Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Hey Everyone,

I have some very unfortunate news. As most of you may know from following my story, Ivan's amputation was "botched", hence the purpose for this thread. The first vet that my Father took him to for his amputation left his entire femur still attached, and did not remove his leg from the hip as we talked about during our consultation.

Ivan had been acting a little out of sorts for the past two weeks. Not jumping on the couch or bed, and not having as much energy as he did once his leg healed. Over the last two months I noticed his stump was kind of big, but I was so stressed about chemo, affording chemo, and his mets growing to his lungs, that I just figured it was scar tissue and fluid. 

In the last week, ivan's stump got really big, so we took him to the vet today to get an X-Ray before his chemo treatment. I couldn't have imagined a worse situation - a baseball size tumor, eating at the end of his femur, growing up his leg and almost at his pelvic bone. This is why he wasn't sitting on the couch like he normally does, he is in pain. 

Words can't describe how devastated and angry I am right now. We are losing our dog because one one very incompetent Dr's mistake/inability to properly amputate a leg. We went from thinking he was in remission with a one year prognosis, back to stage four, with a few good weeks at best.

Our oncologist said she doesn't charge ongoing patients for euthanasia. But because Ivan hates the vet so much, and the car ride is now a painful experience for him, I'm going to try and save up as much as I can in the next two weeks to hire Lap Of Love for at home services.

I am completely beside myself, looking for someone to blame, blaming myself, going through every stage of anger, denial, etc... I tell myself that if I could have afforded to start chemo right after surgery instead of February, that maybe we wouldn't be in this position. But please know that I did not wait for any other reason than money. I had to save/get grant money and Mid February was the soonest I was able to get it done, unfortunately. 

In his condition, if we had the money, a second full amputation could be an option. But at age 8, and with everything he's already been through, I do not know if I could put him through that again. The most painful part about all of this is, if I (along with many other people) had enough money, I could have saved my dogs life. Well, prolonged it for awhile. Many of us could have. But my dad went with the less expensive vet, and now here we are. I don't blame him though, he did what he could with what he knew, and know he knows better thanks to me and our experience. We go to a great oncologist though, after that surgery experience I refused to let Ivan see that Dr again. And the oncologist is wonderful.

I want to thank everyone again in this community for your immense support, encouragement, kind words and messages/checking in with me. You guys are like a family that I love but never met. You all REALLY helped me get through this entire journey and I am SO grateful for all of you wonderful people.

As of now, Ivan is in "hospice". We will still give him all of his supplements, feed him well, and now he's on two pain meds. But no more chemo, no more vet visits, and some pizza and cookies are now allowed with his home cooked foods. We now have to carefully monitor Ivan, and decide when we think it's his time to leave us. This is going to be so hard, and it's already tearing me apart.

I'll be spending as much time as I can with him, taking his photos and bringing him fun treats. I'll report back when i can, when I'm up to it. Once Ivan is left and my anger kicks back in, my father and I will be contacting the Pa Vet Medical Board, as well as a lawyer. I don't want to see this vet ruin another dogs life.

Much Love,

Candice & Ivan 

jerry said
My heart breaks for your whole pack, I'm so very sorry. What a devastating situation, I can't imagine how you feel right now. And you have every right to be angry. But Holly is so right: push that anger aside right now and just focus on Ivan. You can do it. Spoil that boy rotten and share your adventures with us, we are here for you.

I'm curious, did the oncologist say that the partial amputation is the reason for the new tumor? Just wondering. 

These tough situations are hard to go through, and so heartbreaking. But eventually they do turn into learning experiences that make us better advocates for our animals. Nikolay and any future pets you have will benefit from this experience. 

{{{{{hugs}}}}}  

Thank you so much!!! 

Yes, basically it is the reason. The photo I posted is of his femur "stump" (though it's really longer than a stump.) The red circles are where the tumors are, and you can see how swollen his stump now is because of the tumors. The entire leg was supposed to be amputated, but instead the only amputated above the knee, and then cancer regrew on the same leg he should not have had in the first place. So again, yes, that tumor wouldn't be here right now if the surgery was done in the correct way that we were told was going to be done.

It's really hard to deal with knowing this. For now I have pushed my anger aside, but it's still hard. I'm overcome with grief at the moment, and it's hard to think he won't be here in another month. Especially when he's still barking at the TV and begging for treats and cuddles. I'm actually kind of in denial.