Hi everyone, we are new members of the Tripawd community! On May 15, our sweet dog Willow got out of the house accidentally, and was hit by a truck. She is a 3 year old Dogo Argentino, about 65 lbs. Very sweet girl, very active, loves to run and play, and she is our world.

Her injuries included a dislocated right hip, multiple broken bones in her right hind leg, and severe open wounds on both hind legs, with the right side wounds being more catastrophic.

After treatment at the emergency vet, the surgeon recommended two solid options for her right hip: amputation or an FHO (femoral head ostectomy). Given the severe wounds on that leg and the multiple broken bones, we chose to amputate. The FHO probably would have worked out okay in the long run, but it would have meant MONTHS of intense recovery due to the other injuries on that side, with no guarantee they'd ever recover properly. And at 65 lbs, she's on the large side for typical candidates for FHO. We were obviously anxious about how to make this decision, but the surgeon was helpful in answering all our questions, and so far we have no regrets.

Her amputation was two days ago, on May 17. She was able to come home yesterday. She's on Gabapentin for pain, Carprofen for inflammation, Trazodone for sedation as needed, and Amoxicillin antibiotic (primarily for her other wounds). As soon as we got home, she was ready to eat and drink. With the help of a harness with a handle, we have gotten her to go outside two times to pee. She needs our support to walk since she can't put full weight on her remaining hind leg due to the bandaging there. But we're figuring it out. And she can already stand up on her own... a little wobbly, but she's getting the hang of it!

I think the sedatives and pain meds are doing their job so far; she is resting calmly on her bed in the living room. And she slept in bed with us all through the night. I imagine as she starts to feel better, she'll want to play before her body is ready, so I'm glad we have the trazodone to keep her mellow.

The incision looks good from what I can tell - the stitches seem to be holding and there isn't redness or discharge from the incision site. In her belly region next to her incision, there is some dark red splotchiness that I imagine is just pooled blood or bruising? I read that is common. I'll keep an eye on it but not too worried yet.

I've spent the last several days reading through these forums, and I just want to say thank you to everyone for posting your pets' recovery stories. It has brought me and my husband so much comfort seeing stories of dogs who eventually get back to playing and running and living their happy lives. It's been a traumatic few days for all of us, but I'm relieved to be in the recovery phase.