Hi everyone!

This past month hasn't seemed fair. My partner and I decided it was time to add a new puppy to our little family (We have two toy poodles) and chose the best little pup, Mylo- a Portuguese Water Dog. When we brought him home a month ago we noticed he had a limp, but the doctors assured us that this was normal 'Puppies play hard!'.

The limp didn't go away. It got worse.

Mylo progressed quickly from a small limp to having massive muscle atrophy and muscle contraction in his leg causing knuckling over a 3 week period. The doctors were baffled. The orthopedic specialist who believed it was Panosteitis for 3 weeks came to us with the news that he now thought that it must be neurological. We were devastated. The neurologist agreed and said all the signs pointed towards something wrong in his brachial plexus. He said he had never seen a case like Mylo's in his entire 40 years of practice. He said the progression was something you would likely see in a old dog with lesions on the brachial plexus or on a dog who had a severe hematoma/avulsion which was still forming on the nerve group. The hematoma/avulsion would have been caused by trauma- which we had already asked the breeder about and he said he had no knowledge of anything happening to Mylo. They recommended an MRI, which would cost $3,000. 

My partner and I felt like the world was crashing around us. How had this happened? Mylo, the perfect puppy who was just 11 weeks old was now facing this. I was angry, sad, and lost. We couldn't afford the MRI as we had already put over a $1,000 into getting Mylo to all of the specialists. So I asked the doctors- if this is something like a lesion, hematoma, or avulsion what is next? Can we do physical therapy to return the use of his leg? Will he recover?

No. 

Then it felt like everything was in fast forward. Mylo's chance of regaining the use of his leg was close to zero according to over 5 different veterinarians. What's next?

Amputation.

Now the world really was crashing around us. How could we amputate our 3 month old puppy's leg? How is that fair to Mylo? What will his life be like? Why did this happen to him?

I called the breeder and told him everything that had been happening. I begged him to tell me if anything had happened to Mylo- ANYTHING. He seemed confused by the whole situation, having never had to deal with it with any of his puppies before. And then he told me 'Well, sometimes when I'm in the kennel with the puppies they might get underfoot and I might step on them on accident.'. I think that is when my world stopped spinning. Was this my answer? Was this why Mylo was suffering? I accepted his explanation, calmly asked for a refund for Mylo to help pay for the amputation surgery (which he agreed to) and hung up. We've all stepped on a dog's paw before or tripped over a pup when they are excitedly dancing around for a treat. It happens and I forgave it, because all we could do now is move forward.

After I realized amputation was inevitable (last week), I called the vet and scheduled him for his surgery. 7/13 Mylo will go in for a full forequarter amputation. At just 13 weeks Mylo will become a Tripawd. We have been calling him a TriPaWD, because he is a Portuguese Water Dog (PWD for short).

Now that we know what is going to happen my partner and I have begun planning for it. We bought raised bowls, a new Tripawd approved harness, and have been reading everything possible to make sure that this will be as easy as possible for Mylo. This website and its forums have provided us with confidence that Mylo will live a great life after the surgery. In fact, it will likely be better than his life is right now. As I type this Mylo is lying next to me crying, undoubtedly in pain from his leg and I honestly can't wait for him to feel better. He has never known a life where he can run, jump, and just be a puppy. 

Hopefully after surgery this week and recovery a few weeks after, Mylo will finally get to be a puppy.