Hi Stephen and family,

Welcome. Sorry to hear of the problems Stephen has been having. He should adjust to the loss of a leg just fine, especially since he is young and healthy. You can find lots of tips on how to help a dog adjust during the initial few weeks. But it sounds as though Stephen is doing okay already.

So, does your vet or the orthopedic vet think it was just a fatty tumor? I have not heard of a dog on this site losing a leg for that reason, but then I've only been around since July. Most dogs on this site lose legs from bone or another type of cancer, some from accidents and others from birth 'defects'.

There are dogs of all ages on this website: from young puppies to senior seniors!

Welcome Stephen and gang!

WOW!  A decision on the spot like that must have been scary!  But I'm sure the ortho did what was best.  I don't remember anyone having that type of problem.  I hope the biopsy comes back okay.

I have a birth defect tripawd.  She's 11+ years old.   She's always done just fine.  Your guy will have an easier time with it being on the back leg since most of the weight of the dog is in the front (the head adds weight).  Mine is a front leg tripawd.  She blew out her knees and had to have them repaired but that's because she danced and twirled on her hind legs all the time.

Keep us posted on the biopsy report.  And again, welcome!

Welcome to tripawds.  I am sorry you had to make a quick decision without any preperation.  You are going through the hardest part of the recovery right now.  Some dogs take longer, some recover more quickly,  but most people find they really have their dog back after the first couple of weeks.   I would recommend that you start Stephen on  a good joint suppliment.  Even though dogs can live very happy and full lives as tripawds there is still additional weight and strain on the remaining limbs.  Try to remain positive in front of Stephen.  He will be looking to the alpha (hopefully you) to see how he is to respond.  Remember that dogs don't carry the same emotional baggage that we do about amputation.  He just wants to be happy and as a lab - to eat!  Keep us informed.

Debra & Angel Emily

Well, I certainly hope Stephen is cancer-free!  Paws crossed!!  I just wanted to add, if the news isn't good on that front, even though my Yoda lived 4 months with his osteosarcoma after his amputation, the quality of his life, even on three legs, and even while on chemo, was great.  I have no doubt that Yoda would have agreed.  He still played chase with other dogs at the dog park and in many ways he became more outgoing than he was when he had four legs.  Just about a week before he passed, after the cancer had already gone to his lungs, he caught a rabbit in the yard!

I currently have a cancer free tripawd (he had an injured knee that couldn't be fixed).  I've only had Gerry (my current tripawd) since Thanksgiving, so I don't have that much wisdom to share, except that Dasuquin has been recommended as a good joint supplement both on this website and by Gerry's vet.  It's chewable and tastes great (to dogs, at least) and will help those joints stay in good shape despite the extra work they'll have to do to compensate for the missing leg.  Probably just keep him trim and fit will be the most important.  Gerry has a Ruffwear harness , but I'm/we're still learning to actually get in sync enough to help him in and out of the car.  He can get in and out just fine on his own, but figure it'll be better in the long run to reduce the impact.  I also have looked at a few ramps, but haven't found a good one yet. 

Plenty of time to worry about that stuff!  For now you just gotta get through the amputation recovery.  Hang in there!  The pain meds have all sorts of side effects that tend to freak us pawrents out.  And then there's the frustrations of keeping the incision from getting licked.  Worries about not going potty (constipation is fairly common after the surgery - lots of tips for that).  Those are the first few challenge sthat come to my mind, but most of the time all of those challenges are resolved by the end of two weeks!  Don't hesitate to call your vet and ask questions and visit this site often during that time.  Getting advice and support from here was a huge help to me both times I went through amputation recovery with my dogs.

My dog, too, had a little bit of trouble due to over-activity.  At 3 days post-surgery he woke us screaming in the middle of the night with severe abdominal bruising.  Turns out, he broke capillaries and his compression bandage pushed all his blood into his abdomen.  Wasn't that exciting!!!  Jack was 5 when he was diagnosed back in May (amputation was June 3) and he is about to celebrate his 6th birthday followed the next week by his 10th ampuversary 🙂  I hope Stephen comes back cancer-free!  Some things that helped me were first of all, I made a "welcome home little tripawd" sign for our front door.  Every time we would come home, Jack would sniff the sign and I would pretend he was reading it 🙂  The second, and probably one of the most helpful things, was that we would have "conversations" with Jack.  When we were all in bed, we would say things like "Jack, today I really enjoyed playing in the park with you" or "you let us know when this gets to be too much for you".  It kinda helped get all our issues out on the table, and it really helped to "talk" about things we were worried about with our dog.  Sounds silly, but it really did work!  Best of luck for a speedy (and restful!!!) recovery and also for good pathology reports!

<3 Laura and Captain Jack