Does anyone on the board have any experience with a dog(s) that have had a front leg amputated? Our 7 yr old dog was hit by a car today and had his front leg leg broken in several places. Two different Vets are suggesting amputation.
OT: Dogs w/ Front Leg Amputated
- Thread starter Blair Sanderson_rivals
- Start date
Terrible news......I am truly sorry. I love my dog..........
Sorry, no answer to your question.
Sorry, no answer to your question.
Man, that's brutal.
FWIW, I had a friend that had a three legged dog. One front missing. It lost its leg from cancer.
It wasn't as old but, it adapted and got around fine. It was Collie mix just for reference. They are much more resourceful than humans, IMO.
Good luck.
He's really a great familydog. The lil bastard has never been on the loose his entire life, but for today. And sure enough, he got hit. He's lucky to be alive actually. Until this afternoon, he was very active, very healthy, and extremely smart. Our local Vet told us that on the northside of Houston, there are only two places that can do orthopedic surgery on dogs. A place off 290 and believe it or not College Station... the A&M Vet School. So off to A&M the wife goes. She's waiting for the final consultation but she's been told that amputation is his best long term scenario. They're waiting on some Aggie animal suregeon to confirm their diagnosis.
My friend had a dog with front leg amputated and someone forgot to tell the dog. It ran, jumped, and was just as active as his other dogs.
Torn for liking a tragic post, but consider it support. I haven't had a dog with a missing leg, although I hear they're dogs and couldn't care less as long as they're still having fun and getting love and treats.
My mom is deaf, like stone cold deaf from meningitis as a 5 year old. 106 fever. No nerves left in her ears. Point being that she once put the garage door down on our cat. The safety sensors didn't trigger because he was too low trying to slip in at the last second. The door literally smashed him in half and he unfortunately stayed like that for quite some time because she couldn't hear his cries.
I came home from wherever I was to the sounds of a cat dying. You know the sound if you've ever heard it. Unforgettable. When I opened the door, he started running around with his front legs only like in a panic, his back legs and tail just dragging behind. The vet wanted to put him to sleep, but they had him pumped full of pain killers, so he wasn't in pain, and I begged my parents to give him a chance. A few days later under observation, he started showing signs of feeling in his back legs. We took him home, and it was a long process, but he eventually gained full control and strength back after a couple of years. We lucked out. The prolonged door pressure had merely swollen the vertebrae and pinched off the spinal cord, but didn't sever it.
That cat went on to do his job and turn our back patio into a butcher shop. He caught some animal or vermin on a daily basis for the last few years of his life. The patio was continually blood stained, and my mom was sickened by it. She wouldn't sit on the back porch anymore. It was awesome.
FWIW, the Aggie vet school is a premier facility. Just saying.
Good story. I wish I was there w/ the wife. She is supposed to keep me on speaker w/ the final consultation, so we'll see. I'm leaning toward attempting to splint/cast etc in an effort to allow it to heal. My thought is that the leg can always be cut off later if it doesn't heal. But I'm also concerned with the amount of pain during this process. I've been reading a bit on it and several articles state that a dog when in pain can and usually does go into a deep depression which slows down and negates the healing process. So, I'm not sure what is going to happen at this point. Thanks for a good story JC.
Just going to need some extra attention and some more frequent car rides to keep it up to snuff. Animals bounce back. In nature, they don't have a choice. Fight or die.
Whatever you choose is the right answer. Modern medicine has put us in the middle of choices that aren't natural. There's no wrong answer.
Whatever you choose is the right answer. Modern medicine has put us in the middle of choices that aren't natural. There's no wrong answer.
Dogs have a natural way of adapting to such injuries and he should be able to live fairly normal lives. One thing to keep under control is the dog's weight.
My aunt and uncle have a lab that was hit by a car years ago that is missing one of it's legs. The dog runs around and plays like it doesn't bother it one bit. Sure it slows him down and he can't keep up with other dogs, but it hasn't damaged his spirit if that's what you are worried about. Animals adapt and just keep on going and live through things.
I have a customer with three boys and a small lab mix that is missing I believe it's the right front leg. The dog has a blast with the boys, and is just a great dog. Very few limitations. When I was there a month ago, the dog needed to come in and there was a slick spot on the sidewalk from some watering of the adjacent landscaped area, even though it was dry everywhere else and he came romping up to go in the house and took a corner right at the wet area and just crashed.
He was used to it, got up and came on in. This is not a dog that needs to be put down. I mean he already has one more leg than we do and tripods are the most stable of leg support. He's a great pet.
He was used to it, got up and came on in. This is not a dog that needs to be put down. I mean he already has one more leg than we do and tripods are the most stable of leg support. He's a great pet.
Well here's the update: First I should tell you that the dog was our daughter's dog. She got him as an 8 week old pup & named him, "Boomer". She asked us to keep him at the age of three, as she moved into an apartment. The Aggie Vet Care Center & Docs are top notch. They assessed Boomer and found that he had no internal organ damages, no broken bones anywhere except his left front leg. In which the leg has what has been described as a 'complicated' compound fracture & a severely crushed wrist. The Vet has faith in his work but told us the odds of Boomer walking w/o a gimp/limp and having future issues were great. It would take multible surgeries and each requiring up to 8 weeks of crating after each surgery. This concerned them in respects that they believed that a strong possibility of depression would set in etc. Financially, both surgeries would be approx. $8 to $10K. As such, it was recommended that his leg be amputated. They sent Boomer back home for the weekend as they could not amputate until Monday anyway and their care would be $235/night. They loaded us up w/ pain killers, placed a hard, but temporary cast on him. We have opted for amputation. I never thought I'd ever price out the cost of cutting a dog's leg off. So far, the cost has ranged from $1100 to $2500 (Aggie).
I appreciate the feedback from you guys. Thanks for the encouraging words.
I appreciate the feedback from you guys. Thanks for the encouraging words.
Just signed on and saw the thread. Sorry to hear about your little buddy, WNAS. Good luck. He's in good hands with those TAMU vets, for sure
Keep his weight down and keep him active. As long as he's loved and cared for and has a family for him to love he'll be just as happy on three legs as four.
Well I think were in good shape regarding his weight. H's never been one to over eat and has always been on the trim & fit side. He's always beena very busy dog. Never one to sit idly etc. He can do multiple tricks, including Bang, play dead. We believe is energy & intellect will assist him greatly as he adapts. He's been resting peacefully today and has ate a bit and drank some water via a baster.
Again everyone, appreciate the good words from all.
Again everyone, appreciate the good words from all.
Keep those pain meds hidden from him...don't want to make an addict of him...you stay off them too...
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I'll see about getting a photobucket album going. The wife said last night was pretty funny in that the Aggie Vet's office was having a great time w/ 'Boomer'. Actually they all were pretty amazing folks. They sent him home in Aggie colored gauze tape & gave him a A&M collar & leash.
I'll see about getting a photobucket album going. The wife said last night was pretty funny in that the Aggie Vet's office was having a great time w/ 'Boomer'. Actually they all were pretty amazing folks. They sent him home in Aggie colored gauze tape & gave him a A&M collar & leash.
Shameless...even trying to convert our pets...
Well Boomer had his surgery to remove his front left leg yesterday. We brought him home today. We visited him yesterday and he wasn't feeling good at all. Still heavily sedated from the surgery, he couldn't even stand. Today, he was much improved. He has eaten, drank water, ate his meds, stood up, urinated and then actually walked like a Champ in less than 24 hrs from surgery. Here's video of him walking from the Vet office to the car. It's like they literally cut off his pain, which I guess they did. I guess what I'm saying is that even with a leg & shoulder cut off, he's in much less pain now.
I hope this works. I'm not too sure how to post video from Photobucket. Here goes...
http://vid788.photobucket.com/album...leg Dawg/BoomerWalkingfromVet_zpstoyudvpi.mp4
He's walked a couple of times since at home. Short walks, just to go do his biz outside. He's resting well and we look forward to a nice recovery. Thanks again everyone for your words of encouragement.
I hope this works. I'm not too sure how to post video from Photobucket. Here goes...
http://vid788.photobucket.com/album...leg Dawg/BoomerWalkingfromVet_zpstoyudvpi.mp4
He's walked a couple of times since at home. Short walks, just to go do his biz outside. He's resting well and we look forward to a nice recovery. Thanks again everyone for your words of encouragement.
That's great.
He looks a little bewildered but, that's probably the meds.
His resilience might surprise you.
Dogs don't have the emotional attachment to all their appendages like humans.
That might have coined the term...'lucky dogs'.