It’s been one week since Smokey has been hoppin around on three legs. I must say she has already adapted so quickly to getting around, we nearly have to slow her down so her stitches won’t come open! At first, I was worried her left leg would be swollen from all the extra weight but it’s seemed to strengthen itself as time goes on. Her appetite never went away, she wasn’t fond of the dog food so we are feeding her boiled chicken and white rice which she’s devouring. We have to give her hydrotherapy baths for 15 minutes, multiple times a day to wash off the area and promote healing. I’m hopeful that she heals quickly because she really wants to lay on the side of the amputation which we are trying to prevent. She has a tube through the incision for draining so keeping clean towels around is a must. There is a significant amount of drainage, daily. She’s not very happy we aren’t letting her up on the bed but we’ve bought her a really nice dog bed/fuzzy blanket and are literally sleeping on the floor with her. We just want her to be comfortable and happy.
How it all started
Hey everyone! Just wanted to write a brief blog why Smokey ended up getting her leg amputated. Back in 2019 a small tumor began to form around her left leg. It was removed and unfortunately grew back 10x the size within a few months. During the first surgery, the vet took notes saying the mass was extremely entangled in nerves and was more then positive she clipped a few while removing the tumor. This led to a loss in sensation in her leg and major swelling due to the Re growth of the new tumor. We were left with two options; one being to reach a specialist to see if they would do surgery on her and the other being her leg amputated. We looked into a specialist and they said they wouldn’t want to risk removing something so massive and entangled in veins and nerves (also the price was around $4,000). We nervously decided on the amputation which was significantly cheaper. The vet said dogs do better when getting their rear legs removed rather then the front leg but fortunately they adapt quickly. After the surgery I must say she has already gotten used to happily walking around on three paws.