Lyla has made strides since her surgery and diagnosis with chondroblastic osteosarcoma. Overall she is doing quite well. She is adjusting to her new way of life, but is still quite hesitant to do any running. Mostly it’s the hop/walk pace. Lyla is eating high quality foods plus an omega3 supplement. One odd thing is that once in a while she has what we call a mini freak out, I think it’s when something scares her and she goes to jump back and she ends up spinning around backwards a revelation or two…also I think when she is pivoting or maybe forgets idk. I am hoping slowly this will subside.
I met with an oncologist regarding her diagnosis yesterday. I am going to cut and paste a portion of his recommendation below. He spoke with a few other oncologists and between them they could only find two other similar cases. At the moment all her chest scans are clear. My family is taking this very seriously and I think we are opting to forgo chemo. Please no judgement, she is a docile shy kitty and the stress of it all with no guarantee or stats to back it up makes me cautious. Truly our main concern is quality of life.
Oncologist info:
Compared to dogs, osteosarcoma in cats tends to have a lower rate of metastasis, or spread, to other areas of the body, such as the lungs. Therefore, the overall prognosis relies more heavily on the ability to obtain adequate local control of the disease. In patients with osteosarcomas of the limbs, amputation is recommended, as the median survival time with surgery alone often exceeds 2 years.
Chemotherapy is another option we discussed today. The main goal of chemotherapy is to slow the spread of the tumor to other part of her body, such as the lungs. Because osteosarcoma in cats metastasizes infrequently, chemotherapy is typically not incorporated as part of
standard treatment. Chemotherapy may be recommended, however, for tumors that cannot be resected, for tumors that have already spread, or when features on a biopsy report confirm a more aggressive tumor. One of these features is the mitotic index, which was quite high on
Lyla’s biopsy report. The benefit of chemotherapy in decreasing metastatic osteosarcoma in a cat is unknown. Two drugs often used for osteosarcoma include Adriamycin (also called doxorubicin) and
carboplatin. Adriamycin can have effects on the kidneys so we often choose carboplatin. With or without chemotherapy, thoracic radiographs are recommended every three months to monitor for metastasis.
*recommendation was 4 IV treatments every 3-4 weeks.