Large lesion on my dog's front leg - your opinion please

[nina_p20]

I'd like to apologize for my bad English... It's not my native language.
I've found this dog (female) about 11 - 12 years ago, after she had a car accident - a van hit her and tear one of the tendons at the back side of the lower articulation of her front left leg. She is a "mixture" of Rodhesian Ridghback + unknown, her weight is about 40kg. From the time of the accident, the lower part of her front leg gets an angle of about 70° to outside, i.e, the articulation of her "palm" is almost touching the ground.
Her history in brief includes Parvo at about 1yo, a breast tumour - 3 of her udders had been cut away about 5 years ago, and *many* various skin plagues, once or twice a year, usually at large portions of her back and back sides, lasting about 1 - 1.5 month and tratated with various kinds of antibiotics (pills) and iodine bath.
About 2 month ago, her back legs began to tremor, and to "open" to sides, she almost could not stand up. I began to give her large dose of cortisone - about 40 mg daily for a month, and when I saw that the situation remained the same, I've changed her veterinar. AT THE SAME TIME, I've observed that lesion at her front leg, and I thought that is a presure wound or that she gets it from rubbing this portion of the leg, that because it almost touched the ground with it.
I'm almost sure that this is the real begining of this lesion... The new veterinarian gave her for her back legs rimadyl caplets twice daily.
Her front leg leisure is treated by bandaging the leg with GRANUGEL and 3 x 2x500mg of CEFOVIT or CEFORAL. He made her a FNA test in his lab, and told me that from this test he cannot be sure, but he doesnt see any cancerous cells or any infections by microscope, but he has to do a surgery to be sure.
He also made her 3 Roentgens, 2 of her legs and 1 of her lungs, to be sure she has not have any metastasis there, and the diagnostic was - clear. Nothing ...
The only thing found was about her heart, that is larger than normal. So, here it was not sure that the best thing for her is surgery...
Sorry about the length of this letter, and I hope you may have any ideas how to help her....and me
Pictures:
http://www.mastool.com/1.jpg
http://www.mastool.com/2.jpg
http://www.mastool.com/3.jpg


TIA
Nina

[Lucky Rescue]

Welcome. I'm sorry I can't help you, but perhaps one of the vets may drop in and see your post.

What I can tell you is that 11 or 12 is VERY old for such a big dog, and there may be no real answers or cures.

Please let us know how she does, and I hope someone here can answer you!

[Carina]

Oh my, your poor dog. Those look extremely painful.
I'm no vet....I have had a dog with bone cancer, which is incredibly painful. He was also an older dog; a ten year old Rottweiler - there was no realistic way to treat his cancer, even if he could have been able to walk well (doubtful) after amputation, it had almost certainly metastized further.
Is there a non-surgical way for them to determine whether it's cancerous?
And, you must ask yourself - what is her prognosis, if it is? How much pain is she in now, and what are the chances of alleviating it?
I know it's so hard to have to ask these questions, but one must, with a senior dog. Surgery and recovery is so much harder on the old ones...at this point you need to balance her quality of life with whatever options your vet can give you.
I hope someone will have a better answer for you, and your vet will be able to guide you to the best treatments and strategies to help you both.
PS, your English is absolutely fine.