Sorry I'm late to the pawty, but I wanted to welcome you! 

I was the one who said the best comeback to doubters was: "I promise you that if you get cancer, I won't euthanize you. I hope you promise me the same thing." Dealing with people like that is tiring. Choose carefully (as much as you can) who you surround yourself with while Zoey is recovering. Most of our dogs (and cats) end up being their own best public relations after they're all better. Nothing converts a heathen faster than watching their own dog be outrun by a tripawd! And yeah, it happens. Even if it doesn't, there is that happy tail and smiling face that sells.

Good thinking ahead on the hair trim for Zoey. We used to have a Collie (Sadie) who surely benefited from summer hair trims. The sanitary trim will help you immensely as you care for her. Even if she doesn't need it, you won't worry about her. You might want to wait on the cooling pad to see just what Zoey needs and wants down the road. I don't know where you live to know how hot it might get. Cooling pads are nice, if your dog will use them (I recently bought one for my quadpawd and she's terrified of it).

Let us know how things are going. And Erica is right--you can come to chat most any time of any day and you'll find at least her there. She doesn't sleep. The rest of us are there off and on. 

Shari

Hang on a sec--euthanizing right after surgery seems a tad hasty to me. Zoey is your dog, but try to think carefully about short-term pain vs long-term gain. 

What does the vet say about this? In reality, a dog can be totally sedated to deal with that kind of pain. If her pain receptors are messed up and misfiring, maybe she needs some serious sedation till things calm down for her. If this were my dog, I think I would be asking for some serious deep sedation and maybe a Fentanyl patch. I am not a vet and cannot advise you, but I do know I personally would ask about that.

We do have a forum here, Ask a Vet, where members who are veterinarians can give advice. I think that would be the best next step, if you want to post your question there. One of the vets often comes in to chat in the evenings. If you tell me you want to come to chat and see if she can help, I will send her a private message and ask if she can be there tonight. I don't know if she can, but I will try that if you will be able to hold off on a big decision like that and try to chat with her.

Again, Zoey is your dog, but I would hate for you to make a decision that you cannot back away from before knowing that's the only option.

Shari

Oh, my, I am so sorry to read this.  Maybe it would be worthwhile to pick her up and take her to an emergency vet for a second opinion?  The one thing that I learned through this journey was that vets are so very different from one another and what one vet thinks is terribly serious (maybe just because they haven't had a lot of experience with it) may seem totally different to another vet with different experiences.  For example, there are a lot of doctors out there that went to school a long time ago when the mindset was that animals don't feel pain the same as humans.  We have even seen a few new members on this site who were sent home with no pain meds at all.  Most newer vets or ones that have really kept up with their continuing education have the benefit of more recent studies and are more aware of the newer meds.  Gabapentin is a pain pill that works by blocking the nerve sensations and is widely used now after amputations.  However, a few people have actually had to ask their vet for it (and came back to say how glad they were).

One other thought is that some dogs don't react well when coming out of anesthesia.  We were warned that Zeus possibly would cry/whimper/moan and that it was not pain at all, but rather the way the anesthesia affects their nervous system.

Obviously, we are not vets.  Nor are we there with your dog to see exactly what your vet is seeing.  But, in your shoes I would want to make a very informed decision before proceeding with such a permanent thing as euthanasia.  You wouldn't have made the decision to amputate if you didn't have great love and devotion to your dog and you wouldn't have joined this site if you weren't concerned with educating yourself.  Those things tell me that you truly care for your dog.  Just don't make any rash decisions that you may regret later!  Best of luck...

Lisa

I did mean to mention the Collie issues, too. From having one, I know they can have some unusual reactions and responses to all sorts of things. Thanks, Sam's mama.

The morphine mania is another consideration. We had one dog put on morphine after a huge biopsy and I thought she had lost her mind. From outward appearances, she was in tremendous distress. Pacing, panting, yowling, howling, whining. The yowling was awful. She was put on the morphine by the surgeon but our family vet took her off when I called him in tears. He told me he never uses morphine because of the side effects. She did great on Deramaxx and Tramadol. 

Shari