kitkaede said
Reading about Abner has been so helpful to me.  I just joined this group today, so I was able to read about Abner from the beginning, through the dark times, and now to his most recent progress -- all in one sitting!  I'm so happy that he is now doing so well.

My dog Ruh (pronounced "Roo") is a barely-eight year old Anatolian Shepherd who was diagnosed with a bone tumor in his right hind leg just yesterday.  We are waiting to find out if the cancer has spread, and are hopeful that amputation will be an option.  It's reassuring that Abner and other giant breed dogs have had success with mobility after a hind-leg amputation.  Ruh is a service dog and has been a mobility assistance dog for me.  Luckily my condition has improved greatly over the past two years, and now I hope to be a mobility assistance human for him.  Service work and being in the community are so important to him, I'm hopeful that he can one day continue to serve as a "tripawd" therapy dog visiting children who have undergone amputations.  Thank you for sharing your information with others.  It's helped me greatly in processing what's happening with Ruh and what's to come.

 

Pats to Abner--thanks for being an inspiration to Ruh and me.

Chris

Hi Chris.  I'm glad that Abner's and my experiences have offered you some help.  I hope they offer some realistic expectations.  One thing I have learned and continue to learn is that the experience of an amputation for a giant breed dog is definitely different than for smaller animals.  I believe now that Abner is reasonably happy and is dealing pretty well with his life as it has become.  I also believe that it is unlikely that he is going to make any major improvements from here on out.  There are very real limits on what he can do now and they impact me as well. 

Abner is able to walk about a mile and a half on relatively level or gently sloping ground provided he gets a rest stop somewhere along the way.  Occasionally he can to a mile and three quarters but really that is it.  The hopping gait a large tripawd has to master requires considerably more exertion than a normal 4 legged gait so these dogs will tire much faster.  This is, in Abner's case, exacerbated by his being almost 10 (birthday coming up on Tuesday of next week).  He has gotten good at going down steps but if he has to go up more than about two or three risers I still must assist him with a sling I had made.  He also cannot get in or out of my car without using a ramp.  While this may seem like good progress in a little more than 4 months we are talking about a dog who routinely could go on 8 mile hikes before. 

He has lost 4 pounds of body weight since his surgery.  His vets believe this is completely due to the added exertion required for walking.

One thing I wasn't expecting was health complications for myself but there have been some and it would be good for you to be aware so perhaps you can avoid them.  My biggest problem is that I have aggravated an ulnar nerve in my left arm, probably from constantly pulling the ramp out and putting it back into the car.  I have been in a lot of pain for more than 6 weeks and ironically have been put on Gabapentin which is one of the same drugs Abner is taking.  I also am now dealing with a sharp pain in my left knee when I get down to medicate Abner twice daily.  I suspect both of these would have been avoidable if I had thought about how I was dealing with these repeated movements but I didn't and am now paying the price.

I have no regrets at this point about agreeing to Abner's amputation.  I believe he wouldn't have survived this long without it and I am convinced that while he can't completely return to what had been a normal life for him, he is content with what he has.  I lavish praise and affection on him all the time and I think he probably doesn't even know something is missing.  This is simply the life he woke up to one day and this is what he is dealing with.   He is just as sweet and wonderful to be around as he always was and not a day goes by that I am not thankful for every moment I have with him.  If Ruh is healthy enough to have this surgery I suspect in the end you will draw the same conclusion.

Best of luck.

PS.  Make sure you are equipped with a durable sling as soon as you have to pick Ruh up from his surgery.  I ended up taking the one they provided to get him home from the vet hospital and having it customized by a local crafts-person who makes tents, backpacks and the like from nylon.  He put a stiffener on one side to keep it from bunching up under Abner's belly and then we lined it with soft fleece so the surface touching him was comfortable.  I machine wash it and it is working well.  One thing that is tricky is positioning it so it doesn't inhibit a male dog's ability to pee.  You'll figure that out the first time you take Ruh out and he urinates through the sling.

One thing they didn't tell me about and that for awhile caused me some worry was a side effect from the surgery.  Abner has a spot on his back beside his spine where his coat is growing back far more slowly than elsewhere.  This is apparently common and is caused by the epidural they give the dog during the surgery.  It apparently releases enough steroid at the injection site that the residual steroid inhibits hair growth for period of time.  Right now it looks like he has a comb-over.