Hi everyone. My name is Stephanie and I am so glad I found this site. Our lives have been flipped upside down over the last two months. About 2 months ago my husband and daughter took Jasper our 7yr old Rhodesian Ridgeback for a walk on the cranberry bogs in back of our house (we have acres of bogs behind us and permission to let Jasper run off leash on them). After they returned from the walk Jasper was limping significantly on his right front leg. We assumed he pulled a muscle running around or something to that effect and left it at that. After about a week and half he was still limping so I took him to the vet. Nothing showed on the xrays and we were given pain meds and told to rest him. With no improvement after a week our vet referred us to an ortho vet. After more xrays we were told the problem was not ortho related but a neurological issue. His leg just seemed to get worse and worse. We saw a neurologist and ended up doing an MRI and spinal. MRI showed no tumors and some nerve damage. Spinal tap was done and they thought he had meningitis. After two weeks on steroid and nerve meds his leg was still deteriorating and the muscle was so attrafied (sp?) that the leg was useless to him and they suggested amputation.

My heart sank! I am so devistated by all of this. I spoke with two other vets to get other opinions and they all agreed that amputation would be his best option for quality of life and to rule out any cancer/tumors missed by the MRI. This was never an option I want to be faced with and struggled with the decision. But ultimately decided to put my own issues aside and think of what was best for Jasper.

The amputation was done yesterday (one of the longest days of my life!) Surgery was more complicated than they expected but they said Jasper did great. I am waiting to here from the vet this morning to see how his night went. We were told we will be able to bring him home tomorrow. The vet said he is a strong boy and should do fine on three legs and will hopefully adjust quickly since he really has only been using 3 legs for the last month anyway. He is a big boy...weighs 115. Not overweight just big and tall. I just pray he will get to do all of the things he used to love doing soon. Sorry for the ramble...but it's so nice to vent!