My buddy Lincoln is a 10 1/2 year old male Doberman.  He's very large - 110lbs of love and loyalty. 

Linc went in for a routine ACL surgery about 5 weeks ago.  We went to the best vet speciality hospital in our state.  The plan was to use titanium plates and screws to stabilize his knee. The surgery went well, the vet told us his ligament was almost totally ruptured.  We left him in the hospital for five days because he's so big and we wanted to make sure he'd be safe - no accidents.

We outfitted our house with rubber runner, had a secure place to confine him, constructed a huge outdoor potty for him on our deck with astro turf and specialty pads so he wouldn't have to go down stairs and potentially get hurt.  Plent of bully sticks, a Kabunga bed, etc.

They sent him home with a plastic e collar, which I was nervous about because Linc goes nuts in them.  We kept it off until bedtime because he was a little too interested in his incision.  When I went to put it on him, he freaked out and knocked me down and ran out of the room.  He managed to find the only part of the floor without runner, fell and broke his leg terribly.  We were devasted.

Back to the hospital.  Two weeks with a splint on his leg.  It didn't heal at all.  We had two options.  Amputate the leg or put him down.  I was extremely conflicted about amputation because the vet told us he is at the very end of his life span for such a huge Dobe.  But, he asked us to consider his otherwise excellent health so we did the amputation. 

Nothing can prepare you for the sight of your spectacular animal being brought to you on a sling, rear end totally shave and a hole where his hind leg used to be.  It was such a shock.  We were so overwhelmed that our big boy went in for a simple ACL repair and ended up with three legs.  Especially when they are heavily medicated because the drugs are masking the personality, the heart, the love.  We visited him every day for a couple of hours and as the meds were reduced, his spirits were very good.  We were hopeful.

We brought Lincoln home without any pain meds which made me a little nervous but they didnt' want him sedated because of posisibility of falling, etc.  He was home for three days and became increasingly obsessed with his incision and remaining hind leg paw.  Toys and bones distracted him momentarily, but he always went back to the chewing.  We were hesitant to put the hard e collar back on him because he flips out.  We tried the inflatable (joke), the stiff cervical type (joke), wrapping a towel around his neck - nothing worked. 

Last Friday night I went to put him to bed and he'd ripped two of his toenail out of their nail beds.  There was blood everywhere.  We couldn't stop the bleeding and took him to the emergency vet.  They had to cauterize his nails and put him on paid meds.  They kept him overnight.  We went back to the original hospital the next morning where he's been since.  He won't stop there either.  They put him on Neurontin to treat nerve pain.  That didn't help.  Now he's on Prozac, too.  Also the e collar, which he's very unhappy about.  They can manage him with it on because they have two large male attendents helping him.  I also just ordered a clear, softer ecollar from Amazon, hoping if his vision isn't so impaired, it won't be so unsettling.

I've got him slated to be evaluated be a great physical therapist today.  Maybe if they use massage, e-stim or other therapies it will help him calm down.  I can't imagine the psychological adjustment and how much anxiety the loss of this limb is causing him.

Has anyone had this problem before.  If so, how did you deal with it?  The vet is very concerned and so are we.