My Bacca boo is just seven years old, had a mild limp, so as a good dog daddy I booked the earliest appointment with my specialist. I have a consult with the surgeon on the 13th, just need some reassurance/advice/help in order to make her post op as smooth as possible. I’m absolutely devastated, but as pack leader I’m keeping it together for them.
Neville has been in rehab for three rounds now (~3-4 months) and has been doing great! His rehab doctor said we can continue exercises at home but that he’s built up his strength again and the previous muscle atrophy from steroid use is gone. I’m so happy 💜
Piper will always choose adventure when the opportunity presents 🐾🤎
She’s 11.5 and lost her leg to soft tissue sarcoma just before turning 10
We went in for X-rays to get ready to start chemo, and Archer had developed a very mild cough just the day before. Our oncologist decided to include a chest X-ray, and unfortunately, the osteosarcoma had already spread to his lungs.
His chest X-rays were clear in August, so this has all happened incredibly fast. We’re now shifting to palliative care and focusing on keeping him comfortable, happy, and making the most of the time we have left together.
I’m trying so hard to hold it together, but some days I just can’t. Archer has been my best friend for 10 years, and I honestly can’t picture my life without him. I know my job now is to make sure he has the best days possible for as long as he’s comfortable, to give him all the love he can handle, and to let him tell me when it’s time. But knowing that day may be coming soon is absolutely heartbreaking.
Thirty days ago, we were focused on helping him adjust to life as a tripod and looking forward to what came next. I never imagined we’d be here so soon.
I’m so grateful for the time we have, but I’m not ready to say goodbye. I don’t know how you prepare yourself to lose a best friend who has been such a huge part of your life for a decade.
Thank you to everyone who has followed Archer’s journey, shared your experiences, and supported us through his amputation and recovery. This community has meant more to me than I can put into words. ❤️
Has anyone had similar experience with their dog?
History: 4 years ago rock obstruction successful surgery to remove.
Two weeks ago symptoms of blockage took to ER. Surgery was performed and surgeon "shifted" intestines around removing adhesions scar tissue. Successful at the time.
Put on RX can food.
Recovery went well and her follow up check up week later.
A week later (4 days ago) symptoms started again. Took her to another ER and adhesions were there again. Unknown if some were missed, they were new ones from previous surgery or both. Recovery went well. Followed instructions. But today (day 4) seems more lethargic, bit restless. Eating well. I will check back with her surgeon today.
Question: I'm told once surgery to remove adhesions they often come back and dog has short future life.
Is that part 100% true?
Could it be immediately such as a week or few days from last surgery more come back?
After 3 intestinal surgeries can she survive more?
She cannot eat nothing hard crunchy rest of her life. And low slow activity and I want to do all I can to have her live her life a long time.
She is 6 year old Labrador.
Please anything positive or not let me know because I'm feeling she will will not survive all this and scared.
¡Hola! ❤️ Busco personas que hayan pasado por una amputación de patita en un gatito.
Mi pequeño Coco tiene unos 2 meses y medio y le han amputado una patita trasera hace 5 días porque tenía problemas recurrentes de infección. La operación ha ido bien y ya se apaña con sus tres patas ya que la pata que le han amputado solo tenía media y ya había aprendido a caminar con 3, pero ahora estamos con el collar isabelino, los puntos y la recuperación.
Me preocupa mucho que se le pueda abrir la herida porque tiene mucha energía y no para de jugar con mi otra gatita de 2 meses y medio aunque los mantengo separados la mayor parte del día y me está costando mucho, cuándo puede volver a jugar con normalidad y cómo son las primeras semanas. A veces me angustio bastante porque quiero hacerlo todo bien por él.
Me encantaría hablar con personas que hayan vivido algo parecido y conocer vuestras experiencias. ¿Cómo fueron los primeros días? ¿Cuánto tardaron vuestros gatos en recuperarse? ¡Muchas gracias! 🐾❤️
I posted a few days back about how my 11 (now 12) year old dog had developed a cough, and I updated that we had gone to the vet and they found lung mets on the x-ray.
Penny had been living well for the last 3 months since amputation, but we always knew this day would come.
The cough was worse this morning, persisting continuously from 5:30 - 7:30. I told my husband I wanted to call the vet as soon as they opened.
They set us up with an appointment at 11am. Fortunately, they’re just across the street from
us.
From 7:30 - 11:00, Penny coughed only a couple
of times and was mostly back to herself, but I knew that this was the beginning of a downward spiral. She had a nice few hours at home before we took her in, and she got all the treats and cuddles.
I’ll miss her so much, but she was the best girl. I tell people she wasn’t the perfect dog, but she was the perfect dog for me.
After 7 months of attempted recovery from a torn carpal, it took a turn for the worse and got infected. The only option was to remove the hardware which stabilized her injury (source of the infection) or amputation. Such a hard decision but our girl is 1 week in her recovery and it’s definitely a rollercoaster of emotions questioning if we made the right decision.
She is getting around but is still in pain from the surgery. She is able to do stairs fairly well without pain, but today she hopped into our bed and when my husband carried her off the bed she cried a bit and it was heart breaking..💔
UPDATE: Cytology is fine! Huge relief. It's a reaction for sure. Now we wait and support. Size and position mean he is pretty immobile. Hot compresses and maybe a low-dose steroid are in the cards. I am attaching a photo. He's BIG and hairy, but you can see it today as it grew like crazy overnight and the skin is starting to discolour. Photos below now:
Our guy received his second vaccine 2 weeks ago, and a few days ago I noticed the most subtle behavioural changes indicating discomfort, and then we found the lump on/between his shoulder blades. I jumped right to thinking he was having a cancer recurance/osteosarcoma metastasis because the "lump at injection site" we were warned could happen didn't occur to me immediately because it was so large and painful.
We have been in touch with the study vets, but they are in another country, so we didn't take him back there and instead went to the closest emergency vet and our own vet again over the last 2 days. All the vets are being great and are collaborating.
I've done research and found a couple of anecdotal stories from people who experienced significant swelling like we are (i.e., orange size, baseball size, 6 inches, etc.).
But this is so big and uncomfortable. He is being a trooper. We have had X-rays (no bone lesions at first glance; sent to a radiologist for thorough review) and are waiting on cytology from the aspiration he had today. I know it really has to be the vaccine side effect, but it is SO scary and hard to see. He is so stoic.
I know 20 to 25% of dogs can get this, and it can even be a positive sign, but our big guy does everything super-sized, this included, and I was wondering if anyone could just tell me their experiences and if there was anything effective they did to support their dog through it.
Thank you.
My precious Siamese girl was hit by a car and two of her hind legs were broken. She has one amputated due to the severity of the break, and an FHO procedure done on the other leg. She miraculously avoided major organ damage and internal bleeding. She had surgery on Monday, was kept overnight for observations and pain mgmt until wed morning when we picked her up and drove home (four hour drive).
I’m being overly paranoid I’m sure but so far since being home she’s just pulling herself around on the carpet by her front claws. Sometimes she’ll flop her lower body to get to where she wants to go. She hasn’t seem to have attempted to stand up at all. Is this normal?
She is eating and I think I caught her drinking some water yesterday. She also made her way to the litter box today and peed a little inside of it and a little on the pee pad just outside (she did this while I was asleep).
Currently I have her in a half open dog crate on my bed with warm blankets. She is calmest when she’s physically close to me. Does anyone have any tips or reassurances? I feel so bad for my baby and I want to know she won’t be like this forever.
My 11 year old put-boxers girl was diagnosed with osteosarcoma back early February after she developed a limp that wouldn’t go away in mid-January. After the x-ray, the vet told us that she likely only had 2-4 months left, but she defied the odds.
We chose the palliative care route of pain medication and Gabopentin, and when she was still around in June, we decided to amputate when her x-ray was clear.
She has had a great last few months pain free, which I’m so thankful for. However, in the last couple of weeks she developed a cough, and today I noticed blood for the first time.
Otherwise she’s still in great spirits and eating/wanting to play, but we have a vet appointment tomorrow to check for metastatic disease.
Hi everyone,
We have a wonderful (estimated) 2 1/2 year old tripod named Theo. He's about 69 lbs and is a husky/German shepherd/super mutt mix. He's missing his back left leg. He has a ton of energy and no issues jumping up and down off and on our bed, into and out of an SUV, and loves running and playing and jumping around with other dogs.
Edited to add- he got his leg amputated over a 1 1/2 years ago and has likely experienced more of his life with 3 legs than with 4.
We are currently looking to buy a house, and the problem is that many of the houses available to us have at least one set of laminate or hardwood covered stairs. We have seen Theo go up and down really steep stairs at the park, so we know he can physically do it. But he already gets in his head about turning corners in our current apartment in areas that he's slipped on before (we have rubber yoga mats down now to help with that). He will often cry and whine for us to come stand next to him when wants to turn the corner and come inside our bedroom. Though when he is excited, he forgets that he's scared of that and does it no problem.
We are concerned that if we buy a two or three story house, he'd be scared and crying for us to bring him up and down multiple times a day. Our trainer said that wider stairs will be easier for him. I think if there's a landing, that will help too. We are open to installing anything that could help this issue!
I've searched on this sub and seen people talk about grip or traction strips. Does anyone have any additional advice? Would getting carpet installed on the stairs be better or worse than putting grips on them?
It's hard to know what to do since we can't test it out until we have bought the house. Maybe we'll see if someone we know has carpeted stairs and would be willing for us to try it out with him by using treats and rewards.
Hi all. I have 11 year old that has a mass on right hind leg. Took him to vet they said likely osteosarcoma. Needle bx inconclusive. Did a surgical punch biopsy large sample taken and told inflammatory. His mass has grown significantly and repeat cxr shows a lesion. My husband wants to do amputation and is very emotional - thinks it will give him a lot more time. I understand it is needed for diagnosis and will make him (hopefully) more comfortable. I was wondering the liklihood this is cancer and what will his life expectancy will be, quality of life with 3 limbs, possible qualify of life with chemotherapy. We are in a lot of debt but we also want to do what is right for him. I appreciate any feedback.
