Lily is a gorgeous Giant Schnauzer. She was admitted by us in May 2018, aged 3 years, because she was lame and her primary care vet suspected that she had a bone tumour based on x-rays of the leg. Our Diagnostic imaging Specialists performed a CT scan which confirmed that Lily had a lesion causing loss of bone in the right front leg which was highly suggestive of a bone cancer. The scan was also performed to look for any gross signs of secondary cancer spread as the vast majority of dogs with bone cancer have either macro or microscopic secondary cancer spread at the time of diagnosis of bone cancer.
Treatment options were discussed with Lily’s owners by the Oncology Team and it was decided that amputation, followed by chemotherapy, would give Lily the best chance of prolonged survival.
The operation was carried out by Rachel Hattersley, one of our Specialist Surgeons, and Lily was up and walking within 24 hours of surgery. Thanks to lots of TLC from our nurses, she soon started to eat and quickly learnt to balance on three legs. She did so well, in fact, that on the third day after her surgery, she was able to go home.
Lily was then transferred to Davide Berlato, who heads our Oncology Department to discuss onward treatment. Without further treatment, Lily’s prognosis was not good and it was unlikely that she would have survived for more than another 5 months. Davide recommended a course of chemotherapy using Carboplatin and Lily started this at the end of June 2018. She was re-scanned last November and we were pleased to report that there was no gross evidence of secondary tumour spread at that time. Lily remains under the care of our Oncology Team who are monitoring her progress.
Over the past 8 months, we have stayed in touch with her owners and we are delighted to have heard that, more than a year after her diagnosis and treatment, she is going strong, happy, eating, playing with her toys, enjoying walks in the meadow and generally being spoiled rotten!
Her owners said “she has no obvious signs of progression at this stage and I just wanted to say a huge THANK YOU for helping keep our lovely Lily alive. Bring on the next 12 months! If any of your clients is concerned about amputation and chemo, please feel free to use Lily as a case study. They may want to follow her journey on Instagram: lilyfromthelane”.
This case highlights the advantage of our multidisciplinary approach, which is possible because of the range of expertise and facilities at our disposal, all on one site. Lily benefited from the expertise of our Specialists in Diagnostic Imaging, Anaesthesia, Surgery and Oncology; and of course our very skilled nursing team.
We wish Lily the very best and we are so pleased to know that she is enjoying a normal life with her loving family.