Update on my dog

Well, we seem to take in every animal that wanders by, so a random person probably wouldn't get noticed much. :p

Your poor pup--what happened to him? ACL? Or cancer? Car accident?

I will say, for us, the decision to amputate was not a hard one at all. Animals are VERY resilient creatures. SAM doesn't care that he only has three legs. Life is what it is for him. There's pain, and it's a bad day (I want to sleep leave me alone I hurt and nothing is fun). And then, there's no pain, and it's a good one (LIFE IS GOOD! LET'S EAT POOP! YAY!) Animals are remarkably adaptable b/c they don't give two sh1tz about regret or how other people see them or what they CAN'T do anymore.

He had no (apparent) lung mets, and although he is older, he was otherwise happy and healthy. Taking the leg off gives him a few more pain-free months. Maybe it's two, maybe it's six. Maybe we'll REALLY beat the odds and get 12. Had he had mets, it would have been a harder decision...but in this case, it was a relatively inexpensive thing to do for him, and it took away his pain.

Great to hear!  Lots of dogs act a little dysphoric with injectable narcotics and some (especially some nordic breeds) sure howl like crazy.  They all fare better when transitioned to oral analgesics.    And as mentioned, often these OSA dogs are painful and already favoring the affected limb -  so the transition to walking on three legs after an amputation usually isn't a big deal to them.  Best to you both!

PS - My 13 year-old tri pod  pit bull has been a tri pod for 13 years (since he was 3 months old!)...still going strong

Again: Thank you for all the vibes! I know they help :-) So, here's the rundown so far:

After the first hour of having him home, I was ready to pull my hair out, cry, yell, or all of the above. It was hard. Frustrating watching him struggle. Frustrating he won't listen and is SO not tractable (typical akita behavior..."I do what *I* want. I don't CARE if it's painful to sit face down in the snow. YOU don't tell me to come inside. *I* tell me." ). Frustrating I have to try and wrangle my other dog who wants to tear his throat out (dominance issues, much?). Frustrating b/c it hurts me to have him hurt, and b/c he IS old, and he IS only going to have a few, six, 12, more months with us b/c of the cancer so of course I worry I cocked up with this decision. And that's all in an hour. :p

ANYWAY: We have no drains or no bandages, so that makes it a bit easier than some folks have it. I slept on the floor in the living room with him last night--not that anyone actually slept. He just whimpered and shook ALL. NIGHT. By 5-6 AM, he was crying out loud again. He finally drifted off at like 7 AM or so for a bit. The only time he calmed a bit was when I'd put a hand on him, which is why I KNOW he was freaked, b/c he's just not a touchy-touchy sort of dog (again, with the akita personality--loves his people, loves being NEAR you, just not a snuggler. NO TOUCHING!). He got his piroxicam this AM at like 8:30 with his breakfast, and went out to pee, and is sleeping now.

And I know from what everyone has said the phases we''ll go thourgh, and I know it's not unusual...but it's a lot easier to think about IN THEORY than it is to see in practice. We are at that stage where he just looks miserable and is shuffling about...and even though I KNOW I did the right thing, it sure doesn't seem like it right now.

BUT he is home, and this will pass. It will be several long days...but it will pass. Like I found out with my own major surgeries, and those of people I am close to...the minutes and hours are long, but the days and weeks are short. It will pass.

(I WILL however, make a friendly, helpful suggestion: if you ever find yourself having to have someone amputate the front limb of an elderly dog and then bring him home (the amputee, not the amputor)...might I suggest summer as the more optimal time? You know, not when there is 18 inches of wet, gross snow on the ground with ice underneath? :D)

Here is a picture from when he was sleeping last night (see, I TOLD you he is bald! He only has some of those coarse guard hairs left. But he is still pretty on the inside ;-))

leg or no log, look at that face!  Beautiful dog.  Nice to hear the good news.

He's very handsome.  And he has an awfully comfy looking bed .  Hope today went better and you are both able to sleep.  Hang in there!

Updates:

Saturday night (03.09; 48 hours post-op), we did our first lap around the back yard (well, except we stayed out of the woods/underbrush)  The snow/ice is bad on the deck and steps, but in the yard, it actually makes a nice side support No slippage on the hills...and a soft landing when we accidentally faceplant. Er, I mean...look underneath the top of the snow for small woodland creatures.

The yard's about an acre, and filled with wet, 12-18-inch deep snow, so it wasn't an easy hop...but Sam seemed to enjoy "patrolling" his territory, despite it being a slow and tiring trip (and chilly, for us humans  ). And, true to form, he got stubborn on me when I decided it was time to go back in (he was shivering and panting pretty hard). We got in, though. And actually made it up the deck steps w/out taking a digger.

Yesterday (03.10), during his first stretch of "unsupervised time," we had a minor scare when he knocked down the baby gates and decide to go up two flights of stairs while I was in the basement riding my bike. So then he was upstairs, and couldn't/wouldn't come down... and I needed to finish my ride. Eventually, I just locked him in the bedroom, finished my ride, and then when Pat (DH) came home, we sort of helped him down the stairs together. Lesson: Sam is okay going UP. Down is still a problem.

Yesterday's minor victory: last night, Sam got up and walked into the front hall and got a toy out of the toy box. First time he's initiated any sort of activity on his own. It WAS kind of funny/sad  to watch him try and chew up his cardboard (yes, I know, fabulous toy...cardboard ) with only one paw instead of two (he normally holds it between his paws). You could see him pushing down with his right leg, and his little stump was moving like he was using his left leg to push it down, too... and then he'd get this look on his face like, "Huh. WTF. This left leg is TOTALLY not doing anything..."

Since today I had to go to work, and he obviously will not stand for baby gates when left unattended...we had to come up with something to trap him on the main level (of course, this also means that they ALL are trapped here, the four cats and teh other dog...but they'll figure it out. And if the cats weren't so lazy, they'd figure out how to get over the barricade.).

Here was our engineering project this AM:

I KNEW buying lots of bikes would pay off eventually. Bike boxes make great barricades. We'll see if it works.

Last update: I made a nice bed for him on the floor (since I've been sleeping on the floor, I KNOW how hard it is :D)...and Momo (our CRF cat) and Sadie (the beyotch of a girl dog) use most of it. Sam prefers to use it as a pillow, as he is too much of a gentleman to tell them to move. :p

Heh.  One of the vets that I work with has a dog whose favorite toy is cardboard as well.  If they are going to ruin it anyway...  Sounds like Sam is not going to let missing a leg hold him back, that's great