ARC Vets

🐾 Meet "Leia"- Living life to the fullest a year on from her bone cancer diagnosis 🦴

When Leia, a young Hungarian Vizsla, suddenly cried out while playing with her sister and began limping, her family never imagined the journey that lay ahead.

Initial X-rays revealed what appeared to be a fractured toe, but the appearance of the bone raised concerns that the fracture may have been caused by an underlying disease rather than the injury itself. Leia was referred to our Surgical team at ARC Vets for further investigation.

Advanced CT imaging was performed to look for any signs that disease had spread elsewhere in her body. Thankfully, no obvious evidence of metastasis was found. With the affected digit still considered highly suspicious for a bone tumour, our surgical team proceeded with amputation of the toe, both to relieve Leia's pain and to obtain a definitive diagnosis.

Histopathology later confirmed an osteosarcoma (bone cancer) confined to the affected digit. Although this diagnosis was understandably devastating for Leia's family, there was encouraging news: the cancer had been detected early, the tumour had been completely removed, and staging showed no evidence of spread. Following surgery, Leia met with our Oncology team and began a course of carboplatin chemotherapy to help reduce the risk of future metastasis.

Like many patients, Leia's recovery wasn't entirely straightforward, with some wound healing challenges along the way. Through close collaboration between her referring veterinarian, our surgery and oncology teams, and her incredibly dedicated family, she continued to make steady progress.

The best part of this story came a year later, when Leia's family sent us this wonderful update and the pictures we're sharing:

"We're glad to let you know she is still going strong. She will alter her gait at times, a little more noticeable sometimes, but she is matching or beating her older sister in energy and not holding back with anything." ❤️

Stories like Leia's remind us why early investigation of persistent or unusual lameness is so important. While not every case has the same outcome, prompt diagnosis, advanced imaging, surgery, and collaborative care can make an enormous difference.

Thank you to Leia's family for trusting us with her care and for allowing us to share her journey. We couldn't be happier to hear she's living life to the fullest.

📞Phone system update occurring today

We are making an update to our phone system, with the switchover occurring at midday today. There are improvements being made to ease the speed and efficiency of getting connected with the best person within our team to assist you at the different times of the day.

Hopefully all goes smoothly with the update, but just in case there are any glitches... Please email us!

💻ARC North: [email protected]
💻ARC Central: [email protected]