I'm interested in hearing your thoughts and experiences with this diagnosis in a black lab. My fella has a tumor on his foot. Amputation is the only real option for treatment, but is the cure worse than the alternative? He's 10 and this involves his front leg.

So Sorry. Labs will fight through anything to be with their family but such a tough call.

How big is the tumor? Too large to close the skin if resected?
Amputation is often a last option on an older, large dog.

It's quite large, Vet says too large to remove due to location on foot.

Sometimes you can leave the surgical site partially open and treat it as an open wound and heal what is called second intention.

Of course you want to try and remove all the neoplastic tissue too.
Depending on exact tumor, sometimes radiation can shrink it a bit and make surgical removal more of a possibility.

Is it in between the digits on the paw? What does it look like? Our 9 year old black lab had what our vet thought was soft tissue sarcoma, but couldn't get a good sample for biopsy without removing the mass. It was about the size of a small grape.The mass was removed and sent off and it ended up being benign. Have they 100% confirmed that this is what this is?

I'm glad yours had a great outcome! Sadly, this one was biopsied and confirmed soft tissue sarcoma. We also consulted with aTm vet school. Nothing new recommended except amputation. This tumor is on the top of his paw. Zero extra skin to work with and quite large.

Girlhowdy said:

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I'm glad yours had a great outcome! Sadly, this one was biopsied and confirmed soft tissue sarcoma. We also consulted with aTm vet school. Nothing new recommended except amputation. This tumor is on the top of his paw. Zero extra skin to work with and quite large.

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Sorry to hear that

Is 3D printing a prosthetic "leg" an option to maintain mobility?

I'm just going to offer this. Do with it as you wish. We had a 6 year old lab that two other DVM's had written off and also TAM.
Our Equine vet said before we give up to contact Dr. Varga and he wrote a referral for us.
We did. Dr. Varga was amazing. He lives on challenges. He gave us two very good more years with our boy when everyone else told us to put him down.
Yes it cost us money… but the two plus years it was worth it to us. They were a good two years too. Our boy was happy and pain free.
Maybe he can't help but I'm just saying we were so glad we did.
Dr. Varga doesn't like to give up. One gifted talented and wonderful DVM and a compassionate great person too.
Might be worth a phone call and speak with him.
That's all I got. Will pray for pup. So sorry you are going through this.
https://austinvet.net/veterinarians/Jeremy-Varga-DVM

Had the same situation with my 9 yr old female lab on a rear leg. We ended up doing the amputation and she hasn't missed a beat. That said, STRICTLY MY OPINION, after going through it with her and I had to do it again with a front leg, I would not put her through that.

Thank you all so much, especially for the prayers.

I asked, but was told that wasn't an option as of 2026. I was pretty surprised.

Prosthetics are potentially an option, but there are few people doing them and it takes an extremely dedicated owner for it to work. I've did have one dog with a prosthetic rear foot after it was mangled by a car. It took months of training and a few iterations to get it right but she did well.
I've had some dogs with a soft tissue sarcoma on the foot area that we did debulking surgery on knowing it would regrow at some point that can buy some time.
A lot of dogs do great with amputations, the ones that have the most trouble have arthritis issues in the remaining limbs.

Exactly what we did with our lab/blue lacy mix dog for cancer...good option

Yep. He is one outstanding DVM. He has tremendous ability to think out of the box…and hates to give up.

Tremendous news. Thank you for keeping me posted on everything through the PM's.
Dr. Varga is truly a Gods gift. Glad we got you together with him and he was able to help.
Prayers continued for Sarge and his continued healing.

I'm just glad he was able to help you and save Sarges leg. Give him a big Ol' hug and pet for us!!

This is great news! Prayers for a complete recovery for Sarge.

A Good Old Dog

The Best Kind