Hey Y'all! I have a possible soon-to-be tripawd, and I guess I am just looking for any tips and advice as well as validation that we are pursuing the best choice. A year ago we adopted a guesstimated 3ish-year-old (now 4?) 80-90lb Malamute mix. The shelter told us that she had a bit of a limp in a rear leg that would only show up after a rough play session or running around a bunch but that it would go away soon after. They also said that she was super lazy and a total couch potato. They had taken her to their small-town vet who ran x-rays and found that she had a leg break that never healed properly and that it wasn't fixable, so they just left it at that. This worked out perfectly for us as we were looking for a more mellow and laid-backed dog and a disabled dog was a non-issue for us. We got her home and within a few weeks started noticing a small limp when out for our daily mile walk, and it started to progressively get worse. We took her into our vet and they reccomended we take her to an orthopedic specialist and gave us some pain meds to try out as well as some anti anxiety meds for her leash/dog reactivity.

The ortho vet was a few weeks later and we were starting to see more issues pop up during this time that pointed to her being in pain. Ortho vet took new xrays and started talking to us about the situation which is that her femur was badly broken and never set/healed properly so it is twisted, which is causing a luxating patella. They said they could do surgery but that there was a chance that one surgery wouldn't be enough and that even if everything goes perfectly the first time, she will still have about 8/10 range of mobility bc her leg is irreparably shorter than her other legs due to the accident. I asked about amputation and the ortho vet basically brushed it off with wanting to due the surgery. He quoted us $8500 to do the surgery which is not something we can at all afford especially if it's not something that we know 100% will fix the issue and stop her pain. I also have concerns about the recovery because from what I have seen online, this surgery will need months of my dog being immobile and with my dogs claustrophobia issues, it just feels more detrimental to do the surgery. The vet tech we spoke with afterwards before leaving agreed with us that amputation was absolutely an option and a valid choice in permanently taking her pain and symptoms away if we didn't want to go through with the surgery due to cost and quality of life reasons.

We went back to our vet to update on what was going on and asked about amputation and our vet seemed hesitant as our pup was still using the leg just with a limp. They asked their large dog surgeon for a second opinion and the surgeon mentioned they wouldn't feel right removing a still somewhat functional limb, so we went ahead and started her on pain meds. We have had her on Tramadol and Gabapentin to help with her with her pain however her limp has been getting much worse in the year we have had her as well as her pain symptoms.

I jokingly say that she isnt a real dog(not a real joke, this whole thing has been so literally depressing), because she sleeps all day and doesn't do anything that most dogs do in terms of play and general foolery like every dog ive had before. It is so hard to try and get her up from her bed, we typically have to spend a few minutes waking her up and bribing her with high value treats to get up and once we are able to get her out the door she now stops frequently and will refuse to move. She hardly ever plays, and almost never has zoomies anymore. She also has some incontinence issues that has been getting worse despite potty breaks fairly frequently ( every 4 hours) and her being on meds for the incontinence. I would take her out more often but I have so much trouble trying to get her up and out of the house with me because of her leg and she hates every second of not being in bed.

I know her pain meds cause her to have drowsiness but even lowering her dosage does not help and makes her limp worse. She has started to lay down on our walks, and the only walks we have been going on for the last 8 months have been quick 5-10 minute potty breaks on leash in our complex. There have also been two periods in the last few months where her limp had gotten so bad she was effectively not using the leg at all and just hopping with it off the ground. Those periods lasted 2-3 week s before getting "better" back to her normal bad limp. When she stands, she mostly lifts it off the ground and usually onnly barely uses it for balance when standing.

I have become so complacent with her being in pain that I just forget how pain free abled dogs are. This is our normal. I just want her to be pain free and I feel that amputating the limb is the best option in improving her quality of life. But I feel that our vet is pushing back on going with amputation and I just dont understand why.

She is (assumed) to be a younger dog and has so many years ahead of her. I feel that putting her through a grueling surgery recovery which at best will leave her with less than 100% mobility (and at worst the surgery fails and we have to shell out another 8k that we dont even remotely have) or we can just leave her on pain meds for her whole life that dont seem to be helping and causing her incontinence.

At this point we are just hoping that with how much and how quickly her leg has gotten worse that they actually agree that amputation is a viable option. My spouse has been wanting to take her in for months because of her limp getting worse and I keep pushing us to wait longer because I just know they aren't going to agree with amputation because she hasnt progressed far enough and we cant afford the $200 every few months just for them to say that we need to stick with her pain meds for now. Its just so hard though on everyone under our roof, and especially for her.

Money isn't the only thing driving this decision. If we knew 100% that doing surgery to save the leg would work in actually saving the limb and wont cause her any pain or mobility issues, than we would do it no problem regardless of cost. Its just the answer we were given is that even if everything goes perfect, she will still have mobility issues. And if it doesn't go well, that's more recovery/pain and still a possibility of needing to amputate later down the line.

Am I right that amputation is the better way to go? Or am I just poorly imformed and we should just continue her pain meds? Does anyone have recommendations or tips on how to better advocate for her?

We love our vet and its hard to get into other clinics in the area not to mention this being the best one. Im just feeling so helpless and all the pushback from our vet has me feeling like maybe we are wrong to want to amputate.

TLDR : My dog has a luxating patella due to twisted femur injury from some time ago that didnt heal properly and surgery to fix it is too expensive monetarily and quality of life during recovery wise. Her limp and symptoms have gotten significantly worse in the year we have had her and our vet wants to only do pain meds as they feel she still uses the limb some and dont want to amputate a viable limb. We want to go through with amputatioin as it is the more cost effective and a more sure way to make her pain and symptoms stop.

Thank you in advance for any advice or recommendations y'all have and just for reading this far. Your time and experience is greatly appreciated!