Disabled Veteran Needs Help With Veterinary Costs

***Update 6/7***

Dino had his surgery today! He is recovering at home with dad. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible.

***UPDATE 5/22*** We got Dino scheduled for surgery at Union Animal Hospital in Spokane, WA on Jun 7th! As a relief vet, I don’t have any control of prices but the owner of Union has offered to do the procedure at a discounted rate if I donate my time and amputate Dino’s leg. Some of her staff have also volunteered to come in to help with surgery to reduce the costs on the this privately owned clinic. This is amazing and I am so thankful to everyone who has donated and to everyone trying to help make a difference for Dino and his family!

***UPDATE*** Fine needle aspirate results came back as being a sarcoma and suspected osteosarcoma. We performed blood work which showed overall good organ function. 3-view chest x-rays did not reveal any obvious signs of metastasis yet. We have a veterinarian/hospital owner willing to help with some of the costs associated with surgery but we need to get things moving for Dino. Time is of the essence. Anything/any amount will help! Thank you for reading.

Meet Dino! He is an 11 year old German shepherd who was recently diagnosed with suspected osteosarcoma in his front right leg. Osteosarcoma is a type of bone cancer that usually carries a very poor prognosis without treatment. His owner, Cruz, is a disabled Army veteran who is very attached to Dino and relies on him medically.

We have done some testing on Dino's leg and are awaiting results. If it comes back as being an osteosarcoma, Dino will need his leg amputated and will undergo chemotherapy/radiation treatment. Once completed, we are hoping to enroll Dino into an experimental trial with an Osteosarcoma vaccine at Washington State University. The vaccine has shown some promise in improving the long term prognosis of dogs with this type of cancer, but we cannot enroll him until he has his leg amputated and undergoes chemotherapy/radiation treatment.

Please consider helping this veteran and his super sweet boy, Dino.

Thank you for reading!

Dr. Amanda Kappes

PS. This website is limiting how much of the photo can be seen. I will update photographs as we go along.