What does your wife's heart tell her to do?  Obviously, it would be very stressful to lose Twixx right now.  But has she been through the loss of a beloved pet before so she knows what to expect?  The grief can be astonishing.

If Twixx is emotional and prone to do fun things that will drag out his recovery, you are looking at long, drawn out stress in the final months of her pregnancy.  And what will you do if Twixx doesn't accept the baby?  I don't know if a tiny infant will make him skittish like little kids might, but he might not like the competition.  On the other hand, he may feel protective, it would give him a job - guard the baby!

Only the two of you can decide how Twixx will react to the baby and which stress is going to be more tolerable for your wife.  Because, really - she and your baby are the only ones that count right now.  Twixx has had a good, long life and now his job is to be there for your wife when she needs him.  If you don't think he's up for it, don't feel guilty one darn bit.  It's okay.  I can't stress this last part enough - really, it is okay.

Best of luck to you with this very, very difficult decision.

Wow, that is a tough position to be in. I can't really add anything to what folks have already said, aside from "listen to your heart." You know in your heart what is best for you and your family.

This can be a very stressful decision, and definitely each side of the coin comes with its own baggage, but Twixx will not hold it against you regardless of what you decide to do. My girl, Rio was almost 11 when her cancer required amputation. She just had her 11-month ampuversary, and although the journey hasn't been all sunshine, the extra time that the amputation surgery gave us was almost like a miracle.

We wish you all the best with the challenging days that lie ahead. We are here for your support and encouragement!

Micki and Rio

I'll weigh in with my experiences...

First - on the amputation... Spencer was only 4.5 when we found his tumor, so much younger.  And Spencer was about 85 lbs.  he was a little overweight.  So I swapped him to a grain free diet and also cut out all of the snacking that he was doing.  With the amputation Spencer lost about 4 lbs.  With the new diet he lost 6 more and now his a healthy weight at 74 - 75 lbs.  Recovery was not bad.  He stayed over night at the vet's office the first night.  The next day he came home and it was best to have 2 of us take him out.  We used a sling to help carry his weight.  One person did stuff like open the doors and just kind of encouraged him along (so no weight bearing), the other person held the sling.  To get to our back yard we chose to go out the front door and down 3 steps, then around to the back yard.  If we went out the back door we would have to go down way more steps on the deck to get to the yard.  By day 4 Spencer could handle the few steps in the front on his own with out the sling.  We didn't even try the back stairs until much later.  Probably would have started at 2 weeks post op; but he got MRSA and had to have another surgery a few days after having his amputation stitches out, so was again on restricted activity.  By 1 month post amp, and 2 weeks post surgery for the MRSA , he was able to handle any stairs or hills.  We definitely didn't have the 2 tough weeks that people talk about.  Honestly, at 2 weeks post amp I was having to hold Spencer back on things because he was ready to be more active.

You would have to be there to help for at least 4 days post surgery because there is no way that your wife could help him getting around on her own.

Has the vet said what kind of cancer it is?  Grade?  My dog has Fibrosarcoma, which is generally NOT aggressive.  But his is grade 3, which means it IS aggressive.  But still... we had hope that the amputation plus chemo would be a cure (doesn't appear to have been since it is now in his lungs).  But our oncologist said that had Spencer's cancer been grade 1 or 2 we could have expected the amputation alone to have cured Spencer.

So I'm saying, you need to know what you are looking at.  Is this something that the amputation would be a (likely) cure for?  Or is it likely the cancer has already spread?  Will you be OK if this just buys a few months?

On to dealing with it all while pg...  Just before my husband and I got married we found out that our dog (Baron) had lung cancer.  We found out in April of 2003.  I got pregnant in October 2003.  Due to where his tumor was (against the bronchial tube), that he did not handle anesthesia well (we found out about the cancer because he had a hard time recovering from anesthesia when he had surgery to remove what ended up being a fatty tumor), and that he was older (almost 12, also a doberman, so definitely "geriatric"), we were just treating him with prednisone.  I had soooo hoped that he would make it to see our twins born.  I just really wanted one picture with our beloved dog and our twins.  But, in Feb. 2004 things went down hill and we realized it was time to put him to sleep.  It was hard on me; but I knew it was the right thing.  Your wife will know what the right thing is.  Either way there will be some stress; but in the end you have to go with your heart and trust that you will make the right decision.

On a side note... Is it just that your dog is indifferent towards kids, or is Twixx actually aggressive towards them.  That would color my decision.  If he is aggressive towards children; but the cancer is one that can be cured with amputation, then maybe consider finding him a new home?

Hi Mike,

Sorry I didn't see this earlier because I have direct experience with some of your issues. My Dakota is not as big as Twixx. He was about 86 pounds at the time of amputation (11 months ago), so he wasn't a little guy. He turned 9 within days of the surgery, so you may as well say he was 9. He is a highly-anxious, nervous, non-adaptable dog. And his cancer was a soft-tissue sarcoma, not bone cancer. The prognosis for him without the amputation was exactly the same as Twixx's: the tumor would grow, the skin would burst, the tissue would die, the leg would become gangrenous, D would die.

And location. Last weekend we moved into an actual town. For Dakota's entire life, he lived in the mountains on uneven terrain, no sidewalks or pavement. Hillsides. Boulders. Huge boulders. He was used to hopping up and down rocks over 8 feet tall. He walked on giant pine cones, big sticks, logs. He hopped over and ducked under fallen trees and branches. He let himself outside through a dog door. Indoors, our bedrooms were on the second floor of our house, up 13 stairs. D was used to going up and down whenever he pleased.

Forward to post-surgery. Dakota had a standard, typical recovery. He did well after the first several days. He adapted. On about day 3 of being home, he exited through the dog door and walked around half the perimeter of our house, looking for me. He had to hop down about a 2-foot retaining wall to get back to the house, but he decided to do it. He was exhausted afterward but very, very waggy. 

Dakota did become less active. He quit his rock climbing but still followed us if we headed for the woods. He explored. He brought home junk that I didn't want and pulled it through the dog door. He had no problem with our terrain, and we get snow. Deep snow. (Last month he was wading through 28 inches of it.) This year he followed me into the woods to cut down a Christmas tree, and that was about a 45-minute adventure in deep snow. He is less active, but he isn't less happy. He did quit going upstairs, but he never slept up there anyway.

Now, after about 10 days in our new home, Dakota has 15 stairs and no dog door. The only way outside is down 15 stairs. He has a RuffWear harness, and I made him use it the first 4 or 5 days. I held onto the handle and guided him. He didn't like it. It was too slow. So I took it off and he began bounding. He comes downstairs carefully but not like an old man. He races upstairs because momentum is his best friend. He is not hampered at all. By anything. His potty visits cost him a lot of unnecessary energy because it's a new place with many new areas to mark. He is determined to mark them all.

I cannot speak to the baby issue or any aggression toward children (had it in another dog but not D). I can, however, speak to the exact same prognosis without amputation that Twixx has been given. I can speak to the age issue and somewhat the size. I can definitely speak to the terrain concern. It is not a concern. Dakota watered every square inch of our property (many acres) and sniffed every bush, pine cone and rock. And since he doesn't have bone cancer, his life expectancy is the same as if he'd not had cancer. So if Twixx was destined to live to be 13, he still gets his destiny (if his cancer is like Dakota's, which it sounds like it is).

Don't let your terrain or stairs or anything like that be how you decide. Those should not be considerations. Make no mistake--at first Twixx will be unbalanced. He will fall. He will struggle. You may question your decision. You may think "poor guy." But it will pass. That other leg will migrate to the middle of his body and he will be a tripod. He will learn his new balance. Terrain will not be an issue. He will learn what he can do and what he should avoid. He will not be a poor guy. And if you don't think he's a good candidate for amputation for other reasons, that's fair enough. But these things should not be how you decide.

You can see photos of some of our terrain and read about Dakota's recovery and adventures at his blog, which is in my signature box below. There are also photos of Dakota's leg and the tumor he had, which also could not be closed up if we'd wanted the tumor removed.

Whatever you decide is the right decision. You love Twixx and your decision will be guided by that. 

Shari