Bone Cancer (Osteosarcoma)
Osteosarcoma in dogs may be a primary bone tumor. it always arises within the bones of the limbs but can develop within the bones of the skull, spine, or ribcage and there are rare cases of this tumor arising in non-boney tissues like mammary glands and muscle.
Osteosarcoma is most ordinarily found in large or giant breeds of dogs. There are several scientific papers that correlate the event of this tumor with the load and height of dogs and it’s documented that certain dog breeds develop this tumor more often than others. In our clinic, it’s seen frequently in Rottweilers and Irish wolfhounds especially. Osteosarcoma of the limb bones are often extremely painful and therefore the typical presenting complaint about these dogs is that of intermittent lameness. The lameness may answer standard doses of painkillers initially but rarely for quite every week approximately. At this point swelling within the bone at the location of the tumor could also be noted and this is often painful, red, and hot to the touch.
