Our greyhound, Hazey, recently died from osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma is a very common bone cancer in greyhounds. It was misdiagnosed as arthritis in the beginning of February-this is also a common mistake. The early symptoms of osteosarcoma are similar to those of arthritis- limping, pain. Her cancer originated in her front left leg in the wrist area.
The Start of it We first noticed the limp in January-we thought she had somehow hurt her paw in the snow and ice. She continued to limp for days-weeks then we scheduled her an appointment with the vet. He looked her over, decided it was most likely arthritis, and sent us home with a couple of prescriptions. A week later when the medicine was gone she was slightly worse. I ordered glucosamine and buffered aspirin and started giving it to her daily. Glucosamine is supposed to lubricate the joints and aspirin was to help with her discomfort. She was still limping and beginning to put even less pressure on that front left leg. We wanted to give the medicine some time to work but after about two weeks decided to take her back to the vet.
A Month Later
On the day of her appointment, her leg broke. She was so excited to go on a car ride that she tried to jump and when she landed, her leg fractured (the tumor had weakened her bone so much that it couldn't handle the pressure). When her leg broke, she fell on her shoulder and hit the concrete hard. She immediately started crying and making awful noises which continued for several minutes. She also limped her way over to her crate to hide and refused to come out so we missed the appointment. I rescheduled it for later that day. After she had laid still for awhile I gave her some aspirin covered in peanut butter (her favorite). I don't know if it helped or not but we were trying. She exited her crate after an hour or so and laid down in the living room to be with us. She slept for awhile, we continued to do whatever it was we did until her appointment time at 2. It was difficult getting her to leave the house and get in the car. Once she has a bad experience she avoids that thing like the plague. But we managed to get her there and had xrays done.
The Result
The xrays showed that her leg was fractured from a tumor. Then we had to make the decision of attempting to fight the cancer or letting her go in peace. We chose the latter. We decided fighting it would put her through more pain and decrease her quality of life. The length of life after osteosarcoma often isn't long. If not treated, dogs live roughly 6 months after diagnosis. Sometimes, with treatment it's not much longer. Of course, there are always exceptions. We wanted to fight it, to keep her around longer but decided that it would be selfish. We brought her home that night on pain medication (which basically knocked her out cold for the majority of the time). We invited some family and friends over to say there good-byes. She enjoyed it. Her friend brought her a peanut butter ice cream from Dairy Queen which she thoroughly enjoyed. Then the next day we let her go. It was difficult and we came close to changing our decision and fighting it instead. But in the end, we did what was best for our beloved greyhound, Hazel Ann. We miss her dearly but will always cherish her memory. Here are some pictures of her last days:
If your greyhound or dog starts to limp, take them to the vet and have an x-ray, especially if there's nothing obviously wrong on the outside. No one knows what's going on inside, not even the vet. Osteosarcoma seems to be common in bigger breeds.
Hazey still has an IG and FB page that we post on regularly. You can follow @the.greyt.hounds
Thanks for being here with us today.
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