Buddy had his right rear leg amputated last Wednesday. He had started limping on it a few weeks earlier and, at first the Vet said it was a torn ACL. When he kept limping (on & off) for a couple of more weeks, we took him back and they x-rayed and told us it looked like Osteosarcoma.

Then, last week, the leg came off. He was doing fine, we thought, though a bit lackluster, obviously. But then he wasn't bouncing back...seemed to be getting more lethargic and yesterday his incision was a tiny bit wet and a bit raised.

We took him to the vet this AM and it is, indeed, an infection. I don't know how it happened. We washed his bed, kept the cone on (except once when I was putting on his vest and he got two licks in before we got the cone back on)

How common is a post-op infection? I'm beside myself. The vet is putting in a drain now, putting him on antibiotics and sending in for a culture to determine the exact sort of infection. I can't bear the thought that Buddy would go out this way. He's 13. Such a sweetie pie dog. 

[Our other dog (14, Pal) had cancer surgery - a mass removed from his abdomen in September - and we do a followup scan on Thursday. The Vet originally said Pal couldn't have Chemo because of his kidney issues - but the Oncologist we now have (because of Buddy) says she can. Kicking myself if it spread in the interim. It was "fully contained in the cecum" at surgery...]

Thanks for any info.