to get another 6 months of life (which I believe is the average life expectancy of an amputee without chemotherapy). I also would never put a dog through chemotherapy. If any of my dogs were diagnosed with osteosarcoma I would have them put to sleep straight away. They would feel no pain :-)

That is brilliant news Coco :-)
You obviously made the right decision for you and your dog.
They are pretty resiliant aren't they! Hopefully your boy has got a good amount of time left ahead of him.
Oscar had a fibrosarcoma (I know that's not quite the same) but it was removed about a year ago and he's still fighting fit. :-)

Great news Coco. I hope your boy continues to really well.

Brilliant Coco. There was another member on here with a Labrador that was an amputee. I remember that (he?) lived until he was something like 13/14 years old and he had had the leg amputated at quite a young age.

Yes it was Ruth

http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/cgi-bin/board/user_info.pl?uid=21955

Thanks for that link, yes it was Bracken wasn't it not a (he) at all.

I know of a Deerhound that had an amputation due to oesteo sarcoma over 18 months ago. She is still doing very well and recent x-rays of the chest were clear!

I feel it depends on the dog whether to do it or not. Some will cope better than others (mentally and physically). But I would definitely consider it as an option for many dogs.

Vera

yes it was my bracken, she lived another 7 plus years after her leg was amputated and she had amputation and chemo due to osteosarcoma, she had a great life,  having three legs was no problem, she recovered amazingly quickly from her amp, if faced with the situation again I would always do amp, her oncologist told me that dogs were born with three legs and a spare, before amp I didnt believe this, now I know she was right!  To me it was an easy choice, without amp she would die and was already in pain, to put to sleep without giving her the chance to beat it I wasnt happy to do, and now I shudder to think I would have cut her life short by over 7 years had I decided to go that route. (not that I would have known that then) but now in hindsight the thought makes me go cold.  We were exceptionally lucky, adding in the selenium I think helped too, but dogs are smashing through the odds given by the vets with os now, admittedly some do come within the guidelines, but so many are going two, three years past diagnosis now after having amp and chemo, to me it is worth the risk, and if it not to be it isnt but to me at least I would know I had given it our best shot and in doing amp would have taken away the pain for the time they had left.  It is so true that us the owners have a problem with the thought of amputation than the dogs, they just get back to loving life now that the pain is gone!

So glad your dog is doing so well long may it continue
Ruth

hi . ..my oh had a sarcoma removed last november is it the same sort of thing with dogs ? 

Terrific news; dogs put us humans to shame.  For them, it's take the pain away and it's back to the business of enjoying life. 

I sometimes go onto the Yahoo cancer groups and read the posts on there.  The love, the determination and the support from those folk makes me feel humble and small.  Never think it is easy choosing to fight cancer because it is not, these folk go through so much pain on a mental roller coaster from day to day fighting to give their dog time and a good quality of life with many varying levels of success. 

Sheba had a grade 2/3 MCT with dirty margins removed 3 years ago this July; the vet gave her 3 months.  She is still going strong and fighting fit; the MCT never came back nor have any others appeared.  Our neighbour has a dog that runs around on 3 legs too; puts many 4 leggers to shame, he can move - fast.  Best of luck to you and your girl.