Aleksei, a 6 yr. old, 125 lb borzoi, had his right hind leg amputated last Wed  (1/23/08) and still having a very hard  time.  He's been whining a lot, has moved around on his own just a little indoors and absolutely resists being helped onto his feet(with a sling) to go outside.  this results in mom using extra "force" and him being even more traumatized.  When Mom approaches to see why he whining, he'll try to fade flat into the couch in case she wants him to get up again.  Mom can't figure out why he's having such a tough time when all the vets and info talk about how quickly dogs bounce back.  Aleksei hasn't.  Any thoughts on what's going on would be appreciated.

My nine year old Rottweiler, Czar had his right front leg amputated  on Jan. the 17Th. He had his staples removed two days ago. This past couple weeks were so hard for  him that I was starting to feel that I had made a terrible mistake and was feeling guilty for causing him so much pain. Two days after the surgery he started having muscle spasms.  They would have him screaming in pain. Some days he had up to seven of this attacks in a twenty four hour period. I had to take  him in every three days for additional pain shots & fentanyl patches. He was also put on a muscle relaxer. Which helped a little but did not stop the spasms. Duing this time he was very depressed ,did not want to eat, drink,get up or move except twice a day only with being assisted to his feet and coaxed to go outside. I had to hand feed him food and water while he was laying down.   I think one thing that happened the first night we got home shook Czar's self confidence and made him not want to walk. He tried to lift his leg and fell right over on his surgery side. He got right back up but you could tell he was shaken. Partly is may have been from the medications that he had no appetite and was depressed. But after reading how well dogs do after amputation and seeing how badly Czar was doing I was really getting worried that Czar was not going to pull through.

Today you wouldn't even know it was the same dog from just three days ago even. He is wanting to go outside, getting up and down on the couch. Eating on his own and even begging for food when I was fixing dinner.   He has his Rotti wiggle back and except for that he gets tired pretty quick is almost back to his old goofy happy self.   

Just hang in there. My guess is like Czar, Aleksei will be up and moving around when you least expect it from him.