Welcome to the community and so sorry you have a need to be here.

This is a scary time for a pawrent, but I promise it will get easier in a couple weeks. Dogs and cats are such amazing animals and the missing leg bothers us much more than them. Recovery times can vary, but you will probably see her normal self starting to come back within a couple weeks. Give her time- she just had major surgery, but you will have so many celebrations (first poop, first pee, first bark!!!). It doesn't take much for a celebration around here. As everyone has mentioned, traction is important and there are many different ways to accomplish that from area rugs to dog boots. You will find what works best for you.

Read through some of the blogs and you will find a treasure trove of information.

Sending healing thoughts your way and keep us updated.

Luanne and Spirit Shooter

Welcome - so sorry you are here, but glad you've found us!

Firstly, awesome news that she has made it through surgery well!

Post-op mess can vary widely - luckily Peda never had any major issues from her wound site (more from the use of a sling when she was in hospital). However, there can certainly be leakage from the wound and there will be some swelling and bruising. Some dogs may develop a seroma (fluid build-up), which can be scary, but is not uncommon and is usually managed by extra drainage. I used hot / cold packs on the incision site for a number of days - started with cold packs every 4-6 hours for first few days, then switched.

Some dogs come home with a drain, some come home bandaged up, and others with nothing. Peda just had a dressing over her incision sites. There is a great blog page here which talks about post-op care and issues - but I am sure many people will jump in and provide you with input.

We didn't have too many toilet accidents - but you may want to have towels on her bed etc in case (makes it much easier to clean!)  The drugs can make them woosy and so sometimes actually working out how to get up and out in time for toilet is tricky.

Keep us updated - and ask question or just come by to just vent or chat. Whatever you need to get through. I also recommend sleep as much as you can before she comes home!!

Kirsty, Spirit Peda and Boots.

My Boomer is 13 days out from his right rear leg amputation.  As everyone said, be prepared for some restless nights.  He had a lot of trouble with his Fentanyl patch, it is a narcotic pain reliever that is often used on dogs after major surgery.  Some dogs are very sleepy on Fentanyl which is kind of what you hope for but others get quite dysphoric which is what happened with Boomer.  Ultimately the vet hospital recommended that I remove his patch two days early and it made an almost immediate difference.  Just keep things like that in the back of your mind.  And remember, he will be on a LOT of heavy pain meds (aside from Fentanyl).  They will make him drowsy and lethargic.  I had a hard time remembering that and not reading into Boomer's behavior in that first week or so.  His body temps were all over the place and I was worried he was developing some kind of infection but there were no signs of problems with his incision site - those pain meds just do a lot of wonky stuff to their bodies.  I finally calmed down about it after reading a few posts on here that reminded me of how strong those pain meds really are.  Once I really stopped and thought about it, I realized that Boomer expression looked less like "I'm in pain" and a lot more like "I'm stoned out of my gourd".  Of course, keep an eye out for signs of something more serious but remember that the meds will play a huge role in his behavior over the coming weeks.

I have another dog, Amy, and I don't really have a way to keep them apart - we already live in a "gated community" thanks to Amy's over-interest in the cats.  So, as soon as I had Boomer settled in a spot in the living room, my Mom let Amy come upstairs.  She was curious about him but really more excited to see me since I had been gone all day - the bigger issue was keeping her from tromping on his incision in her excitement.  Amy (a bossy but incredibly loveable herding dog) appointed herself Director of Quality Control for Boomer's incision.  Amy scheduled regular "sniff checks" to ensure all was as it should be and they were both fine together.  Aside from curiosity about his incision, Amy has not treated him differently at all - she still bosses him around as needed.  (To be clear, she never licked his incision and if she had tried, I of course would have stopped her.)

Two things to be watchful of though is if Kiska wants to play with Sky, rough play needs to be avoided for a while until the incision heals.  Sometimes when dogs are on heavy pain meds it can cause behavioral changes, too.  Before putting them together, I would make sure Sky is situated and comfortable, keep Kiska closed in a crate or another room until you have Sky inside and somewhere she feels safe.  The more ways that things can be like your normal routine during the recovery process, the less disruptive the whole experience has to be.  Dogs are amazing creatures, much smarter and more intuitive than most humans give them credit for - Kiska will know something is different and will probably give Sky exactly what she needs whether it is cuddles or space.