Hi Dina ~

So sorry that Harley's diagnosis has brought you here.  Many of us have been right where you are.  The diagnosis of cancer is so scary!  It's like the floor has just dropped out from under you.  Murphy was 7 when he had his surgery and perfectly healthy aside from his bum leg.  He ended up being diagnosed with histiocytic sarcoma.  Has Harley had a chest x-ray?  Are his lungs still clear?  Any arthritis?  Or other health problems?  No one can make this decision for you, you know Harley best.  Most dogs do well on just 3 legs, especially if they've been in pain for awhile already.  The first 2 weeks is usually the hardest to get through, but after that they usually do pretty well.  Harley doesn't know that he has cancer, or that there's a time limit for him.  One thing we all try to learn here is to be "more dog."  That is, to live in the moment.

Donna

Welcome and I am sorry you have to find yourself here but you are among friends and the best support you will ever get. I know it seems really scary and unknown right now but dogs are amazing .... and Harley will do great on 3 legs. The recovery IS rough... no doubt about that but stay close to us and we can help.

Hugs!

alison with spirit shelby in her heart (and little jasper too) 

Karl and I send our hugs, It is such a hard decision. Hardest one ever. Both choices seem horrible , at least they did to me. Friends and coworkers thought I was crazy for going through with the amputation surgery. It feels very daunting , call me crazy but I had to do it. I had to try to give him a chance to have fun again. 

I have to say though, Karl had his surgery 9 days ago and it's going better than I expected. Things I Was so worried about went ok. We've definitely had some struggles, and we aren't completely out of the woods yet. We had to get some additional support from the vet this week. Sleep has been a bit of a challenge, it reminds me of the first week home with a newborn. On Wed.  We start chemo and I go back to work tomorrow. 

This is a journey and I've decided to take a ride through the adventure. Whatever you desire with all your heart will be the right one. 

Hugs,

Karl and mom Julie

tripawds is a life preserver!

Hello, welcome to our family....

I can totally understand your overwhelming stress of what is right to do. And yes this site has info comming out of its ears..lol... which is great but sometimes its like where do you begin...

I hear in your words you want options you want to fight.... Im sure your little guy will fight right along with you.. Heres how I looked at it in my girls situation (she was 10yrs large breed).. she has this mass, and we can just cut it off because in her case it was in her bone, in your case it keeps growing back quickly.. so how do we get rid of this cancer mass.. unfortunately we need to get wider margins.. right!!.. usually if its a easy mass to cut they just take a larger amount of tissue around it to be sure they get it all.. in some cancer cases, (why most of us are here) is to ensure no pain and no growth the whole leg is a mass or compromises.. thus.. take the leg.. the leg is the tumor.. that was my final thought... If it was a child or yourself you woundnt want to leave it, so I knew I had to proceed....... Hope this thought process can help you!! Is it hard at first to wrap your head around.. of course.. was it hard that first moment to keep a smile and call her a good girl without crying when I saw her.. yes and no... I say no because all the way there I told myself.. I gave her a fighting chance.. the only chance she had, the rest was up to her...

chemo is totally a personal decision.. but dont let the word scare you because of what youve seen or heard in people.. its no where near the same...

One only other option that you could look into, as I dont know all the protocols, although Id only use it as a last  resort is ECT (electrochemotherapy ) I used it on my dogs mass after she already only had 3 legs, so clearly another amputation was not an option. but each case is different....

Good luck..

sending you clear peaceful thoughts. and prayers.

Neka & steph

Adding to what everyone said above - we do not regret amputating Quincy's leg. He is almost 8 yrs old and other than the cancer in the leg (which was diagnosed after a limp that didn't get better in a week) he was happy and healthy.

This first week of recovery was the hardest but even that wasn't so bad (just getting the pain meds balanced correctly and figuring out what he could and couldn't do - i.e. he could and wanted to do everything including stairs and we had to learn to limit him).

We just crossed passed the month from amputation last Fri and the surgery and recovery itself seem like a distant memory. He is fully himself with needing the remaining fur to grow in and much shorter walks. It is nice to know he is no longer in pain and can enjoy his life (however long it is).

We already did one chemo too (with no major side effects) and going for 2nd of Wed (hoping it will be like the 1st one).

If your dog seems happy and healthy otherwise as daunting as the surgery seems based on my experience and others here I would say it is an option worth considering.

My story is almost exactly like that of otisandtess. 

My dobie was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her back leg in mid-November, and we decided on palliative care because it seemed there was no other option (according to our vet). Then in February, we took her to another vet and xrays showed a pathological fracture in the leg. The vet suggested euthanasia but that seemed like a horrible choice considering that she was as energetic as a puppy.

So we did an amputation 2 days later. 

It was a split-second decision and we don't regret it, although the first couple of days after the surgery were tough. She was also not the greatest candidate because she's 8, overweight, and slightly arthritic. We also have no idea if the cancer has spread to other parts of her body because the xray machine at one vet was broken and the other was barely working. (We are not doing chemo either, because neither my dog nor I would be able to go through that.)

From your post, it sounds like you should do it but of course you should go with your gut feeling. We are now less that 20 days post-surgery so I'll share my experience so far (when comparing it to others' experiences, it sounds quite different):

First day:

We took her home almost immediately after surgery. As soon as she was conscious, she showed an appetite and we were hand-feeding her (kibble soaked in water). She only stood up around 5-6 hours later and wobbled around for fewer then 20 steps before collapsing for another 9 hours or so. She then woke us up at 3am and hobbled out to the garden. She managed to poo on her own but needed support when peeing - still, it was amazing that she did all this in such a short time! Unfortunately, the first 15 hours or so after consciousness, she was softly whining most of the time due to pain, and would only lower her tone when someone comforted her. So I assume that you should expect some pain the first day.

Second day:

Drinking and eating normally, walking around unsteadily but needed a lot of rest. Had trouble getting up and especially sitting down (I cried like a baby because she spent around 20 minutes trying to figure how to lie down and would not let me help her). 

First few days:

Being very naughty and up to her old tricks – barking at neighbors’ dogs, trying to jump and climb where she shouldn’t, and even chasing a cat! It was extremely stressful to make sure that she didn’t hurt herself. She actually ran within the first few days.

First week:

After peeing and pooing (almost normally) the first day, we unfortunately experienced both urinary and fecal incontinence for at least 3 days sometime during the first week. Apparently, this is due to the anaesthesia/medication.

Her balance and walking improved, as did her sitting down and getting up.

Amputation site:

1st day - She came home with the amputation area bandaged up, so we could not see it. They asked us to come in the next day to do a check-up and reinforce the bandages. She stayed covered in bandages for 3 days, until they just fell off the day before they were supposed to be taken out. Cone of shame had to be put on.

The area looked pretty good but there was and still is a lot of excess skin hanging (we didn’t have to do anything with a drain, which I’ve read that others had to do – not sure why).

4th day – Vet cleaned the area and gave us a cream to promote the healing process, which were to apply twice a day. They asked us to come back on day 7/8 post-surgery to remove the stiches (which seemed way too early to me).

7th/8th day – Took her to vet to get stitches removed. They realized that only half the site had healed well and the other half needed some more time, so postponed removal.

14th/15th day – Took out stiches – a bit of redness afterwards that seemed to disappear the next day.

Medication:

She was given antibiotics and Rimadyl for only 7 days post-surgery, which took care of pain and made her nice and sleepy. Once the medication finished, she seemed okay. From reading others’ stories, it seems that normally medication is given for 14 days.

General:

- Expect a lot of tumbling, tripping, slipping, etc. Carpets, stair blockades, etc. are essential.

- Someone needs to be there to watch your baby nearly 24/7 for the first few days (in my opinion). I am very lucky to be a stay-at-home freelancer so I was with her nearly every second.

- Apparently you should watch out for phantom pain . Thankfully, she hasn’t seemed to get that yet, but did and still does experience mild discomfort. Her stump twitches and trembles a lot when lying down and standing up.

- She seems to enjoy it when I massage her body – I assume she gets some relief from it.

- Someone else warned me about restricting the dog’s activity the first 2 weeks even if they seem well enough to play and run about. Apparently this leads to soreness and fatigue in the following weeks, which is so true because for the past 2 days my dobie seems weaker after we let her get away with too much activity.

There's more to add but this post is already way to long – sorry about that! I hope this gives you some idea of what to expect but, like others told me, each case is different.

It is overwhelming but please don't despair - we have very few resources where I'm from and still seem to be doing alright. Wishing you and your Harley all the best!