My 8 year old, 135 pound Alaskan Malamute Homer had been limping for some time and was prescribed Rymadyl for arthritis.  Finally in July another Vet in the practice examined his left front leg and discovered a tumor that was confirmed by Xrays.  She said the only choice was euthanasia or amputation, which was a complete shock when expecting another drug for the arthritis.  I told her that given Homer's size and weight that amputation was probably not an option.  We made an appointment with an oncologist and proceded with radiation for pain and chemo to slow the tumor growth.  Homer did great on this regime but the limp returned and got progressively worse leading to a trip to his oncologist on October 14th where Xrays revealed a fracture at the tumor site.  Since he was already under anesthesia she asked if we would like to say goodbye to him at that point and procede with the euthanasia.  I had discovered this website and read how a Great Dane and Newfoundland were doing great and told the doctor I would like to consider amputation afterall.  Her experience was that 95% of dogs did great after surgery, the only exception she had encountered were a couple of very overweight giant dogs.

The surgeon was onsite and had immediate availability so the surgery was performed that same afternoon, a Thursday.  We were told to be ready to take him home on Saturday or Sunday.  Homer has always had problems recovering from anesthesia (had a liver torsion in 2007) so both a vet tech and I got bitten trying to get him up during the next few days.  We finally did get him home on Wednesday and, as I was prepared for by reading this forum, began a dreadful 2 week recovery, with little sleep and cleanup of many accidents in the house.

It has now been seven weeks since the operation and Homer is doing great.  After some trouble getting around he is moving great, able to get up and down the 3 steps into the house and hop up a ramp for his daily rides; he refuses to move when I attempt to help him with a wrap around lift.  I am so glad that I discovered this forum and was able to learn about dogs living with three legs.  It was this knowledge that helped me with the decision to go ahead with the amputation, and I am thankful every day for that.  Hopefully we will have Homer (who had his 9th birthday on Oct 31) with us for quite some time.