HELP ! My dog needs amputation ! Don't know what to do

[milo]

Been a member here for a very long time (2009 I believe-well before the crash) and its been awhile since i have been on and now I turn to you all for assistance.

My dog Milo is a 92-pound 7 year old golden retriever/lab mix who i have had since he was 6 weeks old. He is in picture perfect health, i brush his teeth twice a week, he won a year supply of back to basics food from a photo contest worth $1k, plays at the beach twice a week etc etc (point is this dog is my world)

Last night after going out to the bathroom, he came in running up the stairs to get a treat he had upstairs and while going up the stairs, missed a step? collided with a step? not exactly sure but immediately starting crying the most god awful cry i have ever heard. Immediate swelling. Was able to calm him down after 5 minutes and carry him upstairs to my room. We got through the night and this morning the swelling was much worse.

Went to my regular vet, took xrays and he has a tibial fracture near the tarsus (google for image). It is shattered in multiple places...and without going in-they don't really know how bad it is.

My vet set me up with a consultation with a private surgeon, who, while he did say "I fix things..thats why you are here" IMO based on his body language, sounded like the surgery is a real roll of the dice as far as the outcome and after 6 months of rehab etc...might be able to use the leg. The other outcome, is the leg might have to be fused and became lame or the surgeon could get in there and its worse than expected etc etc. When all is said in done, cost of surgery, over night stay, follow up visits look at ~$7,000.

Option 2 is amputation. The private surgeon wants $3500+ there is a non profit in Richmond, VA (about a 2 hour drive) that will do the amputation for $700 out the door.

Option 3 is the word that starts out with euth...

Anyone have any experience with 3 legged dogs? Any positive input is appreciated. While I love my dog more than about a small handful of people in my life, I have pretty much ruled out the $7k surgery gamble and am leaning pretty heavily towards having the leg amputated.

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[JenC]

Sorry to hear of the accident. 3 legged dogs adjust just fine. Maybe you should seek a second opinion.

[Annette47]

I would get a second opinion as well, but to answer your question, as long as he is otherwise in good health and the rest of his legs/joints are in good shape, he should do just fine with 3 legs.

[milo]

The xray is pretty clear about the break. The options are surgery or amputation. I sent the xrays to a friend of a friend who is a vet tech and to the best of their ability without seeing Milo, its either surgery or amputation. I am reaching out to another surgeon for an opinion on getting it fixed

[SunDance]

Oh, gosh...poor Milo...you wouldn't necessarily think that a collision with a step would cause that much damage.

I've known some 3-legged dogs that I met in the park, going for walks...they seemed to be doing just fine. I don't remember knowing if they'd had the amputations when still really young or....thinking in terms of adjusting.

Sending you good thoughts for getting this taken care of and getting Milo back to feeling good.

[smartrock]

The photo looks like a back leg? I haven't had a dog get an amputation but I did consult a surgeon when one of our dogs had osteosarcoma in a front leg. He was quite enthusiastic about how she would do on 3 legs- Great! he said. Because of it being cancer and her age, her size, and a front leg, and a poor prognosis from the cancer standpoint, we decided against the amputation. I'm just saying that in his opinion, dogs do very well with 3 legs.

I'm so sorry to read of your pup's problems, that break looks bad, even from the outside!

[milo]

Did a ton more research. There is a web site similar to this one... tripawds dot com that is dedicated to the 3 legged dog community. Osteosarcoma is a common word on that web site (as far as causing the need for an amp) and there are several success stories of dogs 9-13 years old getting an amp and had great success.

I didn't see the incident actually occur, Milo took off as soon as he got back in to head upstairs to his treat...i just heard the scream and continuous screams until i could get him calmed down.

The vet loved him. The Dr stated if i was considering euthanize, she was calling her husband saying she was bringing home another dog (they have 3 already themselves and a roommate that has 2 labs)..she said everyone that works there just adored him. I called her back this afternoon and she asked another Dr at the practice looked at the XRAYs and amputation is my best bet unless I can spend the $$$ for surgery.

This isn't really a question to the community and everyone will just have to take my word for it that I love my dog more than just about a handful of people in my life (my parents & a few of my closest friends) but I just spent several years stabilizing my finances and consolidated all my debt like 3 weeks ago into a single payment. So my point is while i would do just about anything for my dog...i still feel terrible about not going into more debt at the possibility of saving Milo's leg? Am I wrong to responsibly say that sinking $5,500-$7,000 into debt for my 7 year old dog's leg isn't something I can afford?

The non-profit that will be doing the amp was founded to prevent financially driven euthanize.

[kimbersmom]

Don't beat yourself up! I don't doubt your commitment to Milo; your love and loyalty shine through. But you need to make choices that are best for Milo AND you. The surgery sounds like a gamble. The opinions you're receiving don't seem to be "get surgery"- it's surgery or amputation.

My friend's lab was hit by a car, fracturing his leg in multiple places. They did the surgery and the rehab- and guess what, they ended up doing the amputation about a year later. His leg just never recovered, and the dog, D, is much happier post-amputation. He was probably in pain after the surgery. Now he's happy and active.

[milo]

They did the surgery and the rehab- and guess what, they ended up doing the amputation about a year later. His leg just never recovered, and the dog, D, is much happier post-amputation. He was probably in pain after the surgery. Now he's happy and active.

Thank you so much for your kind words. This is basically what the surgeon said could happen but in more medical terminology-but couldn't say for sure without cutting him open.

[Annette47]

As long as you are sure (and it sounds like multiple vets have concurred) that surgery would be a gamble with an uncertain outcome, then I think going straight to amputation is a reasonable choice ... even if it wasn’t going to be financially motivated. Any surgery of that type would require lots of crate rest followed by a long rehab.

I have known (not owned) a couple dogs who lost a leg to osteosarcoma (a Golden and a Doberman) and both recovered nicely and were pretty much fully functional within a couple weeks, although they did need some help learning to walk on 3 legs at first. The Dobie continues to do well, but the Golden eventually had to be let go, not because of the cancer but because his hips (which weren’t good) could no longer take the extra strain (both the dogs I know had front legs amputated). The amputation did give him 3-4 good years that they would not have otherwise had though, and as I said, his hips were problematic to begin with.