I'm sorry to hear about your baby's diagnosis. I will never forget what I went through when we got our's. But you have found the best possible group to join here. The knowledge and compassion here is unbelievable.

We had to go through a spleenectomy and chemo before our amputation. The chemo was uneventful for us. Champ has no ill effects or lethargy. The only thing was a thinner coat.

After chemo and a clean set of xrays of ALL his bones, a clean chest xray, and a clean abdominal ultrasound our oncologist agreed that the amputation was the best next step. Champ's recovery the first two weeks were the most difficult, as everyone else here will agree, but it was all worth it and it's amazing how quickly they recover.

We are doing K9 Immunity Plus (to boost his immune system), metronomic chemo, and a special diet (Honest Kitchen) because of his food allergies. So far, so good.

It's a very serious decision, but one I would not hesitate doing again.

Best of luck and feel free to talk, rant, cry, whine, and ask anything here. The group here has been a god-send for me.

Joy & Champ

hi

just to add a little to the other replies, our Irish wolfhound had his front left leg amputated 29th December and hasn't looked back since.  He is very front heavy and already had arthritis in his front leg/s and shoulder and spondylosis in his neck, all of which gave us cause for concern while considering whether to amputate or not.  To explain a bit more, Irish wolfhounds should have a long back which makes them move in a reticulated manner rather than articulated like most dogs.  Io's back is very short so he's like a 'normal' dog if you see what I mean and he weighed about 60kg (132lbs) instead of a more normal 90kg (198lbs) like the big boys.  His back legs are always fully extended to hold up his front end as they just don't match/balance.  Even with all this supposedly against him we decided to give him the chance and have never regretted it.  If you can, look up Io4.wvm on you tube and watch him about 54 days after amputation, beating me up the hill  even though I had a huge head start!  He was diagnosed just before Christmas so we had to wait days before they could do the op and the waiting was far worse than anything since, once it's done they just get on with it-within a week he was complaining at the gate when his sister was out for a walk without him.  We realise we have been blessed with his recovery and life since so far but whatever happens in the future he's pain free and loving life now, and now is all he cares about.  I think the only thing he struggles with is why so many strangers insist on trying to give him a cuddle when what he wants to do is play with their dog.  He has changed how he walks, previously he had to walk behind me on paths but now I walk on, he jogs past and then waits for me to go a ways past him, then he jogs past, I go on a ways etc etc.  He always beats me up the hills.  We used to stop and wait for him thinking he was tired but then he'd stop as well so now we just carry on and he comes and leans on us if he wants to and then we'll wait until he's ready before carrying on.  If possible when he has to be on a lead I make it long so he has more room but if it has to be a shortish one I just tell him 'steady' so he doesn't shoot off.  I think the short lead is harder but it isn't impossible.  The only other major change is how he thinks he should have a biscuit for everything now-ok, the first wee and poo are exciting but you can't have a biscuit for *every* performance or every time we speak to him when he's out.  He is having chemo (carboplatin) and the first two times I couldn't see any side effects, this last time he was a bit tired but nothing worse than that.  You will find plenty of advice and support to help you with that decision here, as well as everything else 🙂  He has a ruffwear harness which I really only utilise to slow him down when he gets out of my van-I worry about the impact on his remaining shoulder of him landing (no grace, just enthusiasm) and the handle is helpful for taking some of his weight.  I hope Revo gets on well, please keep us updated, we'll all be thinking of you on Thursday

love from Mitch, Rog, Io and Cobweb