Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Buckeye has been my best bud for over 14 years. I got him at 6 weeks old, covered in fleas and practically starving. We've been inseparable ever since.

Today, he came home from amputation surgery on his front right leg. It was such a hard decision to make! It seemed like there were so many choices and none were good.

It started with a little lump on his leg. We were told it was probably just another lipoma (he's got a few of those too). Vet said it might get a little bigger slowly. And that's what it did, for 2 years. It was still fairly small (maybe half a ping pong ball) this past November and still seemed to be nothing to worry about. But then something changed. The mass began to grow exponentially. Next thing I knew, it was starting to jiggle when he walked, and then seemed to start wrapping around the back of his leg too. Soon, it had it's own zip code. In April I took him back in to the vet, but this time they had a very different take. It was cancerous, and it was spreading. Trying to remove the mass could possibly just make it "angrier" and it would grow back again even faster. Allowing it to grow would eventually split the skin, and there would not be enough skin to close that wound. He needed an amputation.

For the next month I agonized. Sure, the cost was more than I could afford, but that wasn't the issue. Buckeye is 14 years old and has significant arthritis in both back knees and a bit in his back hips as well. I wondered if he could possibly have any quality of life on only 3 legs. He couldn't even get into a sitting position with 4 legs because of his knees. He would always just kind of tuck his back legs under and plop over on his side to lay down.

And then there was his age. Would he even make it through a surgery like that? If I do nothing, most likely the mass grows and splits his leg open and has to be amputated anyway. Or cancer spreads and metastasizes elsewhere.

Some people said I should just have him euthanized. He was "an old dog" and "had lived a great life". They said "3 legs is no life for a dog." Some thought it would even be cruel and selfish for me to do that to him, just because I wasn't ready to let go.

Well, I did it. He had his surgery last night, and came back home with me this afternoon. Now my sweet best buddy just looks so sad and miserable. I still don't know if I made the right choice. Even with a Fentanyl patch he seems so uncomfortable, or even in pain. It's hard to tell with him though. He's never been a complainer about pain. Never even whimpered either time he tore his doggie ACLs, or even when he has urinary tract stones.

I just dont want this to be the wrong choice!

Anyone else have an old arthritic dog go through an amputation?