Our 8 year old Labrador Retriever, Storm, recently injured her right hind leg and is scheduled to have the leg amputated in a few days. The break is very bad and the decision between amputation and repair has been exhausting. As much as I want to have the surgery to repair the break, I’m faced with the reality that although her limb will be in tact her foot will not be functioning. It’s also difficult to weigh such a decision when the possibility for needing the leg amputated may be a possibility if the leg doesn’t heal correctly. I have three children (two of which are boys and they never stop moving and jumping) and the task of keeping them still and the dog still for eight weeks to heal from the surgery to attempt to fix the issue is a scary and seemingly impossible task. I wish I had the money as well, although I imagine it would still be a difficult decision. I find myself feeling sorry for her, it seems so unfair that she would hurt herself so badly in the same backyard my children have been safety playing in for years. I hear it’s worse on the families than on the dogs, I hope that’s true. Our task will now be to show her love, keep her as trim as possible (doesn’t help that she eats my three year olds food all the time), and gets some area rugs on these hard wood floors.
Till next time,
Corynne
Hi Corynne and Storm!
Sorry you have to be here, but, under the circumstances, there is no better place to be!
Accidents happen. Some are here due to accidents, most however, due to a life threatening piece of crap disease. Regardless, one life lesson we all learn pretty quickly is to not put one second of energy into the “why” or “how”, as that nust continues to rob us of our sacred time together living in the now with our dogs! They don’t give a hoot about the “accident” or the “disease”….they just accept whatever life dishes their way and move right on through it!
Yes, regardless of the cause, amputation is major surgery and an agonizing decision. As you said, harder on us humans than us dogs!
Having been a member of this incredible tripawd community for almost two years now, many, many dogs end up proceeding with amputation after painful surgeries, infections, etc. failed when trying to “fix” a bum leg. You have made the absolutely best decision for Storm’s well being and quality! Once recovery takes place, you will be AMAZED at how resilient Storm is and how quickly he adapts!!
It appears you’ve done your homework and have prepared your home for a tripawd! And ohhhh my goodness, you think you spoil Storm now……it’s unbelievable how much more loving and spoiling you can come up with once they become a tripawd!!
When you pick Storm up, don’t even look at the incision site…just look into his drugged glazed eyes and tell him what a good boy he is!! He will be so happy to go home!
You are not alone, okay? We are all here right by your side!
Looking forward to following Storm’s journey!
And eat lots of chocolate…it does wonders!!
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too!
Welcome and best wishes for Storm! She should do great. Too many times we hear from folks who put their pups through multiple painful surgeries trying to “save the leg” only to proceed with amputation anyway. Please keep us posted.
You’ll find lots of recovery and care tips in Jerry’s Required Reading List, and for immediate answers to the most common dog amputation questions download the new Tripawds e-book Three Legs and A Spare.
I am one of those people that the administrator speaks of but my lab, Buddy’s, fracture was a what I would call a complete fracture of the femur. We had no idea how it happened because he is in a fenced in yard. I came home one day and he wouldn’t put weight on it so I rushed him to the vet. The vet put a pin in it thinking it was stabilized. (that was in April). the pin wasn’t holding so he went back in a week later and put in plate and screws. A biopsy was done that did not show osteosarcoma. Buddy’s leg was getting really stiff so the vet took the hardware out.. THEN the leg broke again. Yet another surgery this time the vet put in a pin, plate and screws. the pin worked itself out and was sticking out of his leg. Then he started getting sores on his incision and on antibiotics for several weeks. The vet recommended taking the hardware which he did and said the bone looked terrible so at that time, we decided that Buddy has been through enough and amputated his left rear leg. Another biopsy was done and this time showed osteosarcoma so I am glad that I made the decision to amputate. He is now 5 weeks post op and doing great. Of course, he had no use of that left rear leg since April when he originally fractured it. He has also lost 40 lbs because we found out he also had a thyroid problem. I did request x-rays of the chest and abdomen to look at other organs and they came back clear. Long story short, don’t put your dog through what Buddy went through. If we had known that he had osteosarcoma in April, we would definitely not gone 7 months trying to fix a fracture that would not heal. Good luck to you and mostly to Storm. He will do just fine.
Thank You.